Push and Shove: The Ghost Bird Series: #6 (The Academy) (33 page)

“Whoa, hey,” Nathan said. “You fell in?”

“I wanted to touch the water but I didn’t know about the riptides.”

Kota placed a gentle hand on my knee. “Then what happened?”

“He fished me out and we were both soaked. So we stayed the night at the hotel. We got muffins for breakfast.” And then I remembered the most important detail. “We spotted Mr. McCoy.” There. That had to be more important than where North took me and being mad about it.

They all flinched at this. “What?” Kota asked. “You saw McCoy? Where?”

I described the cafe, when I saw McCoy, and how he’d seemed to disappear.

“The lady he was talking to,” Kota said. “Could you describe her?”

I did. “But you guys said he was gone,” I said. “I thought you had him somewhere. But if he’s out there...”

Kota frowned. He tugged at my hips to get me to slide off the counter. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, holding me to him. “I told you not to worry about him, and I meant it.”

“Hendricks wants to talk to him.”

“That won’t happen.” He stepped back, rubbing my arms. “Look at me,” he said, pausing until I did. “When Hendricks asks, you’re going to tell him you thought you spotted him but you didn’t catch him, so you don’t know where he went.”

I stared at him, and his green eyes locked with mine. There were heavy shadows under his eyes, like he’d been up all night.

I felt guilty now. Not that I shouldn’t have said something, but North and I had escaped the chaos and at least had gotten some sleep. These boys stayed up all night to fix a mess that wasn’t theirs. Now I just gave them another problem. How could they be so sure Mr. McCoy wasn’t going to come after us... or me?

Kota frowned, as if he’d been able to read my thoughts. His hands slid up slowly until he was cupping my cheeks between his palms. He forced me to keep my eyes on his face and focus. “You’re safe with us,” he said. “Stay with us and you will be. You know I’ll make sure.”

I couldn’t answer him. I wanted to. I trusted him, or I thought I did, but a thousand ‘what if’ scenarios played through my head. There was always a time when I couldn’t have them next to me, or they all had to disappear. What then? And it wasn’t just Mr. McCoy, it seemed everyone lately was out to get me, us. Would any of us be safe?

I tried to push those fears aside. It wouldn’t do any good. Mr. Blackbourne said not to worry about
what ifs
. I tried to believe Kota. “Won’t Hendricks go to Folly Beach to look for him?” I asked.

“Maybe. This might be a good thing. We’ll give him someone else to chase for a while.” He looked up, nodding to Victor. “We need to go.”

Victor frowned. “I want to stay.”

“We’ve got work,” he said. He turned to me. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve got muffins,” I said quietly.

Kota smiled. He picked up the muffin I’d set aside, taking a bite out of the edge. He licked his lips. “Actually, these are pretty good.”

“I’m staying with Sang,” Nathan said.

“Me, too,” Gabriel said. “We’re going out tonight.”

“Not until she talks to her sister,” Kota said.

I groaned. I really didn’t feel like a confrontation. There’d been too many.

“Please?” Kota asked. That struck me hard because I’d never heard him beg, so the way he did now made me want to jump up and do anything for him. “This throwing parties thing has to end. You’re the only one who is able to stand up to her.”

Except I didn’t want to do that. I never went looking to fight with Marie, and I was sure this would lead to one. Still, he was right. I nodded slowly at Kota. I wasn’t happy with the idea, but I’d do what he asked.

He turned to Nathan, handing him the rest of the muffin. “Make sure she does.”

“Okay, boss.” Nathan took the muffin, finishing off the rest in two bites and licking the smudges of chocolate from his fingers.

Kota’s hand wound around the back of my head. He bent his head, dropping a quick kiss on my brow. “Be good,” he said.

“Why does everyone tell me that?” I asked. “When am I ever not good?”

The guys laughed. Victor moved in, gave me a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek and then followed Kota out the side door.

After they left, Gabriel turned on Nathan. “So when did everyone get to kiss Sang?”

Nathan’s eyebrows went up. “What?”

Gabriel held up his fingers, counting off. “North, Kota, Luke and Victor.” Gabriel turned to me, snapping. “Oy. Get over here.” He pointed to his cheek. “Where’s my kiss?”

I took a half step forward, but Nathan planted himself between us, his back to me. “No,” he said. “You can’t do that?”

“Why not?” Gabriel asked. “She was going to. She’s already done it to the others.”

“We’re not allowed to...” Nathan glanced over his shoulder at me. “I mean we can’t...”

I sighed. There were the words. Can’t. Shouldn’t. It didn’t sound right coming from their lips. “Funny,” I said. “I thought Academy guys could do anything.”

I walked away toward the stairs, secretly enjoying the stunned expressions on both of their faces. Had I made a point? Had I shown that I knew about their rule and that I thought it was stupid? I hoped so.

Upstairs on the landing, I knocked at Marie’s door. I wanted to get this part over with.

I heard footsteps and readied myself. I flinched when Danielle poked her head out from the open door. She looked me over once and then up at my head. “Someone had a wild night.”

“I need to talk to Marie,” I said, my voice a little shaky.

“We’re busy,” she said.

“Now,” I said, in a tone much stronger than before. Kota’s begging motivating me. I wanted to make sure to get this over with so he had one less thing to worry about.

Danielle smirked as she backed away from the door, opening it. “Marie, your sister wants you.”

I stepped in, stopping short. There were heaps of clothing piled up around the edges of the room. Marie’s school books sat in the corner, unused. There were paper plates and soda cans overflowing from a trash bin in another corner. The closet was open, nothing hanging up, and all the clothes and other things were piled on the floor inside.

Marie sat on the bed, flipping through a Cosmopolitan magazine. Where did she get that? Had Danielle brought it over?

She glanced up at me. “What?”

“No more parties,” I said.

Marie narrowed her eyes at me. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

“If there’s another party, and the police get called, they’ll call our dad. They’ll ask questions.”

Danielle stepped over a pile of clothes to sit on the corner of the bed. “No one called the cops. We were fine.”

“The house was destroyed,” I said. “The boys worked all night and morning to clean it. They even had to repaint the living room.”

“Isn’t that nice of them?” Danielle flicked a smile. “At first they were really irritating, but I see why you keep them around. We didn’t have to pick up anything.”

From the state of the bedroom, I wasn’t sure they would have. “We got lucky last time,” I said. “But don’t throw another one. Not unless you want to end up in foster care or...”

“No,” Marie said, pointing in my direction. “
You’ll
end up in foster care. I’ll stay here. I’m only a few months away from turning eighteen.”

“You still have a few months,” I said. “They can still—”

“They won’t do anything to me,” Marie said. “When I turn 18, if my mom isn’t back yet, I get to take over the house. It belongs to her, so it’s mine.”

I bit my tongue to keep from blurting another retort. “Look,” I said. “We both have to live here for now. Dad wanted us to stay to look after the house until mom got back.”

“She’s not your mother,” Marie spit back, closing the magazine and letting it slide off the bed onto the floor. “When she gets back, she’s going to kick you out, anyway. I don’t know why you’re staying. You’re lucky I let you stay at all.”

“Dad asked me to stay,” I said. “I told him I would. And apparently I have to, because if I’m not here, you invite the whole town over and the house gets demolished. You’ll get arrested for... disturbing the peace, or underage drinking, or something. There’s no one here to bail you out if that happens. If I leave it to you, there won’t be a house left for her to come back to.”

“How about this,” Danielle said. “I agree the last party was too big. I made the mistake of inviting over too many people. From now on, we’ll do smaller ones. A handful of people. I didn’t like half of the people who showed up anyway.”

Her interruption caused me to jerk my head back. I’d expected her to bow out of the room. The boys had remained downstairs, understanding that I was talking to Marie as a sister. “I don’t think so,” I said. I didn’t trust them after last time to invite anyone over. There were too many problems that could pop up if they brought people over. Someone was going to find out the truth.

“What’s your problem?” Danielle asked, her dark eyes narrowing on me. “You’ve got people downstairs right now. You’re saying you can have people over, boys in your bedroom all night, and you’re going to tell Marie not to have anyone over?”

“That’s different,” I said, though my voice softened. I knew it was different, but I still felt guilty about it. “The guys are helping to take care of things.”

“If you mean the mess, we’ll get people to pick up after themselves this time,” Danielle said. “Really, you’re such a hypocrite.”

I turned to Marie. I wanted to explain why the boys were different without divulging too many details. “So far, Nathan and Kota have been paying for food. And then I’m pretty sure they paid for that paint and if there were any repairs...”

“We already said we wouldn’t throw another one,” Danielle said. “Seriously, why are you even here? Nathan’s dad’s never home. Go move in with him. Or Gabriel or one of the others. You’re with them all weekend anyway, and sometimes during the week.”

I didn’t want to respond or admit that Nathan and I had been thinking about that very thing. It also made me question myself. Why was I staying? Family was a choice, and right now, Marie and I were the furthest apart we’d ever been. She wanted to party and forget about school. She wasn’t thinking about the future at all. Was she going to just lay around? What would happen if our dad stopped paying the bills? Or if Kota or Nathan didn’t go and get groceries like they did when they were helping out? Would she just waste away here? Didn’t she think about moving out herself? If she worked, she could. She was freer than I was right now. She didn’t have Academy restrictions, or a secret dead mother she didn’t know the name of, or a Principal, or a McCoy to haunt her.

Maybe Nathan was right. Maybe I’d been fighting something that wasn’t worth fighting.

I took a step back. “Can we agree, at least for now, to not to tell other people about where our parents are? And to be more careful about who you invite over?”

Marie rolled her eyes. “You’re the only one telling everyone. I’ve only told Danielle. You’ve told Kota and all those other guys. You’ve told more than me.”

I sighed. There was no way to explain it to her. I wasn’t allowed. Suddenly I felt as trapped as the guys downstairs. Secrets. If she only knew, she’d understand it was for her own good, but unable to explain, I had to understand it probably did look pretty bad.

I left them in Marie’s bedroom, closing the door behind me. I heard them whispering, and for a moment, I thought about putting my ear to the door and listening in. I thought about asking Kota to wire the room.

The moment passed. It wouldn’t change anything. I was sure they were discussing me, how I was a problem and in the way of what they wanted, just like I was thinking of how they were a problem. It made me sad to think of Kota and Jessica, who got along and cared about each other, but my own sister, even a half-sister, couldn’t care about me.

It was hard to imagine anyone could.

I turned away, heading back down the stairs.

I weaved around the mess in the living room and went on to the kitchen. Nathan was leaning against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest broadening his biceps and forearms and defining his bulky torso. Gabriel was sitting on top of the counter, swinging his legs and knocking the heel of his foot against the cabinet. Nathan’s red phone was out between them on the countertop. They were leaning in as if listening.

The sight of them caused a small wave of relief wash over me. How different it felt being with them compared to how I’d felt upstairs. My sister was so cold.

One turn of Gabriel’s head, and then Nathan’s, and I could tell the difference. Family was a choice.

“I hate to say it, Trouble,” Gabriel said, “but your sister is a total bitch. And I wouldn’t use that term on a girl, but fucking goddamn.”

“You were listening?” I asked.

Nathan picked his phone up off the counter, pushing a button and then stuffed it back into his pocket. “Sorry.”

“No,” I said, holding a hand up. “It’s fine. I kind of wish you guys were there. I didn’t know what to say.”

“You can’t say anything to her,” Nathan said. He brushed his palm against the top of his head. “Hate to say so, but I agree with Danielle. We should go.”

Gabriel chopped Nathan on the head. “What the fuck are you talking about? Sang wants to stay.”

Nathan pushed Gabriel’s arm away. “They’re headed for disaster, Gabe. They’re going to drag Sang down with them. I don’t want her here when that happens.”

“And where is she going to go, genius? I think people will notice Sang living alone.”

“She isn’t going to be alone. I’ll move out, too.”

Gabriel’s eyes widened. “Oh no. If anyone gets to move out with Sang, it’s me.”

“You?” Nathan asked. “You’ve got Pam.”

“Who’s Pam?” I asked.

“My stepmom,” Gabriel said. He jumped off the counter and slung an arm around my waist and drew me in close, hugging me to his side. “And she can take care of herself. You guys are all the way across town. We could find a place and I’d be right here.”

“Sang and I were going to find an apartment next to where Silas lives.”

Gabriel’s crystal eyes lit up. “Oh yeah. Hey, they’ve got nice three bedroom places.”

“What do you mean,
three bedrooms
?” Nathan twisted his lips. “Those are expensive. We need a small space that we can afford.”