Sacrificing Sloan (Sloan Series Book 3) (7 page)

“Here. Move.” Mackenzie didn’t sound upset. She just gently moved me out of the way and put Ray’s arm around her. He instantly stood straighter. She was taller than me, which was a good thing, when it came to helping someone in the house. Poor, poor Ray.

She helped me plop down on the living room couch. Mackenzie stood up, let out a breath, and then stared around the room. It occurred to me that it was the first time she’d ever seen the Hunter “mansion.” It was… well, it was a bit rundown, a bit bachelor pad, and a bit… old.

Every room on the bottom level—the foyer, hallway, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and staircase—were all painted a deep green. Hunter green, funny enough. It wasn’t the warmest color and it wasn’t the prettiest, after years of neglect, but strangely, the house sort of suited Aaron and Ray.

The couch he laid on had seen better days, as did the TV stand in the corner. But it worked.

It was also a bit messy. Two bachelor guys living together, although it was only cluttered this time. I didn’t see any trash. Aaron must have cleaned up in anticipation of the Department of Children’s Services visits. Five months ago, it was Aaron who had been accused of attacking me—accused by me because he was the person I first saw when I woke up.

Every day I regret doing that to him.

So, even though he was his seventeen-year-old brother’s legal guardian, he took off to keep from having to go to jail. Apparently, I wasn’t the first girl who had accused him of doing such a thing. You had to hand it to Aaron. He had plenty of bad luck.

Because he left, the DCS was called in to take Ray into custody, and he had to go away, too. It was bad. Very bad. I wish I could undo every bad thing I had caused to happen to those boys. They had been nothing but good to me, and I didn’t deserve it.

Aaron came back. Ray got to come home under one stipulation—they would be monitored. I cringed. Thank God Ray would be eighteen in a few days, so the threat from DCS would be null and void because I don’t think they would appreciate any of this. In fact, I knew they didn’t.

Ray had a surrogate parent appointed for him to sign him out of the hospital. The guy, I don’t remember his name, offered to come home and stay with Ray. Ray got sort of this panicked look and reminded them that he had two women coming home with him and that would be enough for any man—of course, that made us sound a bit like a bunch of prostitutes—but it didn’t matter. The guy said he’d come and check on Ray tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

I knew where we’d be tomorrow.

Ray knew too.

Mackenzie had no idea. Ray wanted it that way. He said the less people knew the better, so here I was, lying to my best friend, who had been nothing but nice to me to help the guy she liked.

Nope. I didn’t feel bad about that at
all
…

“Welcome to my humble abode.” Ray smiled, but he was breathing heavy, like he’d just done a four-hour work out. He laid slumped on the couch with his eyes squinted. I bet his head and his eyes hurt from being shot, but he denied it, when I asked him. As if I expected anything less. Why would he tell me the truth? Then I’d make him go back to the hospital, and I knew he didn’t want that. He had a plan. A very stupid plan that was stupid enough to consider going along with.

I owed him, after all.

He’d said as much.

“Thank you.” Mackenzie scanned the room. I don’t know if she was taking it all in or just looking for a place to sit. “It’s really nice. A lot bigger than I imagined.”

“The one thing my mother did good for me and my brother.” He cleared his throat and threw his legs up on the couch so he was lying down.

“Do you need anything?” She asked. She seemed nervous. Why wouldn’t she be nervous? She hadn’t been the entire time at the hospital, I mean, not really. Was it because Ray had been acting not like unlike? his normal calm, collected self? Well, yeah, I had to admit that threw me off too, but I was used to dealing with Aaron. Mackenzie, not so much.

“I’m starving.” He said, and that surprised me. He had plainly said at the hospital that he wasn’t hungry. Not in the slightest, and that he probably wouldn’t eat until Aaron got home.

I tilted my head at him. There was something going on in that brain of his. I sort of didn’t want to know what it was.

“Ok—ay…okay. I can fix you something to eat. I make a mean ham sandwich, if you have any ham and bread and stuff.”

“We have all those things.” He smiled, and for the first time since he woke up, he sounded like his old self again— charming.

“Good.” Her shoulders relaxed, and she smiled back. “Good… okay. So ham. Bread. Do you want any mustard or mayo?”

“Mustard. The mayo is probably out of date.” He sort of cringed.

It made me think. I wasn’t sure our mayo was in date in our fridge, either. It wasn’t something I made a priority to check.

“Anything else?” Mackenzie reminded me of an overly excited waitress. Maybe she was wanting a good tip.

“A pickle. I think we have those.”

“Got it. Coming right up.” Mackenzie headed in my direction. She stopped, bit her lip and then turned back to Ray. She bent down and kissed his forehead, gently. Ray’s eyes closed at the contact, and he swallowed hard. Anybody could tell he liked her. Anybody in their right mind would like Mackenzie. She was an amazing girl, but not part of Ray’s plan at the moment. No, that was me.

“I’m glad you’re home.” She ran her fingers over his stubbly cheek and got up without another word. When she got to me, she leaned in my ear. “I’m worried about him.” She whispered. I nodded because I was worried, too. And I had more information than she had.

My eyes met Ray’s, begging him to just let me tell her. He shook his head no because he knew what I wanted. It had to be written all over my face. This was killing me.

Mackenzie stood straighter, but I noticed something about her. She looked so run down. Pale, much more pale than normal. And her eyes had purple bags under them. I didn’t know what was wrong with her, but I hoped she wasn’t getting sick. Then again, if she got sick, it would be easier to leave her behind. “Where’s the kitchen?”

I backed into the hall and pointed to my right. “First door you see.”

“Thanks.” She gave me a very short hug and started down the hallway.

I waited until I heard the refrigerator open, before I confronted Ray.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I whispered as I pushed some magazines aside and sat on his coffee table.

“I’m eating. It’s what you wanted at the hospital, right? To eat.” He didn’t look at me. Just kept his arm over his eyes.

The not so awesome part of myself wanted to reach over and smack him.

And smack him hard.

I decided against that, and had my foot out to nudge him, when Mackenzie came back into the room. She had bread in one hand and mustard in the other. Sweat glistened on her forehead, which was odd. Even though it was May, it wasn’t that hot. “Ham.”

“Huh?”

“Ham, Sloan. Ray is out of ham.”

“Oh no! I forgot!” He sighed. “Being shot and all… ugh… don’t worry about the sandwich.”

“No…” she laid the bread and mustard on the little table next to the door. “You need to eat.”

“It’s okay…”

“It’s not. I have my car. I’ll just run to the store. It won’t take long. I’ll be back soon. Sloan, anything you want while I’m out?”

I shook my head because I didn’t trust myself with words.

“Okay. I’ll be back soon.” In a second, she was out the door. I heard her car start and back out of the driveway.

“You were asking what I was doing…” Ray sat up on the couch and stood up. He didn’t need any help.

He didn’t…. need… any… help.

“What are you doing?” I asked because it was a reflex. When someone saw something that wasn’t expected, it was a very common and accepted question. Except this time, as much as it pained me, I knew exactly what he was doing—only I didn’t know his entire plan at the time.

“You know what I’m doing. I got Mackenzie gone. We can leave before she gets back and be at Chapel Falls in no time.”

“And then what? Hike the trail down? I hate to break it to you, Ray, but it is still raining and it won’t stop raining for a few days. Those trails are nothing but mud pits.”

“Then we get dirty.” He bit his lip and took my hand, raising me to standing. Once there, he placed both hands on my shoulders and leaned down, so he could look me straight in the eyes. I hated when he did that to me. “My brother is out there, Sloan. From what you told me, the police aren’t looking for him. Not really. I’m not going to leave him. I can’t leave him. And I think we both know he’s not dead. He can’t be dead. I won’t believe it, and neither will you… so that means we have to find him. If it’s raining and muddy, that means he’s been out there in it for this long. If the fall didn’t do him in… Please Sloan, we’ve been over this. Just… help me. I need you.”

I need you.
It was the same words he’d told me at the hospital when Mackenzie had gone to get the nurse.
I need you.

What could I say to that? Ray was old enough to make his own choices, and so was I. And he was right. Aaron needed us.

“Go get on some warm clothes.” I said, trying not to regret agreeing to do this. It was one thing for just me to go after Aaron, but it was another to have Ray with me.

He smiled, actually smiled at me, and kissed my cheek. “Thank you! Give me five minutes. I want to be gone before Mackenzie gets back.” He ran faster than I thought he could up the stairs, and I heard a door close.

That feller had lied, when he said he needed Mackenzie’s and my help to walk him in the house… I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

I might have been leaving with Ray, but in my heart of hearts, I knew Mackenzie needed to know what was going, or at least that we were alright.

I dug through the drawers until I found one piece of paper—well, it was the back of a receipt, but it worked—and a pen. I scribbled a note and left it where Mackenzie could see.

True to his word, Ray came down the steps five minutes later with boots and a thick coat on. We left before Mackenzie got back from the store.

Please, God, let her forgive me.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Aaron

1:10 PM

“
A
ARON!”

I sat up, sweat poured down my forehead, my bare arms, and through the white t-shirt Mr. Lawrence let me wear. I tried to calm myself down, but it was really hard. It was just a dream. Just a dream.

When did I go back to sleep?

I knew I was tired, but the last thing I remembered was talking to Boyd. When did I go to sleep?

The big clock which had become my lifeline, strangely, said 1:10. The rain kept pelting the window, but it had only been about twenty minutes. I’d just gone to sleep, apparently, and now here I was.

But Sloan wasn’t with me.

She wasn’t yelling my name.

She wasn’t being attacked by Boyd.

Boyd.

I quickly scanned the room and found Boyd exactly where he had been sitting. His eyes were open, but unseeing. Strange. Very. Very strange. “Nightmare?” He asked, without the slightest hint of concern in his voice. Cold and void. That was Boyd.

I flung both legs off my little platform bed and sucked in a breath when my broken leg dangled off the side. Enough of this! Enough of this rain. Enough of this house. Enough of this pain. Enough of looking at Boyd. “You still wanna get out of here?”

Boyd sat up straighter. “Thought you were scared.”

“I never said that.”

“You wanted to wait for my father.”

“I didn’t…”

“Do you really want to get out of here?”

I swallowed hard. Yeah… I wanted out. Anxiety was creeping in, and I could feel the walls closing in on me. Walls with water ready to drag me away outside. It was almost knocking on the door. In a few hours, it would be.

“I’m not much of a sit and wait type of a guy. If your father can get out of here, I don’t see why we can’t.” I paused for effect. “No pun intended.”

Boyd’s lip quirked up. “Yeah, we should just be able to walk right out the door…” and Boyd paused. “Hypothetically speaking, of course.”

I popped the tension out of my neck. I couldn’t do this… I had to do this.

Make a deal with the devil.

Oh good.

“Do you know these woods?”

“Yes.” He answered much… much too quickly.

“How well?”

“Enough.”

“How enough?”

Boyd huffed. “I’ve been to this stupid fishing hole with my father a lot of times. I know where we are. We are about five miles from the main road, and then another good, I don’t know….”

“I thought you knew.” I had to cut in because apparently we bickered like a married couple. He wasn’t my type.

“Shut up.” He threw a chip in my general direction. “Town is another good thirty miles away, once we get to the main road. Forty at most.”

All of the tension I had just popped out of my neck came back, plus a thousand. “So… you are telling me that you think you can carry me all that way?”

“I’m saying… if we help each other… we can get back to the main road and get out of here.”

Boyd sounded so sincere, so scared, so…. pleasant. It worried me. “What do you get out of it?”

Boyd’s jaw clinched. I think he was upset that I kept going around in circles, but to be honest, I was having to psych myself up to do this, because while I knew the water was coming, I was safe—at the moment. The rain wasn’t coming. The water wasn’t up to my ankles yet. But it would soon. I knew it was coming, and I had to be proactive. I had to get out of there because I didn’t want to be stuck in there when the water came.

But it was so difficult to talk myself into it.

No, it wasn’t the leaving that was the hard part—it was leaving with Boyd. It was having to trust Boyd. I hated to do it.

“What do I get? I get to go home.” As if it was the most obvious answer ever.

As if the police would let him stay long…

“We can do this together, you know? If you don’t want me to carry you, you can always lean on my shoulder. I can help you out of here.”