Saving Sloan (Sloan Series Book 2) (12 page)

“No ma’am,” Ray said, leaning his elbows on the table.

He’d been very quiet through it all. And more importantly, he hadn’t made eye contact with Sloan either. A fact that broke her heart. As much as she liked Aaron and kissing Aaron, she hated that she had hurt Ray. Why did things have to be so complicated?

“She asked us Sunday about the flowers, but we never saw them.

“They think I’m crazy,” Sloan threw in there for good measure. Finally, Ray’s eyes found hers.

“I don’t think you’re crazy.”

“I know. Aaron told me the same thing outside.”

“It’s not the only thing Aaron told you,” Ray muttered.

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing.” He sure didn’t have a hard time looking at her now. His eyes had changed from being angry to hurt in a split second.

“You have no reason to be hurt,” she reminded him. “We aren’t even dating.” Awesome. They were having this conversation in front of an audience. Perfect.

“We’re going to the prom.”

“Because we have to. Rules. Aaron can’t go.” Once she’d said it, she instantly regretted it. His face fell, and she swore he was gripping the island like she was. “No, look. I didn’t mean that. I’m just tired and upset and there were letters on this table in red rose petals when I got home, and they’re gone now so I’m a little freaked out, okay? Don’t listen to me today, okay? I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Apparently, making him feel better made Aaron feel worse. From the corner of her eye, she saw his brows furrow. She needed a script writer to get through this day.

“Can we just not take anything I say literally right now? My head feels funny and I’m sort of nervous, if you haven’t noticed. Okay?”

She could tell by both boys’ body language that it wasn’t okay. Tears welled up in her eyes. For the past few months, she’d worked so hard to get along with both of them, not choosing because she didn’t want to lose either of them. Now she might have lost both.

She couldn’t take this anymore. “I’m going to my room. I’m sorry for all of this.” She ran past her mother and Ray, up the stairs, and to her room. She locked the door behind her and fell on her bed. Her head pounded behind her eyes, and she just needed some relief.

Knowing she wasn’t a druggie, she grabbed the aspirin bottle from her bag and took two with a sip of water. She fell on the bed and hugged up to her pillow. It had been one of the worst days ever. A stalker — maybe, Boyd in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, Ray hating her, Aaron kissing her.

Okay, the Aaron kissing her part wasn’t terrible. It had been wonderful at the time. Now, not so much.

Why couldn’t she have both of them? Why did she have to hurt either of them? Why did things have to change? “God,” she prayed toward the ceiling. “I know You’re up there and You know what’s going on, but I don’t. Please, help me out and give me a clue. Am I crazy, God? Am I making all of this up? Is it head trauma making me think I’m seeing things when I’m not? Or do I honestly have a stalker who threatened to attack my mother if I told the police? Will the police even listen to me if I told them? Everyone else thinks it’s in my mind.”

She rubbed her eyes, sleepiness taking her over. “And how can he get inside my house? The roses. ICU. What does it mean, God? What? A clue would be awesome right about now. Amen.”

Sloan shut off her light and hugged her pillow tighter. Tomorrow was Wednesday. If things went according to the pattern she’d get two roses with something about two days before the Fall… whatever that meant. If she didn’t get them, then what? And what if she did? If she did, the first thing she’d do was to show her mother, then Ray and Aaron. Let them know she wasn’t crazy.

Her eyelids became heavy as she gave up trying to fight sleep. Tomorrow would come whether she was well rested or not. Might as well sleep.

So she did.

CHAPTER SIX

Two Days Before the Fall…

S
LOAN ROLLED OVER AND ABUSED THE
alarm clock on her nightstand for daring to yell at her that it was six o’clock. Stupid piece of machinery.

She got up and went to the bathroom. While brushing her teeth, she peeked in the mirror to make sure the blinds were down and no one could see her. They were. Then again, if she’d made Mr. ICU up, he couldn’t see her from the street anyway, right?

After getting her teeth brushed and some makeup on to cover the big ugly scar, she went to her closet. She moved the candy apple red dress hanging in a clear plastic bag over. She loved that dress. The prettiest she’d seen for the prom. And now she wasn’t sure she’d get to use it. If Ray didn’t want to take her now, she understood. She had made out with his brother with him just inside the door.

Then again, they weren’t exclusive. It wasn’t like she’d made her intentions known or they were going steady. He’d kissed her cheek a few times. That was it. They weren’t sending out wedding invitations or anything.

Her head started pounding, which probably meant she’d have a
hallucination
soon. It seemed to be the way of things. She’d get a headache and then something would happen. She’d see Boyd looking in the window or the flowers would be on the nightstand next to her room or the petals would be on the island spelling
ICU
.

A weird little thought crept inside her mind as she pulled out a light blue shirt with a black flower on the top right side from her closet. ICU. What if she was still in the hospital? What if she had never left and she was in some bizarre dream world?

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. That was the stupidest theory ever.

Aaron would call the flower shop when it opened and confirm the flowers were sent to her then they’d all know she wasn’t losing it. That would be the best thing for all of them. Well, it would mean she had an actual stalker. That it was an actual person and not her imagination.

She paired the light blue shirt with a pair of black slacks and flip-flops. The weather was warm enough to show her toes now.

Like always, she looked in the mirror at the vanity before walking out the bedroom door.

That was sad.

Her hair was in a side ponytail, but sort of messy. She’d slept hard last night, and the comb didn’t quite do its job. Her eyes had unattractive black rings under them. At least the horrible state of her eyes caused her scar not to jump out as the first thing seen. Small favors and all.

Behind her eyes, her head killed her. Even if she hadn’t made it up, and the notes and flowers had been real, something was making these headaches worse. Stress or something else, she needed to know. In December when Boyd attacked her in the kitchen, he’d smacked her head pretty hard into the sink faucet. She’d had headaches ever since, but until recently, not as intense and not as often. It could be stress since she was, well, stressed about all of this. It could also be something more. At eighteen, she didn’t need her mother to set up an appointment for her. The doctor wouldn’t be a bad idea, but she’d wait until next week. No sense going before the countdown was over.

When Sloan made it down the stairs, she expected to see roses sitting somewhere. She figured they’d be sitting in the living room or on the kitchen table. Cautiously, she looked both places. Nothing.

She did find something she didn’t expect, though. Her mother was standing in the kitchen, eating a bowl of cereal against the island. “What are you doing here?” She could have probably been more tactful and less snarky, but it just came out. Man, she couldn’t wait to get back to her old self.

“Good morning to you too.” Her mother smiled over her coffee. How sad was it that her mother was used to her smarminess? Too sad in Sloan’s opinion. She’d run out of friends and allies at this rate.

“Sorry. I’m sorry.” Sloan sat down and laid her head in her hand. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me or why I’m so snippy lately.”

“I do. You’re scared. Anybody would be. It’s scary.”

“Doesn’t make it okay,” she said, laying her head all the way on the table. If it would stop hurting, she’d very much appreciate it.

“Headache?”

She grunted an affirmative.

“Have you had a lot of them lately?”

Another grunted. “Uh-huh.”

“Think you need to see a doctor?” Her mom got up and put her bowl in the sink.

Sloan rose up and plopped on her elbows. “I had the same thought this morning. If I still have them next week, I’ll call and get an appointment.”

“Sounds like a plan. Need any medicine until then?”

Now that was a good question. Every time she took the aspirin she had upstairs, she got dizzy, lightheaded, and weird stuff happened. Maybe it was a bad bottle or something. Might as well test it out. “Yeah, got any?”

Her mom grabbed her designer bag from the table. “Yeah. A few. Want them?”

Sloan nodded and held out her hand. Her mother opened the bottle and winced. “That’s so weird. I thought I had some. Must have taken them without realizing it.” She shrugged and tossed the empty bottle in the trash. “Do you have any?”

She slumped farther over. “Yeah. Upstairs, but I’ll just take the ones in my bag at school.”

A worried look crossed her mother’s face. She sat down next to her and put her arm around Sloan’s shoulder. “I know this is hard for you. Why don’t you let me call the police? Get them involved. It might make you feel better.”

“You can’t.”

“Why? Detective Morgan can go and talk to Boyd and make you feel better about it.”

Sloan shook her head with every word her mother said. “I’ve already called her. The first day when I thought I saw Boyd across the road. She didn’t find anything. Nothing. Not one thing to show anyone was standing over there.”

Her mother ran her fingers lovingly over Sloan’s hair. “But this is different. You’ve been getting things.”

“That no one else has seen.”

“Doesn’t mean they aren’t real.”

“That makes it worse. If they are real, you definitely can’t call the cops.”

Her mother sat up, and her brows furrowed. “Why? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Sloan had avoided telling her mom this part, but now she had no choice. “Yesterday’s note said he’d hurt you if I told the police.”

Her mom slowly took her hand down and placed it on the island. “I see. And you take that seriously?”

Duh… “Well, yeah. I mean, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what to think. I do know the police need to know.”

That was the worst that could happen. One, if she was crazy, they’d never believe her again. Two, if it was Boyd or someone else threatening her, they could make good on his or her threat and hurt her mother. She couldn’t let that happen. No matter what, she had to protect her mother. It wasn’t like her father was around to do it now that he had Tiffani.

A plan, she needed one. “I’ll make you a deal. If I get flowers today or a note or anything weird, I’ll call Detective Morgan. Okay? It could just be a prank to freak me out. Now that I have freaked, maybe they’ll stop. Or maybe Aaron’s right, and it’s all in my head.”

Her mom smiled slightly. “Aaron. Speaking of…”

Oh glory!
Here we go…

“I saw you two kissing yesterday.”

“I know. It just happened. It’s not like I meant for it to. I don’t even think he thought about it. It was just like, bam!” Thinking about that kiss made her heart flutter and her toes tingle. Funny, she never got those feelings kissing Ray.

The problem was she wanted those feelings kissing Ray. She wanted to like him more than Aaron because he seemed much more reliable and honest, trustworthy, and just more her type. Aaron was brash at times, didn’t sugarcoat things when he talked to her, and was sort of a loner.

Still, he had those soul-cutting brown eyes and the looks of a Greek god.

And Ray had the face of a Malibu doll.

But looks weren’t everything.

“Uh, Sloan.” Her mother cut into her very important and deep thoughts on the Hunter men’s looks. “Did you zone out?”

“Apparently.” She left her seat and got a toaster pastry from the cabinet.

“Thinking about the Hunters. Trying to figure out which one you like most?”

And that’s when everything came flooding out. “I want to like Ray. Like really like him. I love having him around. He’s a great guy. He even got saved at church Sunday.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah. So he’s a church-going feller, which I need. He’s a good guy. A very good guy, and he tries to take care of me.”

Her mom smiled a knowing grin. “But…”

“But, Aaron is… he’s so awesome! He is not the nicest person ever, but he tells the truth. He talks me down when I get way too hyper about things, and he isn’t bad on the eyes either. And can that boy kiss.”

She knew she had a dreamy look in her eyes as she leaned back against the counter with a piece of food hanging out of her mouth. Probably not the best look in the world, but it was what it was.

“I think you have your answer.” Her mom grinned.

“But then there’s Ray.”

“And you don’t want to hurt him.”

“Exactly. Plus we are going to prom together, and I don’t want it to be horrible. I do like him. Just not like I like Aaron. I don’t have the same feelings or whatever. Ugh.” She threw the nearly uneaten breakfast in the trashcan, suddenly not hungry. “I’m a bad person.”

Her mom laughed. “No, you’re not. You’re human. It’s okay to be human. We all are. And no one says you have to like Ray best just because he’s saved. Aaron goes to church too, right?”

“Yeah, with us, but who knows how long that’ll last?”

Her mom got up and put her hand on Sloan’s cheek lovingly. “In matters of the heart, one can’t help who she loves. It just… happens. Now, with that said, it was just one kiss. One kiss. You don’t have to marry the boy. Or either boy for that matter. Take time to think about things. Don’t rush into anything. You’ve been through so much. You’re still going through it.” She kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t worry about it. God has a way of figuring this stuff out.”

“You’re not much of a believer, Mom,” Sloan reminded her.

“Been talking to Donna. She’s a smart lady.” Her mom grabbed her purse from the island. “You sure you’re okay going to school? You don’t have to, you know.”