Saving Sloan (Sloan Series Book 2) (19 page)

“I see you two got that worked out,” Mackenzie said sarcastically.

“Whatever. Can we get this worked out sometime tonight? Please?” Sloan begged. She wouldn’t tell them, but all of this stress was causing her head to ache… again. And she couldn’t wait to get upstairs with her pain medicine and her bed. The boogeyman could be hiding up under her bed for all she cared, as long as he was quiet.

“Fine by me,” Aaron added. He never could let her have the last word.

Before she knew it, she was glaring at him. What a difference twenty-four hours had made.

“Okay. Let’s focus. Please,” her mom said at the head of the table. “Let’s say for the sake of argument that someone is sending these things to Sloan…”

“Sake of argument?” Sloan said, offended.

Her mom held her hands up to quiet her. She shut her eyes and had that
Mom’s had enough
look. “Stop taking things bad, Sloan. It does no one any good and just slows us down. Let’s pretend, for just a few minutes, that we are all on the same page. No one is upset. No one got into a fight. No one called anyone else crazy.”

“I never…” Aaron started.

Her mom shut him up quickly. “And we aren’t cutting each other off. We are sitting here like adults and talking… like adults. Got it?”

Sloan nodded, but she didn’t like it. Sometimes being an adult was overrated.

“Good.” Her mom went on. “Okay. Someone put roses in your car. They put them in your locker at school, right? And then they were delivered. Have you got any today?”

“No,” Sloan answered.

“Okay. Wonder why?”

“No idea. Waiting for the opportune moment, I guess.” She shrugged with a sick knot in her stomach. No telling where the roses would be today or if she’d even get them. Part of her dreaded it. Part of her wished they would hurry up and come so she could prove to them she wasn’t making it up.

“I guess. Seems odd, though. Could have put them in your locker again after school. You weren’t there,” her mom said, tapping a fry on her finger.

“Could be. Didn’t think of it, but I doubt it. He’s never sent it to the same place twice.”

“What did the last note say?” Ray spoke up for the first time in forever.

Sloan’s eyes fluttered to her mother then back to the table. She hated the idea of having to tell her mom again. “It said there was three days until the Fall, and that if I went to the police, he’d hurt my mother.” She shivered just thinking about it.

“And you think she sent that to herself?” Mackenzie snarked at Aaron, who gave her a not-nice look.

“I never said that! Stop bringing it up.”

“Focus,” her mother said, turning her attention back to Sloan. “And you believe this note? You think he’d hurt me?”

“I don’t know what to believe, but I know enough not to chance it. Plus, I already called the police when I thought I saw Boyd across the road. Detective Morgan is of the
He’s in a wheelchair, he can’t be stalking you
mentality.”

“Has anyone talked to Boyd?” her mother asked the million-dollar question.

How should Sloan play this? Should she act surprised or trick Ray into talking himself into a corner? Who was telling the truth? Ray or Boyd?

“Ray has.” She looked him dead in the eyes.

He didn’t flinch. Didn’t even blink. “Yeah. I saw him yesterday. I left school to go talk to him.”

Did he? Did he really?

“What did you all talk about?” Mackenzie asked, giving Ray the floor.

He cleared his throat nervously and played with a crumb on the table. “He said he was sorry for what he’d done to Sloan, but he wasn’t the one sending the notes. Said he couldn’t have because he couldn’t walk. He goes to physical therapy, and maybe he will one day, but he said he’d probably just get to walk around prison, so he wasn’t that interested in even trying.”

“What was his name?” Sloan asked.

Ray cocked his head to the side. “Who?”

“Boyd’s physical therapist? Maybe we can call him to verify Boyd’s condition.” She remembered the card Boyd had given her when she’d visited, when Boyd had said Ray had never come over.

“Oh… I don’t remember.”

Hmm… “That stinks. It would have been a helpful clue if we had the name or number or something.” She tried again, hoping he’d remember. If he remembered, things would be so much easier. It would mean he really had been to Boyd’s house. If not, then she didn’t know what to think.

“He probably couldn’t tell us anything anyway. Doctor-patient confidentiality,” Ray said without looking at her.

“Yeah. I’m sure that’s what it is.”

“Wait. I feel like I’m missing something here,” Mackenzie said, looking between Ray and Sloan.

Quickly, Sloan decided not to bring it up now. She’d wait until they were alone and then she’d ask. No need bringing it up in front of everyone else. “You’re not.” Sloan answered her friend. “I’m just trying to figure things out. That’s all.”

“Anything else we need to know?” Sloan’s mother asked.

“A woman apparently called the flower shop with my credit card. Darcy knows my locker combination. And I went to see Boyd today.” Sloan added the last part quickly, hoping they’d all latch on to the whole Darcy-knew-her-locker-combination.

She wasn’t so lucky. “You did what?” Aaron nearly jumped out of his chair. “Alone?”

“Yeah, alone. I had questions. He had answers,” she challenged back. “I can’t just sit around and let things, bad things, happen to me. I have to go out and try to help myself.”

“You have us to help you,” Aaron said very sternly.

“And what a big help you, in particular, have been,” she shot back. He thought she was crazy, for Pete’s sake, after one little bit of information from the flower shop. He’d done more harm to her today that Mr. ICU had.

“Do you even want me here?”

She was so mad she didn’t even think about her answer. “No. Not really. You’re making things more difficult.”

“Fine. Good luck trying to figure out who is stalking you. You obviously don’t need my help.” Aaron got up and flung the back door open. Without another word, he slammed it shut behind him.

The four left sat in tense silence. Great, Sloan. Just great, she thought to herself.

“I’ll go get him,” Ray said as he got up from his stool.

“Don’t,” Sloan said, surprising herself. “Let him go. We can do this on our own.”

F
OR THE NEXT FEW
hours, until way after dark, the four of them sat in the kitchen, talking about different scenarios in which her stalker could be getting his flowers to her. They considered Darcy, Tanner, Mrs. Lawrence, and even Sarah, Travis’s cousin.

“Sarah’s dad got a job in the area, and Travis’ parents are letting them stay in their house,” Mackenzie reported. Her voice changed when she said Travis’ name. “I don’t think she’s doing this or is even a threat. I think she’s new to school and sort of knows me so she’s hanging close to me in the cafeteria. I don’t see anything to connect her to the roses and notes.”

One person scratched off the list. Good. At least it narrowed it down.

“It’s very strange that Darcy knows your combination,” Sloan’s mom chimed in.

“I agree. Plus the person who called the flower shop was a girl. She could have pretended to be me.”

“What about your credit card, though?” her mother asked. “Whoever it was used it and got it back in your bag without you knowing it. Is Darcy that close to you?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t know. I haven’t even really been close to her since then except for Biology, and she sits a long way from me. We bumped into each other yesterday, but that’s it.”

Mackenzie’s head shot up. “Like bumped
bumped
or just walked up and started talking?”

“Like bumped,” Sloan said. “When I walked into the classroom she was there, and we bumped into each other. She was still miffed because I accused her of using my locker combination.”

Sloan could see the wheels turning in Mackenzie’s head. “Could she have put the card back in the bag when she bumped into you?”

“She couldn’t have put it in my billfold. That’s where I usually put it.”

“But that’s not where it was,” her mother said.

That got Sloan’s attention. “When I found it in your bag, it was just lying in there. I thought it was strange, but didn’t say anything because you’d had such a rough day.”

“Holy cow. She so could have done it,” Mackenzie said.

Sloan wasn’t so sure. “I guess, but why? Why would she come after me… again? We made up. She hates Boyd as much as I do.” Sure, Sloan knew she had tried to forgive him. She’d even told him she had, but right now, she was still big on the hate.

“Who knows why Darcy does anything?” Mackenzie sighed. “But it’s a lead. And a pretty good one at that.”

“It’s something,” Sloan said, laying her head down on the island. They weren’t getting anywhere with this. Not really. What did it matter who was sending the flowers? Someone was and had threatened her and her mother. Would the police even believe them if they one hundred percent figured it out and told them?

Sloan lifted her head and sighed. “Maybe whoever it is got tired. No flowers today. Nothing. Maybe I got too close to figuring it out, and he or she stopped.”

She could hope so anyway.

M
ACKENZIE DIDN’T STAY LONG
after that. She needed to get home to do homework. While Sloan’s mom cleaned up the kitchen, Ray and Sloan sat on the porch, chatting.

One piece of the puzzle didn’t make sense, and Sloan had waited all night to ask it. She was nervous, though, to ask. How did she bring it up without either being obvious or hurting Ray’s feelings?

“Boyd looked bad, didn’t he? In his chair?” There. As subtle as she could ask.

“Yeah. He looked pretty bad,” Ray said simply. He didn’t flinch. Didn’t act like he was lying. Of the two of them, Boyd or Ray, which one had the most cause to lie?

“What’s wrong?” he asked when she didn’t say anything. “Upset over your fight with Aaron? Because I fight with him all the time. He gets over it quickly.”

Good to know, but it wasn’t what was bothering her.

“Tell me,” he said gently when she didn’t answer. He placed his hand on hers and squeezed comfortingly. “It can’t be that bad. Unless…” His face fell. “Unless you don’t want to go to prom with me now.”

“What?” She hadn’t been expecting that. “Yes, of course I want to go with you.”

“You know,” he said, while rubbing his thumb over her knuckles in calming circles. “I understand if you don’t want to go. I mean, some psycho is trying to scare you, and the countdown to the Fall is on prom day. I don’t blame you.”

“The countdown might not even be a countdown.” She smiled, trying to make him feel better… and truthfully, trying to get herself to feel better. “I haven’t gotten any flowers today. Maybe Darcy or Boyd or whoever got tired of it or knew we were on to them.”

“Maybe.” He didn’t sound convinced. “What’s the other reason to go with me?”

Oh boy. The way he looked at her — eyes dilated, seductive grin on his perfect lips — made her swoon a little. “It’s prom. And I want to go.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Stop. All the flattery will go to my head.”

“I’m sorry.” And she was. She was sorry about all of it. “It’s just…”

“It’s just you like my brother more than me.” He didn’t say it mean. In fact, it sounded like a fact like the sky was blue and snails were yucky.

She didn’t know what to say to that. Aaron Hunter had gotten on her nerves so bad today. A tiny part of her never wanted to see him again. The bigger part, a huge part, couldn’t imagine that happening.

“It’s okay,” Ray said when she didn’t speak. “I understand.” He grinned. “The girls always love the bad boys.”

Sloan smiled and laid her head on Ray’s shoulder. “I don’t want to pick,” she admitted finally. “I want you both.”

Ray laughed. “That would make the sleeping arrangements something I’d rather not think about. Plus, do you really think Aaron would share you?”

No, she didn’t.

“Do you think I would?” His voice sounded hoarse. It seemed like it was killing him to let her go to his brother. And it was killing Sloan to hear it.

“It’s not fair. I know it’s not. To lead you both on. I just… I need you both.”