Stakeout (Aurora Sky (12 page)

Clive’s eyes dropped down to the death grip I
had on my shoe. He relaxed back into the couch.

“All our neighbors have been asking about
you. Your grandparents want to know when you’re coming home.”

“Where did you tell them I was?” Clive lied
like a champ. He could come up with something on the spot. I wanted
to know what story he’d sold the public.

“Rehab,” Clive said, shaking his head sadly.
He looked me over from head to foot. “I see it’s not working. You
need to come home where your family can take care of you.”

Bile rose to my throat.

Take care of me? Is that what he called
taunting and bullying and beating down his own daughter until she
couldn’t take it anymore? All my life I’d felt like he was trying
to push me over the edge. But why put a stop to the games? What he
really wanted was to push me over then pull me back up so he could
push me again and again and again and again.

My jaw ached from the pressure of my grinding
teeth. “I can take care of myself. And I don’t ever want to see
your face again.”

I braced myself for his reaction. With Clive
I never knew whether he’d erupt or come off as calm as a priest on
Sunday. He took the high ground on this one, looking me square in
the eye when he said, “Well, that’s just too bad. I’m your
father.”

He loved saying that, like he was Darth Vader
delivering terrible news over and over—news that could destroy
me.

I’d nearly let him destroy me once. I
wouldn’t let him again. Melcher said the world needed me. Melcher
wasn’t a liar. Not like my dad. He had one of the most important
jobs on the whole planet, and so did I.

I lifted my chin. “You need to leave now,
unless you’d rather be escorted out.” I grabbed my phone.

“Who do you think you’re going to call,
Noel?” Clive asked in a snide voice.

“A friend,” I replied. Little did my father
know I had them in high places. Agent Melcher didn’t want family
interfering in my new life.

Clive stood up.

“All you had to do is ask nicely,” he
said.

Yeah, right. The man lied as easily as he
breathed.

“Please leave,” I said.

Clive stopped three feet from me. “I will...
for now, but you need to come home. I’m giving you one week,
Noel.”

“No.”

Clive smiled because my “no” was barely a
breath. Now that he was closer, I could smell his familiar
off-putting scent—eau de demonic.

Clive zeroed in on my neck. I hadn’t had a
chance to cover the bite mark. Instantly, his eyes lit up and a
smile cut through his cheeks. Clive took sick pleasure from pain in
any form.

“Did your
friend
do
this to you?”

“That’s none of your business,” I retorted,
standing my ground no matter how much I felt like stepping away
from him.

“You need your family more than ever, Noel.
I’ll let your mom and brother know you’re coming home. You wouldn’t
want to let your little brother down, would you? Make him think you
don’t want to see him. I’m sure there’s a heart somewhere inside
there. Do the right thing for once in your life, Noel.” Clive
stepped around me in one fluid movement and headed to the door. He
unlocked the deadbolt and let himself out.

There was a scream building inside my throat,
ready to erupt and echo through the halls of the building.

I rushed to the front door and relocked the
bolt then stormed back inside the living room and threw my pump at
the spot where Clive had been seated. It missed the couch, banging
the wall instead, before dropping onto the cushions. But not before
leaving a black mark on the eggshell paint.

I stormed into the kitchen and looked out the
window in time to see Clive walking down the dirt road sandwiched
between our building and a warehouse. So that’s how I’d missed his
car—he’d parked out of sight. Because that wasn’t creepy.

Turning my back to the window, I surveyed the
apartment through the open space between the kitchen and living
room. It no longer felt secure. Not only had Clive found me, he’d
managed to get inside.

I couldn’t stay here. There was just no way.
But where was I supposed to go on such short notice? Whitney and
Hope came from families only slightly less screwed up than mine.
Their parents would never allow me to crash anyway, not even for a
night.

There was Aurora, but I didn’t exactly feel
comfortable asking her. I could tell her mom thought I was trouble
the one time I’d come over. And then I’d have to answer all kinds
of questions I’d rather not share the answers to.

My life was personal. Private.

I had a week to figure something out, because
no way in hell would I be sticking around this place at the end of
it.

Just what I needed. First the school
transfer—thanks to Valerie. Then Gavin. Compliments of Valerie, yet
again. Then the reappearance of Clive. And now I needed to move out
of my apartment and go who knows where.

I yanked open the knife drawer and stared
down.

I felt like cutting open my chest and ripping
out my heart. I felt like holding the lifeless organ up to my dad
and Gavin and saying, “You can’t hurt me anymore, because now I’m
as heartless as the two of you.”

I grabbed a pair of kitchen scissors and
stormed into the bathroom. Lights on, standing in front of the
mirror, I gathered my hair in my fist and began cutting through the
strands.

The snipping sounds made my heart pump with
elation. I hacked my way through the rest of my hair and set the
long black rope of it onto the bathroom counter. Well, that was
freeing. I felt lighter already. Maybe I could cut off my head
while I was at it. Forget my heart. My brain was the real problem.
It’s where thoughts festered and turned into unwanted emotions. Off
with it!

Scissors opened wide, I held one blade to my
throat and stared into my reflection. My hair hung jagged around my
shoulders.

The scissors made one last slicing sound as I
snapped them shut and set them down.

I had no desire to be dead. Not anymore. I
was made of stronger stuff than that.

At ten, I started calling hair saloons until
I found one that could see me that morning. I covered Henry’s bite
mark with concealer and a studded choker, got my hair trimmed, and
spent the afternoon in a coffee shop with my laptop looking at
roommate-wanted ads.

I’d love to rent a place of my own. No
roommates. No drama. Nothing but peace and quiet, or loud music if
I wanted. Who knew? Maybe Melcher would go for it if I took the
initiative and found something without his help.

One way or another, I had to find a place to
crash within a week.

I showed up for school Monday with no intention of
going to class. West’s library was newer and more open than
Denali’s, which made it harder to hide in, but as long as you kept
your face in a book most school librarians were happy to leave you
alone.

For a few brief months, I thought my dad was
out of my life for good. I should have known that a city of three
hundred thousand wasn’t nearly enough to hide in. Anchorage trapped
its inhabitants between Cook Inlet and the Chugach Mountains. It
was like living inside a snow globe.

For one brief week, Gavin made me feel happy.
Really happy, not fake-happy. I mean, when I really thought about
it, I wasn’t a happy person. My undercover work for the government
gave me job satisfaction. That was something. Marcus’s parties were
fun. I had a roof over my head and food in the cupboard. But what
did any of that matter if nobody loved me?

When I’d told Fane Aurora was in trouble,
he’d dropped everything to come to her rescue. And that was after I
told him she was a vampire hunter.

Who would come running if I was ever
abducted?

I sunk further into my chair.

I lost track of the number of bells that
rang. My stomach rumbled. I ignored it. At some point someone came
over, and I tensed, thinking the librarian was about to point out
my overextended stay, but it was Aurora with her long black hair
hanging over her shoulders as she leaned beside me. Relief and
annoyance filled me. I wasn’t really in the mood for
conversation.

“I love your hair,” Aurora said.

“Thanks.”

“What are you doing in the library? Get hit
by nostalgia?” she asked.

I breathed in and out, not responding.

Aurora frowned. “What’s the matter?”

I might as well tell her. “It’s Valerie.” I
scratched at a rough patch of wood on the table with my black
painted fingernail.

Aurora slipped into a seat beside me. “What’s
she done now?”

“She hooked up with Gavin.”

Aurora straightened up. “What? When?”

“After I dropped you off Friday night I went
back to the party and found Valerie in Gavin’s lap... and then they
went upstairs.” I dropped my head into my arms.

“I’m so sorry, Noel.” Aurora touched my back
gently. “Um, want to get out of here? Grab a sandwich?”

“I’m not hungry,” I said through my arms. I
lifted my head. “But I’ll come with you. I just want to get out of
here.” I shoved my things into my backpack. I felt like shoving
myself inside and being left alone.

As we headed down the hall, the intercom
system crackled to life.

“Aurora Sky and Noel Harper, please report to
the front office immediately.”

I looked at Aurora. Now what? Whatever. I
needed a distraction. We made our way down the hallway, all but
empty at lunch hour, and rounded the last corner before we hit the
school office. I marched over to the secretary and said, “I’m Noel
Harper, and this is Aurora Sky.”

The woman looked around her desk. She handed
Aurora and I each a slip of paper. We unfolded them together.

I need you on base now. – Melcher

“Duty calls,” I said sarcastically. Again.
“Do you need anything out of your locker?” I asked Aurora. Since
getting into a head-on collision, she was too afraid to drive,
which made me the default driver. I didn’t mind driving. It made me
feel less short, and I liked being in control.

While Aurora went to her locker, I got the
car started and pulled into the pick-up lane. Melcher better not
have called Valerie in. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel.
My vision blurred.

A couple minutes later, Aurora tossed her
backpack inside and hopped in. We didn’t talk much on the way to
the base. I wasn’t in a talking mood and Aurora wasn’t exactly Miss
Chatty Chatterson.

Valerie was the last person I felt like
seeing, so low and behold, who walked in after Dante, Aurora, and I
got to base—the bitch herself. I thought she’d zero in on me, but
she chose to direct her attention on Aurora. Guess she saw Aurora
as competition, whereas I was a loser not worth worrying about.

“Don’t tell me I’ve been called in to babysit
Aurora again.”