The Academy - Friends vs. Family (42 page)

His lips traced my ear as he whispered. “We have to go. I’ll take
you with me. I promise. This doesn’t matter. None of it matters. You’re my
Trouble. Let’s go. If we run...”

I stiffened against him. “Do you have your phone?”

He sighed. “Yes.”

“Text Kota,” I said, my mind formulating, calculating. I couldn’t
worry about myself right now. I had to protect Gabriel. I had to protect them
all. “We need to make final plans.”

F
ather

Gabriel needed more convincing, but I promised I wouldn’t leave
until it happened. Gabriel used his phone, and we masked the light of it with
our bodies so it wouldn’t be noticed. He sent texts to Kota.

Gabriel: I have Sang. She can’t leave until her father gets here.

Kota: Get her out of there.

Gabriel: Mrs. Sorenson has the phone, ready to call the police.

Kota: We’re ready for that.

Gabriel: She’s not her real mother. She wants to dump Sang on her
father and can’t reach him. She’s promising to call the police and tell them who
she really is if he doesn’t show up by nine.

Kota: Gabe, pick Sang up and walk her out of there. That’s an
order.

Gabriel closed his eyes against the light. I could see the strain
in his eyes. Kota was the boss. He had to obey.

I shook my head at him. “Try again,” I said softly. This was our
only shot to avoid the chaos that would ensue. I knew I needed to trust them,
but maybe Kota didn’t understand.

Gabriel: Sang won’t leave. She wants you to find her father. I’m
with her in the closet. Her mother’s giving him time to come back and take her.
It’ll avoid the police if he can show up. Sang wants you to find him.

Moments passed. Gabriel’s hand on my waist gripped and regripped
me. His shirt fell over my butt, covering my private parts until he started
gripping me. He was so focused, I wasn’t sure if he noticed but it made me feel
strange to be exposed and next to him. I was too scared to move to draw
attention to it. In the dark, I wasn’t sure if he would see it anyway.

I pleaded in the dark to the phone, hoping Kota would understand.
I was safe right now. Leaving meant I wouldn’t be. If my father could just come
back for a minute, he might be the only one who could straighten this out.

The phone buzzed to life.

Kota: 8.

I stared at Gabriel’s phone screen. “What does it mean?”

“It means we have until eight,” he whispered. “If your father
doesn’t show up by eight, I’m to take you out of here.”

“Will he help? Will he try to reach him?” I asked.

Gabriel’s face broke into a grin. “You’re forgetting who we are.”

We had time. I relaxed into Gabriel. It might be okay after all.
If anyone could find my father, the boys could. I was sure if they could just
talk to him, they’d get him to come back. I just didn’t want the police called.
This was all my mistake. They didn’t need to get into that kind of problem with
me. Not if it could be prevented.

Gabriel promised Kota if anything changed we would let them know
or he’d take me out of here. There was nothing for us to do but to count the
time. We had four hours to sit around.

With the drone of the television, it was harder to figure out the
location of my mother. I wasn’t even sure if Marie was home for a while. On
occasion I heard creaking upstairs and wondered if it was Marie or just the
house settling.

Gabriel held me in his lap, occasionally shifting to find some
comfort. Eventually, he pulled me with him until his back was against the wall,
my body against him as he stretched out his legs. I fell off of his lap, my
bare butt landing on the floor next to him. I stuffed his shirt down around my
hips.

Gabriel sucked in a breath, pushing my legs off of him. “Turn
around.”

My heart thundered again. “Where?”

He motioned. “Just look at the wall, will you?”

I turned, sitting on the floor, but faced the wall, staring at it.
From behind me came sounds of a belt loosening, a zipper slipping down and
cloth shuffling. My back stiffened. He was getting undressed?

Trust him, I willed to myself. Gabriel made a promise. He’s here
risking his own freedom, at the risk of getting the police called on him, to
stay with me. Trust him.

More shuffling. A tap on my shoulder. “Alright.”

I turned. His shoes were off, sitting next to him on the floor.
His pants were back on. His belt hung off of his knee as he held up a pair of
boxers.

He picked up his phone and hit a button to illuminate the screen.
“Hold it up for me.”

I took his phone in my hands, holding it over his shoulder. I
shifted to block the light from the crack under the door with my own body.

Gabriel held the boxers close to his face, pulling a pocket knife
from his back pocket. He measured the width of the belt, and started cutting
slots into the material of the boxers, like belt loops. He chewed on the edge
of his lip as he worked. “Buy her a fucking new wardrobe, and she wears my
clothes,” he mumbled.

“I like your clothes,” I whispered. His were always so colorful. I
couldn’t imagine the others wearing the bold oranges and neon greens and having
the earrings to match the style he liked.

“Shush or I’ll drag you out of here now,” he said, his focus on
the boxers. When he finished, he threaded the belt through the makeshift belt
loops. “Put this on. If we’re going to have to make a run for it later, it’ll
be easier if you aren’t completely naked.”

I sighed, turning around. I held out my hand, ready to take the
boxers from him but instead, he ducked next to me, holding the boxers in place
for me to step in to. My heart thundered as I stepped into the underwear, and
he slid the material up my legs, adjusting them on my hips.

When they were up all the way, he turned me around, yanking the
belt together. He tugged it tight at my hips, frowning. “You’re too small.” He
picked up his pocket knife, finding a sharp screwdriver tool and started
grinding out another notch.

When he was finished, the end of the belt nearly folded down over
itself. He threaded it back again through the belt loops he made.

The boxers were a comfort. I felt better prepared to run now, too.

He dropped to his knees again, falling onto the carpet on his
back. I slipped next to him on the floor. He held out his hands, wrapping his
arms around my shoulder. He pulled me until I was resting on top of him, my
stomach on top of his. My knees dropped to the floor on either side of his
hips. His hand found my cheek and he held my head against his chest. It was
almost cozy.

My eyes drooped. I’d been stressed all night with Nathan, aware
and terrified all morning with being stuck in the closet. Now I was with
Gabriel. I was warm and exhausted. I knew I shouldn’t sleep. I needed to be
awake and ready to go in case we needed to fly out or if my father showed up.

“Sang,” he whispered.

“Yeah?” I whispered back, staring off at the small crack of light
coming in under the door.

“You’re fucking grounded.”

I pressed my face to his chest, clutching at his tank top and
smothering a giggle. “For how long?”

“Forever.”

“Are you mad?”

“Fuck yes.”

I shouldn’t have been happy about it, but I was. I smiled against
his chest.

He tucked his right arm under his head, propping it up. His other
hand massaged at my scalp, his fingers combing through my hair. “I give you a
pretty haircut and paint some stars and do all this shit for you. ‘
Hey
Trouble, come on and let me save you.’ ‘No, Meanie, I’m gonna stay here.
’
How the hell did you talk me into this?”

“I told you to go back.”

“Are you kidding? Kota would shoot me. Mr. Blackbourne would skin
me. I’d never live through it.”

We fell quiet. I listened for the sound of my mother. It sounded
like she was on her bed. Maybe she’d fall asleep.

“Meanie?”

“Yes, Trouble?”

I bit my lower lip. “What’s going to happen to us?”

Gabriel sucked in a breath. He carefully picked me up and moved me
until I was on my back on the carpet. He shifted until he was on his side, his
back facing the closet door as if to put himself between my mother and me. He
hovered over me, one arm propping himself up and the other on my stomach. In
his shadow, I could only catch the outline of his hair, his cheek, his neck.
“I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. Kota is going to find your dad. I don’t
know what he’ll say, but it doesn’t matter. What will happen is you’re coming
with us.”

“I can’t live with you,” I said.

“You will if you have to.” His hand at my stomach gripped me, his
thumb smoothing over the shirt.

“Your parents... I mean won’t they notice another person in the
house?”

“Is that what you’re fucking worried about? What my parents’ would
think? Jesus Christ, Sang. You’re being held hostage by your own mo...” He
stopped, swallowed. “Sorry.”

“How can you be so sure I could stay with you?” I asked, not
wanting to talk about her. I didn’t know how to think of her right now. “The
police...”

His hand slid higher over my stomach, fingers gripping at me and
causing a cyclone of warm shivers. “Trouble, will you for once just trust me?”
His head sunk down until his forehead was pressing against my shoulder.
“Please? Pretty please? I’ll take care of you. You can stay with me. You can
stay with Kota. You can stay with Nathan. What-the-fuck-ever you want. We’ll
figure it out. We’ll do it together.”

His words rattled me. It was what I’d wanted, what I thought of in
the back of my mind. I cared about them so I wanted to be with them. Why was I
scared when I finally was faced with that? If I left with him now, could they
do it?

I lifted my arms, wrapping them around his neck. I wanted to
believe. I did. I was just exhausted and couldn’t take his begging any more. I
knew I’d go wherever he asked, wherever they wanted me. There was so much I was
grateful for with them. I was actually kind of sorry they worked so hard on my
room. It felt like such a waste now if I did end up living with him or one of
the others.

He cuddled me, his nose nuzzled my cheek. “Don’t worry so much.
I’ve got you now. I’m not letting go.”

I sighed against him, willing myself to believe.

Time passed. No word from Kota. Gabriel hovered his fingers over
his phone often but never sent a message. He said if they were busy, it could
be risky to interrupt. He just really wanted an update.

I dozed next to Gabriel often. I forced myself awake every time,
listening. I was worried if I fell asleep and if Gabriel did, too, we would get
caught. I didn’t know what would happened if she opened the closet now and
checked on us.

Gabriel kept his arms around me, as if daring her to find us.

At some point I was drifting. Gabriel nudged me awake. “Trouble,
it’s time. We’ve got to go.”

I sucked in a breath, getting a lung full of Gabriel’s scent.
“Hm?” I asked, still half asleep.

“It’s eight. Time to take you home with me.”

My eyes parted, sitting up sharply. “Did they not find him?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard from anyone.”

“Maybe you should text them.”

“No,” he said. “We’ve got to go. Kota’s orders.”

“But he could be any minute.”

Gabriel gave a painful sigh. “Sang, he’s not coming. They couldn’t
reach him or he won’t come. Either way, we can’t stay here. If we leave, we
could get a head start.”

“But if we walk out...”

“Oy,” he said, his tone growing to the point that it was scaring
me that we would be heard. “We’re going.”

“Give me a minute,” I pleaded, not sure what good it would do. Why
was I stalling? If I were honest with myself, I knew why. In my heart, I
thought if we left, that it wouldn’t be as simple as Gabriel had promised. It
was also a crazy feeling of rejection. Maybe I cared what my father thought of
me after all. I couldn’t believe, even if he had left, that he had truly
abandoned us. Part of me wanted to think he really was on a business trip.

I rubbed at my eyes, yawning, stretching, stalling.

“Trouble,” he said. “If you don’t get that pretty ass of yours up,
I swear...”

The house trembled around us as a door was shut hard somewhere in
the house. Footsteps treaded through the house. We both drew quiet, waiting.
Was it Kota coming in to swoop us out of there? Did Mr. Blackbourne get tired
of waiting and send everyone in?

My mother’s voice shot out over the murmur of the television.
“Look who decided to show up,” she said.

“What’s going on?” my father’s voice traveled through the air.

My father showed up! My eyes widened, glancing over at Gabriel. I
couldn’t tell in the dark but he seemed to be frowning.

“You left something,” she said.

Footsteps came closer. Gabriel scrambled up, pressing himself
against the little bit of wall next to the door, standing out of view. I moved
to my knees, kowtowing out of years of habit.

The door opened. My father filled the space. I blinked up at him,
shaking. He was wearing brown slacks and a short sleeve polo shirt, two sizes
too big. His curly hair had been cut shorter. His cheeks were pink from too
much sun.