To Fall (The To Fall Trilogy Book 1) (10 page)

There was a flash of something in her eyes that I didn’t understand, but she tried to cover it with a smile. That wasn’t a real smile. I had done something to upset her.

Abby rotated back to Beth and I should have gone after her, seen her out, but I didn’t. Locked onto her every move, she looked at me before turning the corner, and I swore my heart skipped a beat this time. I wondered what would have happened if Beth hadn’t interrupted us.

Craning my head back, I looked to the stars, hoping for a day that I could show Abby the sky as I saw it.

“You get it?” Caleb asked.

I had sensed his and Hannah’s presence a few minutes ago. “No, he bolted. He was talking to Abby, but I didn’t have enough time to make him.”

“Damn.” He looked over his shoulder. “What’s going on in that house? And did you catch the lewd acts in the spa? Sweet angel light!” His hand raked his hair so as not to disturb the faux hawk.

“Yeah, I did. I think this is normal, Caleb.”

“Ah hell.”

14

Abby

It had been a week since I saw Xander, and he let me go with a simple “goodnight.” It was the perfect opportunity to get my phone number and he didn’t. Was he too shy to ask in front of Beth? He didn’t seem like the shy type.

Having seen her ex with Danielle Quincy messed with Beth’s head. Mark and Danielle had to have been hooking up for the night. She wasn’t known for relationships and neither was he, evidently. Mel and Beth called her Double-D Danielle for obvious reasons. She was one of those girls I would never get along with. Danielle knew I had a heart condition and she made sure to drop comments any chance she could.

Before our freshman year in high school, everyone heard about her home invasion and the horrible death of her parents. Thank goodness Danielle happened to be sleeping at a friend’s house. She lived with her older sister now, and my heart went out to Danielle. Both of us had been orphaned at different points in our lives, and she at least knew her parents. That loss must have been so difficult, and I reasoned her lashing out at me was a result of whatever pain she was going through. So I steered clear of her, resisted the urge to fire back, but I heard my best friends had words with her once or twice.

I had registered for my courses online and decided to sign up for culinary class. Maybe with professional instruction, I could at least learn kitchen basics and hope to keep all ten fingers.

Because I didn’t have a dorm or a car to house my supplies, I rented a locker from school.

With Mel and Tyler dating, we didn’t see much of her. Beth popped over to my house around the same time every day and we entertained my sisters. Although she denied it, she was still in love with Mark. I figured once school started she would find someone. Beth was the kind of girl any guy would be lucky to have.

Friday night before the start of school, Mel and Beth were off to another one of Tyler’s parties. The last two didn’t go well for me, so I opted to stay home, which was a mistake, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Xander. I wondered if he was there and if he hoped to see me. Maybe I had missed another opportunity with him. At some point, after obsessing over his chiseled chest, ripped abs, and full lips, I fell asleep.

During the night, I woke to Bozo barking outside my bedroom door, which he never did at night. Stretching before I rolled over to fall back asleep, I sensed it, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Someone was watching me, a presence, like the one in my nightmare. Was I dreaming now?

Lifting my head, I focused on an odd shape in the corner. Nothing in my room would cast a shadow like that. Near the top of it, light glinted. It moved. It wasn’t a shadow. Realizing what it was, ice flowed through my veins and tears burst forth. Imposing and silent, a tall form stood and the eyes shifted again. A man.
The evil
.

Opening my mouth to scream, nothing came. I tried to move, jump out of bed, run, but I couldn’t. I was paralyzed, trapped in my body. This couldn’t be happening. I was dreaming.
Wake up. WAKE UP
!

It was dark, but I should have been able to see his face as he stalked closer to me. It was as if he was made of the dark, birthed from shadows. I could only see his eyes. Black marbles gleamed from whatever light was in the room, watching me. Cheeks wet with tears, I trembled, and a scream locked in my throat.

His hand came to my face. Spindly, icicle fingers combed my hair back and touched my forehead. A rough finger caressed my cheek, then over my lips.

Struggling to get away from him, the only movement I made was of my heaving chest and thudding heart. His skin was so cold, as though the evil within him repelled all warmth. Vaguely, I heard Bozo’s continuous barks and snarls, and I prayed for help.

Faster than my eyes could react, the covers were thrown back and his black eyes soaked in my body. Fingers trailed down my neck and a wave of shivers swathed over me. He stopped at my nightgown, fabric pulled, and I realized he was unbuttoning it. The cotton drew apart and the fan blew air over my skin, exposed to him. My stomach clenched and bile encroached up my throat. In the dark, I could hear him smiling, reveling in my fear as though it fed him.

Terror obliterated any humiliation I may have had. My eyes were locked on his every move. He leaned close enough that his chilled mouth came to mine. Wetness flicked along my lips, tasting me. The acidic bile burned in my throat, threatening to come. The bed frame hit the wall in tiny shocks that matched my quaking body. A thick, cold trail followed his tongue to my cheeks, lapping up my salty tears and a growl vibrated over me.

In a flicker, he moved, the air chilling the path his tongue created down my throat, collarbone, and chest, sliding along my scar. Frozen fingers slithered up my sides to my ribcage and I erupted in goose bumps. Hands kneaded my breasts and tugged on my nipples. Hovering over me, I heard an intake of breath and another growl.

Ice immersed one of my breasts, and once I heard a sucking noise, I realized it was his mouth. My tears came in rivulets off my cheeks. The mattress dipped under his weight, something hard pressed against my leg, jabbing me. Fear clouded me and I couldn’t focus. His weight shifted and his mouth trained on my other breast. The hard thing moved to between my legs. I understood what it was and my pulse roared in my ears.

He thrust his hips into me again. My mouth opened farther as if that would help break my scream free. Five individual, moving icicles stretched and pulled on the waist of my panties. I had to lay here and watch him torture me. My heart was on the brink of exploding. My breaths were too shallow and fast to feed my body oxygen. The last layer of protection disappeared and cool air brushed over the new exposed skin. His hand dragged up my inner thigh, and my body jolted from the touch of ice between my legs, sinking inside me.

I woke up with a start.

My hand flipped the light on and I searched the room. No one was here and everything was in its place. I was still dressed, and the covers were on me.

Gasping for air, I looked to the time. 1:00 a.m. Scrubbing my face, it was wet. I must have cried in my sleep. I guess I had another nightmare to add to my collection. With shaky legs, I went to my bathroom and turned the light on. The medicine in my pill bottle rattled, taking much longer than it should to single out a pill. I flung my head back and guzzled tap water, staring at my wide-eyed reflection and stained cheeks.

I had to get a grip. It was just a nightmare, but so different from my usual one. He’d never been in my room and never almost raped me. Blowing out a deep sigh, I padded back to bed. Pushing the man from my mind, I allowed myself to think of Xander again. The thought of him warmed me, calmed me, and sleep came.

“Two more days until school, Abby!” Olivia’s feet bowed the mattress with her tiny jumps.

“I know, I know.” Ugh, it was six in the morning. “Are you excited for second grade?” I croaked, rubbing my eyes. Olivia was the early riser and you had to get a bullhorn to wake up Emma.

After a botched pirouette, she exclaimed, “Yes! I met my new teacher yesterday and she’s pretty!”

“All right, Liv. Why don’t you go get breakfast and I have to hop in the shower.”

Tangled hair whipped around her as she bounced out into the hall. I closed my door and went toward my bathroom. A slice of light forced me to stop cold; the pink curtain was pushed aside—something I didn’t notice last night. Moving the heavy fabric, the window was unlatched but closed. Maybe Margaret cleaned in here and forgot to lock it. The alternative forced a shiver down my back, but last night was just another nightmare. If it had been real, I wouldn’t have been dressed. I shrugged it off, locked the window, pulled the curtain back into place, and headed into the shower.

In the summer, the tap water was one temperature. Hot. Even with the tap all the way on cold and letting the water run, it would only get cool enough to be tolerable. With the shower beating on my back, my nightmare reentered my thoughts, chilling me. Once more, I forced the thoughts out of my head and replaced them with Xander. Did he go to the party or did he have a date? Maybe he had a girlfriend. That thought twisted my stomach. I had it bad. The real live version of Xander was even better than my dream. If there was any doubt before, there wasn’t now. I was hopelessly, madly in love with Alexander Wright.

I brushed my teeth and decided to braid my hair back. With the weekly pillboxes filled, I swallowed this morning’s and took out the supplies to check my clotting levels. The alcohol cooled on my finger, I pricked it with the lancet, and placed a dot of blood on the strip. Once I cleaned up and put everything away, I put the results into my online account for Dr. Joe.

I was sure there would be a cleaning list to accomplish today. Mom had already done the back to school shopping. Maybe Margaret would be in the mood for board games later. Downstairs, Margaret was already making breakfast. One look at her and I knew Olivia was determined to wake up the entire house. A third of the coffee was missing and Margaret’s deep sips told me she might finish the whole pot.

“Good morning,” she yawned. “What do you have planned for today?”

I crunched down on the bacon. “Hmm…” The overcast sky beckoned me. “Maybe I’ll go for a walk before everyone gets up.”

She stopped flipping a pancake and waved the spatula at me. “Baby girl, take your cell, and leave the damn dog.”

I took her advice. I also grabbed a bottle of water this time and put on my running gear. It was warm and muggy, but the clouds hid the sun and I didn’t have a seventy-pound lab pulling me.

Before I put my earbuds in, the chatter of sparrows filled the air as they flitted from roof to roof, and then swirled around the oak tree across the street. I could have sworn something moved inside it, but it must have been my imagination.

A few of my neighbors had avoided landscaping because of the heat; I had to duck under tree limbs hanging over the sidewalk. I stared at the Reynolds’ yard as I went past. Margaret called it “Saguaro Row” because their yard consisted of six saguaros, five ocotillos, and each type of small cacti known to man covered every available space in the rocky landscape. Either the Reynolds didn’t want anyone in their yard, or they were fascinated by the desert.

Ants and their sandy hills occupied the cracks in the walkway. I stepped around them for fear of getting the bugs on my sneakers. When I was a kid, I sat in an anthill and my entire leg erupted in red bumps from their painful bites. I freaked out and earned myself another ambulance ride. I learned my lesson: avoid ants and invest in bug spray.

Looking to the south, the Sierra Estrella Mountains caught my attention. I wondered what the Valley would look like from its peak and how long it would take to walk it. But like everything else requiring physical effort, I would never be able to hike. Then my mind wandered to all the things I would never do. Kissing was at the top of that list. And I was thinking about Xander’s lips again.

A sharp pain shot up my leg from my foot twisting at a bad angle against the curb. Nursing it, I looked around. I wasn’t far from the neighborhood park. Gimping to the swing, I tried my best to avoid putting any pressure on my foot and the sinking sand wasn’t helping. I gripped the metal chain to ease down onto the seat. The burning metal should have been enough to remind me that plastic had the ability to absorb the scorching temperatures of the sun. After searing the back of my thighs, I pulled my sock down to reveal an already bruised and swollen ankle.

Way to go. For the first day of school, I’d have crutches as an accessory. Danielle would get a real kick out of this. I took out my cell phone knowing Dad was home.

I felt a warm touch on my ear and my bud slipped out.

“You’re a little old for a playground,” the low, husky voice said.

Xander was behind me, smiling. My heart rate jumped and my stomach either flipped or flopped, I couldn’t tell which. My eyes anchored down, then up. Running sneakers, legs bound in muscle, low-lying shorts with a white T-shirt tucked in the waist, ripped abs, tanned chest, strong jaw, and full lips stretched into a wide grin. Wait…that smile was bigger than it was a moment ago. He knew I was staring. He knew I was checking him out. Crap.

“Hi.” I completely failed at keeping my voice steady as I took the bud from him.

Holding up his hands, Xander’s eyes widened. “Did I scare you? I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Xander scanned the park. “What are you doing over here?”