Absolution

by Jennifer Laurens

  Weston looked at Krissy again, and his shock sharpened. “What do you think is going on?”

  “Imagine the worst.”

  Color drained from Weston’s cheeks. His gaze locked on Krissy, horror and disbelief widening his eyes. He swallowed. “It’s cool Luke’s her friend.”

  “As long as she doesn’t use and dump him.”

  “I don’t think she’s a player. She’s kind of backwards. Luke’s smart, anyway.”

  I studied the two of them from across the room. Luke definitely was attentive to her. And she was to him.

  I was ready to go home. I yawned. “I’m beat. I didn’t sleep at all in there.” I started toward Luke and Krissy and Weston followed.

  “You don’t look tired,” Weston observed. “You look hot.”

  I snorted. “I guess that’s something.”

  Luke and Krissy looked over as we neared, but neither stepped back from the other. “We’re taking off,” I said. “Krissy, does your dad know where you are?”

  Krissy lowered her eyes. “No.”

  “Last time he was at our house, he threatened us,” I said, trying to keep my agitation under control. If her dad knew she’d been with our family for the last twenty-four hours, he’d shoot all of us dead with a sawed-off shotgun.

  Luke tilted his head at me, his blue eyes sharp. “I’m going to take her home now, so it’s under control, Z.”

  You can’t see the loathsome creeps her dad harbors. “Just be sure you drop her off a block away so her dad doesn’t see your car,” I suggested.

  I felt Weston’s hand wrap around my elbow. He tugged me toward the door.

  “Luke’s taking care of it,” he said.

  Frustration simmered in my blood, but I accompanied Weston out the glass double doors of the ER. Luke could take care of himself.

  Weston kept walking in the direction of his silver truck and I remained in step with him. He studied me as though he was deciphering whether or not to say anything.

  “Krissy’s not out to hurt anybody, not purposefully, anyway.” He unlocked the passenger side door and opened it for me.

  I paused in the opening. I admired Weston for calling me on my behavior towards Krissy. No guy had ever done that.

  A grin spread my lips wide and a tingle shot down my body. His gaze slipped to my mouth. He inched closer, and wrapped around me. He pressed a gentle kiss against my lips, and my arms wove around his neck. Weston’s hands explored my back, trailing my waist, dipping further and lower—

  Suddenly, he jerked away and the morning air cooled my lips. His wide eyes darted around and he inched back. “You sure Matthias isn’t here?”

  “Positive.”

  My answer didn’t seem to ease his jitters. His gaze still swept the parking lot as if he didn’t believe me. “We’d better go.”

  “I told you he was gone.”

  “Yeah, but what if he shows up? You know, because we’re kissing?”

  “He’s not going to do that.”

  Weston eyed me but he didn’t make a move to return to kissing. I climbed up into the cab, sighed and inwardly smirked. Is this how it’s going to be from now on? Weston afraid to touch me for fear Matthias will poof and appear?

  Something had to change.

  Chapter Eleven

  ____________________

  We drove home in silence, the air between us sticky, a familiar thickness that crowded me and Weston whenever Matthias was around or was the subject of conversation. How could I assure Weston that Matthias was not going to interfere with my life unless under the calling of guardian? I could hardly blame him for being jumpy. Matthias had indeed stepped in once and stopped what had promised to be a seriously hot make out session between us.

  That was when I’d admitted to Weston I saw spirits.

  The news had taken some time for him to digest, but he believed. And I loved that about him. His faith in me bound us together more deeply than I’d been bound to any other person besides my family. And Matthias.

  “This can’t come between us.” I wanted to clear the murky air.

  He scrubbed his jaw. “It’s hard.”

  I laid my hand on his thigh. His sharp gaze shot there, then to my face before returning to the road.

  “Careful,” he said, voice gravelly.

  Butterflies swarmed in my belly. “Just making myself clear.”

  “Making me hot is more like it,” he said.

  “That too.”

  He took a deep breath and sighed. He turned onto my street and parked the truck at the curb. No sign of Luke’s Samurai. After shutting off the engine, he faced me. My pulse skittered, anticipating a continuation from where we left off in the hospital parking lot.

  A minute ticked by.

  He opened his door and got out, and my anticipation deflated. He rounded the hood of the truck, his dark gaze pinning me through the front windshield. I followed him until he reached my door and swung it open.

  Seconds passed. He shifted. “I better get home.”

  I climbed down, my ego a little bruised.

  He shut the door and slowly walked with me up the pathway to the house. When we reached the porch he stopped a good five feet from the door, his hands stuffed into the front pocket of his jeans.

  He leaned forward and placed a kiss on my cheek, pausing, his warm breath heated my skin. “Bye, Zoe.”

  His tone was so cryptic. What did he mean?

  I watched him return to his truck, get inside and drive off, my heart fumbling in my chest.

  y y y

  The front door shut behind me and I whipped out my cell phone.

  Texted Weston: r u ok?

  yeah

  u sure?

  yeah just tired

  k

  Hadn’t we all just spent the last twenty-four hours in the hospital? I felt a little better believing he was simply tired.

  Mom and Dad’s voices drifted down the stairs in low murmurs. I headed up.

  The door to Abria’s bedroom was open, and I rounded the corner and peered in. Abria lay tucked in her bed. Mom sat on one side, Dad on the other. Mom hovered over my sister. Behind Mom stood Aunt Janis, her radiant glow spilling onto Mom’s body. Aunt Janis stroked Mom’s head as she would a child.

  Aunt Janis smiled at me. “Zippy, how are ya, honey?”

  I opened my mouth to reply, and stopped, stepping into the room.

  “How is she?”

  “Your mother’s a wreck but I’m workin’ on her.”

  “She’s so docile,” Mom answered quietly, petting Abria’s hands. It was strange seeing Abria so passive. She never let anyone comfort her. I imagined the moment was bittersweet for my parents, wanting to savor the ironic experience.

  Dad glanced at me. “Is Weston with you?”

  I crossed to the foot of the bed, trying not to glance at Aunt Janis and not wanting to ignore her at the same time. “No. He dropped me off and went home.”

  Dad nodded. “He seems like a nice young man.”

  “He stayed at the hospital the whole time?” Mom looked up at me and I caught the red rimming her eyes.

  “Um, yeah.”

  “Was that Krissy I saw in the waiting room?” Dad asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Dad’s brows drew together. The late night and Abria’s hospital stay had already taken a toll on him, leaving him pale and shadowed beneath his green eyes. I hated that he looked concerned now—for Luke.

  “I take it her dad knew where she was?” he asked.

  “He probably did,” I said, though Krissy had said no. I glanced at Aunt Janis, gauging whether or not she knew anything about Krissy’s situation.

  Aunt Janis didn’t react, only remained intent and focused on comforting Mom. “You have got to loosen up, Deb. Have some faith. Your little girl is gonna be just fine,” she cooed.

  Mom let out a sigh, then leaned over and kissed Abria’s head. Abria didn’t resist, or push her away; she lay quietly and closed her eyes.

&n
bsp; “Maybe I should rest in here with her,” Mom said, her voice weary.

  “That’s my job,” Aunt Janis piped, placing her hands just over the top of Mom’s head. Aunt Janis closed her eyes and the light illuminating her intensified for a moment, seeming to rush into Mom, cocooning her like I’d seen the beings at the hospital administer to their charges.

  “You need to rest,” Dad said.

  “Yeah,” I added. “Abria’s out. Let her sleep.”

  “What if she needs me?” Mom asked.

  “I’ll be here for her.” Aunt Janis’ soothing voice seemed to transcend barriers. Mom’s countenance lightened and she took in a deep breath as she stared at her sleeping child.

  Dad rose and came around the foot of the bed, then gently urged Mom to her feet. “She’s going to be fine. Time for you to take a nap.”

  Aunt Janis smiled, nodded.

  “Maybe I will lie down for a little bit,” Mom conceded, glancing at the window. The late morning sun creeped up the eastern sky, its orange rays spilling over the mountain peaks.

  Dad wrapped his arm around her and ushered her to the door. “We all need to take naps,” he said with a glance at me.

  “You’re right.” But I wanted to talk to Aunt Janis. “I’m gonna kiss Abria then take one of my own.”

  Mom leaned her head on Dad’s shoulder as they walked down the hall toward their bedroom. Once they were behind their closed bedroom door, I returned to Abria’s room. Aunt Janis smiled.

  “You wanted to talk, Zippy?”

  “It’s Zoe,” I teased.

  “I know.” She waved a hand at me. “Listen, your Mom needs a break.

  I know you help her, and that’s wonderful. Encourage her to have more faith, Zoe. Like you.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” I said. “Where’s Matthias?”

  Her bright countenance softened to a marshmallowy glow and her eyes twinkled. “He really is special, isn’t he?”

  “I didn’t see him after his… father showed up at the hospital. Is he all right?”

  “You don’t have to worry about Matthias, honey.” Aunt Janis crossed to me, her nearness warming. “He’s one of the strongest souls I’ve ever met.”

  Of course Matthias was all right. But had seeing his father hurt him? “I just—Albert is so awful… I didn’t want Matthias to be sad or hurt.”

  “Don’t you trouble yourself over this.”

  “But I care about him. His father’s such a loser, I can’t—”

  “Tsk-tsk.” Aunt Janis shook her head. “How can the bad ever be good if we don’t have faith in them?”

  I snickered. “Have you ever seen or been near Albert?”

  “I haven’t, but every soul deserves hope, Zoe.”

  “But he’s so far gone it’s…” Sad. No wonder Matthias didn’t want to give up on him—his family. His blood. “Do you know anything about Matthias’ mother?”

  “Not a thing.” Aunt Janis glanced at Abria. “Your mother and Abria are resting now, so I’ll be on my way.” She brightened. “Good to see you again.

  Take that nap, you’ve got circles under your eyes.” She pointed with a teasing gleam and then, in a flash of white, was gone.

  Abria remained asleep in her bed. I sunk to the mattress and sighed.

  Kissed Abria’s cheek. She didn’t stir. I lay down next to her and focused on the soft rise and fall of her chest, allowing the movement to gradually drain the adrenaline from my body. The smell of her, the very fact that she was alive and well and breathing next to me cradled my weary soul.

  The far-off slam of the front door jolted me. It had to be Luke. I didn’t want him to awaken Mom, Dad or Abria. I stood and tip-toed out of Abria’s bedroom, shutting the door behind me.

  I went down the stairs, any welcome relaxation I’d invited watching Abria sleep vanished with each step closer to the kitchen. Luke had his head in the freezer side of the refrigerator.

  “Hey,” I said. “Everybody’s napping so if you could be super quiet it’d be—”

  He pulled out a bag of peas, shut the door, and my breath caught. His eye was blotched red and purple.

  Chapter Twelve

  ____________________

  I crossed to him. “What happened?”

  “Damned psycho,” he mumbled, placing the bag of peas over his blackening eye.

  “Krissy’s dad?” Anger rushed through my veins. “Did he do that?”

  Luke’s hands shook. Either he was fuming or whatever had happened between him and Krissy’s dad had scared him.

  “I took Krissy home and was going to drop her off a block away, like I usually do. The goon appeared out of nowhere. He must have been hiding in some neighbor’s bushes or something because he stormed up to the car and pounded on my hood. Scared the hell out of us. Then he ripped open the door and yanked Krissy out of the car by her hair. By her hair! Like some effing caveman! Who does that?” He shifted, and readjusted the bag of peas over his eye.

  “I got out of the car and told him off, the freak, which of course he didn’t stand for. But I don’t care, I had to. The guy is so effed up it’s ridiculous.

  He freaking dragged Krissy down the street by her hair. I told him to stop and he shoved me back. I jumped him and—”

  “You jumped him?”

  “I wasn’t going to let that moron treat her like that. I had to do something,” Luke hissed. “He’s…he’s…”

  “What?” I demanded.

  Luke avoided my gaze, left me and crossed to the family room couch where he plopped into the cushions.

  “He assaulted you. I’m calling the police.”

  “No!” Luke bolted to his feet.

  “Why?” Every nasty and grotesque image I’d imagined about Krissy’s dad flashed through my head. “Did he threaten you too? You know better than to listen to someone like that. People like him live off threats, Luke. That’s how they control their victims. Are you going to let him control you now?”

  “I certainly hope so,” Albert’s smooth voice came at me from my right. He leaned against a wall, hands in the pockets of his suit. I took a deep breath to calm myself, but the underlying violation I felt on behalf of Luke remained—a low current I hoped to squelch before it revved out of hand.

  “It’s not me I’m worried about, it’s her,” Luke said. “What he’ll do to her.”

  I faced Luke, keeping Albert’s image behind me. “Did she tell you what’s going on?”

  Luke’s pale-faced discomfort told me that he probably knew exactly what was going on, but was afraid—or too shocked and disgusted to say. Did I even want to know the truth?

  “He’s sexually abusing her, isn’t he?” My heart stopped, waiting for him to confirm what I had long believed was going on between Krissy and her Dad. Albert moved into my line of vision, his eerie presence pressing into my side with ominous foreboding.

  Luke froze. “She told you?”

  My gut twisted knowing the truth. “No. I figured as much. I told you, the man has black spirits crawling all over him.”

  “Yeah, well, he should be in jail.”

  I whipped out my cell phone. “And he will be, now that he hit you.”

  Luke lunged for my phone and I darted back. Albert applauded and moved closer to us. “You’re not calling the police,” Luke snapped. He wrenched my phone out of my hand.

  “Give that to me!”

  “Can’t. You don’t know what this will do to her.”

  “You mean save her from more abuse? I can’t see how calling the police won’t help.” I thrust my open palm at him. “Give me my phone.”

  “Ah, sibling arguments.” Albert rocked back on his heels. “There’s nothing more destructive to the delicate weave of the family unit.”

  “Shut. Up!”

  “Screw you!” Luke turned, shoved my phone into his pocket and headed for the freezer.

  “Zoe, you never disappoint,” Albert commented, like a sportscaster commentating a UFC. “You’re a master at—
”

  Ignore him, ignore him. “I wasn’t talking to—look, if I promise not to call the cops will you give me my phone?”