When I looked at Foster, his face had paled and he was looking at my hand in Mitchell’s with burning hate.
I released Mitchell’s hand gently. “Go help Daddy finish making dinner. Foster and I have some rules to discuss.”
Mitchell smiled at me and nodded, going back into the hall toward the kitchen.
“Rules?” Foster repeated.
“Rule one, you can’t attack anyone that stays here or visits me. Manslaughter is rude. Rule two, don’t do anything creepy in front of my parents; I’d say ‘at all’ but I’m pretty sure you haven’t changed that much based off of what I just saw. Rule three, you have to apologize to Mitchell. Rule four. My graduation party is in seven days; you have to leave within ten days, okay? There’s going to be about seventy people at the party, maybe more. I invited you here so you could come to the party. I didn’t know you’d be willing to come so soon.”
“Senior year isn’t even half over.”
“Mitchell graduated early and suggested I do the same thing. We both have enough credits to go to college, and he’s going to Washington State too, so I figured there’s no point in wasting the rest of the year at this school. Now, agree to my rules.”
He sighed and nodded. “Fine, whatever you want, Anika.” His tone made me wonder what else he was thinking about.
The way he said my name gave me slight chills and my face felt a little warm. I hadn’t heard his voice in so long that I’d almost forgotten what it was like. The same deep, smooth tone it had had a year ago was present now, but he sounded calmer. Maybe he had changed.
“I like the way you smell, by the way. I noticed it at the airport.”
Ah, there was the creepy Foster I knew.
***
Foster
I waited semi-patiently for Mitchell. Anika had insisted I apologize to him before dinner. Fury still pricked my gut. He had been here for weeks. He was going to college with her. He had convinced her to leave high school to spend more time with him. He was so much smarter than I had given him credit for. But that could come later; I had other matters to deal with right now. My eyes skimmed her room slowly now. Technically, I wasn’t meant to be in here anymore, but I needed to install my cameras. If Mitchell was coming in here at night, I needed to know about it.
I looked behind me for a moment at the door, then picked up a bell I found on Anika’s dresser and tied it to the knob before shoving a shirt under the door. The bell would signal if anyone was there and the shirt would provide me with just enough time to retreat thanks to the resistance it would create.
I unlocked my suitcase and pulled out several sizes of cameras, judging which one would fit best in the vent above her window. Finally, I decided on a medium one and turned on the wireless camera, then checked the battery life. I knew it would last for seven days of filming before I had to change the batteries if untouched. Perfect.
I pulled out a screwdriver and hummed quietly to myself as I undid the screws of the vent. I see trees of green, red roses too, hmmm hmm hmmm hmmmmm, for me and you, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world… Sure, I didn’t know all the words, but it was still a good song.
Finally. The vent screws fell easily into the palm of my hand and I looked inside.
My stomach dropped.
There was already a camera there.
The tiny bell went off and I shoved the screws back into the holes of the vent desperately. Anika had almost caught me installing cameras in her room once before at her last house, and my heart was beating wildly at the idea of her catching me this time. I threw my screwdriver under her bed and shoved the camera into my pocket before snapping shut my suitcase and going to the door, removing the shirt.
Mitchell looked up at me with a subtly suspicious expression.
I looked back at him unhappily. “Anika is a bit messy, I guess.”
“Yes,” he agreed slowly. Mitchell’s eyes skimmed the room thoroughly as he spoke. He was looking to see what I had been doing. “Anika said you were ready to apologize to me.”
Irritation choked my voice and I glared at him hatefully. If I got the chance, I would hurt him, badly. “Yes. Can we just pretend I apologized?”
A small smirk spread across his face. “It would be more satisfying if I heard you say it.”
My jaw clenched furiously and my hands twitched. “I’m sorry,” I snarled.
He smiled at me brightly. “All is forgiven.”
Mitchell turned his back on me so that he could leave and I contemplated just shoving him so that his face hit the opposite wall of the hallway. Seeing blood pour from his face would make me feel better. Seeing it happen because of me would make me feel twice as good about it happening. But he would tell Anika. And I couldn’t leave while she was in danger.
“Oh, and Foster?” said Mitchell.“I am not afraid of you anymore. Remember that.” And, with a smile, he disappeared from my view.
Chapter 21
Anika
I licked my spoon lazily and swung my legs as I sat on the kitchen counter with my ice cream. It had been months since I could sleep properly; maybe even a year. My eyes closed as I thought about my old house. The nights I spent with Mitchell, telling ghost stories until we fell asleep. The nights I spent with Brady, the first boy I’d slept with whom I’d felt something vaguely romantic for. Swirling my ice cream, I let my tired eyes close.
“You’re up pretty late.”
Chills spread slowly over my skin. “You’re up pretty early, Foster. It’s four in the morning.” I opened my eyes to look at the black-haired boy in my kitchen. His pajama pants hung loosely on his hips, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. I’d never really realized how pale his skin was until now. Heat spread through my cheeks as my eyes traveled down his chest to his V-line dipping below my line of sight. Was this the first time I was seeing him shirtless? My cheeks heated up again and I averted my eyes politely from his naked torso and looked out of the patio door.
“You can look,” he murmured quietly. I heard him walking toward me and when I looked at him again, he was close enough for me to touch him.
I looked at him for a moment, trying to decipher his facial expression, but his dark eyes gave nothing away.
Slowly and hesitantly, Foster reached out and brushed my hair away from my face. Heat burned me pleasantly where his fingers touched. Pink tinged his cheeks and he looked away, letting his hand fall. “I like your haircut. I didn’t get the chance to say that yet.” His eyes made their way to mine again and his always intense gaze made me unable to move.
“Thanks. I like it too. It’s a lot easier to manage this way.”
“I’ll miss your messy bun style, though. And I’ll also miss the shampoo you used to use. It was very pleasant and matched your body wash. Now you mix them and it’s a bit more distracting for me.”
I sighed quietly. Creepy Foster was back again.
Foster’s eyes trailed down to the bowl of ice cream in my hands. “Six days until your party,” he said quietly. “Nine days until I have to leave.”
I nodded.
“Ten days with you isn’t enough,” added Foster.
“You have to go home though, Foster. School, you probably have a job, your dad lives there—”
“You called it home even though you don’t live there anymore. Why?”
I hesitated, thinking about my answer carefully. “I miss it. You’re there, and Mitchell technically lives there still, and Sierra, and…” I shook my head, the last name not daring to roll off my tongue. I hadn’t said his name once since I had moved. I couldn’t. I hadn’t even been able to call him to ask him to come to my graduation party; I wasn’t sure what I would do if I saw him. “My life is there, you know? That makes it home to me.”
“You can always come back, whenever you want,” he murmured. “I could pay for your plane ticket if you want. You could stay at my house, and you could see Sierra every day if you wanted.”
I stayed quiet.
Foster’s hand touched the hand I was using to hold the counter, making me refocus my eyes on him. “Please, think about it,” said Foster. “When I leave, I’m not sure I can go another year with minimal contact. It’s… It was so… difficult for me not to come here before you said I could.”
“Foster…” I wasn’t sure what to say to him. What could I say?
His eyes bored into mine and he inched a little closer, almost touching his body to the counter, mere inches from where I was sitting. My heart sped up a little and I watched his eyes flicker just below my eyes. I bit my lip a little self-consciously. He noticed and his eyes darkened a little. “Don’t tempt me like that,” Foster half groaned, half growled. He closed his eyes and stood there for a moment before pushing himself away from the counter with slight force, looking into my eyes again. “I’m going to sleep for a few more hours, alright?”
I nodded slowly and my entire body relaxed.
Foster walked out of the kitchen and I watched the door for a moment after he closed it.
Finally, I exhaled. I hadn’t even realized I had been holding my breath when he had gotten so close to me. Or rather, that I had stopped breathing. I spooned another small mouthful of ice cream into my mouth and after putting the bowl in the sink, I stepped down from the counter and walked out into my living room. The time was starting to get to me, and exhaustion begged my body to go back to bed. The familiar irritability that came with mornings was beginning to tinge my mood and I started making my way to my room.
There was a slight knocking sound and I turned around in confusion at the bottom of the stairs.
The knock came again and I almost yelped in surprise. I’d seen Paranormal Activity. Every time the girl checked out the weird noise, she died. I considered calling for Foster; the smart, big ones lived sometimes. Slowly, I walked toward the door. If I was attacked by a serial killer, I was pretty sure I could scream in time for Foster to come help before I was stabbed to death.
Okay, deep breaths. Just open the door. It wasn’t that hard, right? I’d opened tons of doors. Not for serial killers but hey, gotta try new things, right? New experiences built character. Death, but also character.
The knock came a third time as I reached the door and I opened it slowly, poking my head around the door. A large black figure appeared as I opened it all the way. My pulse hammered hard.
The figure grabbed me tightly and I screamed loudly, half struggling against the strong arms around me.
Almost immediately, footsteps raced into the living room, and the light flicked on. I stared up at who had grabbed me and my eyes widened at the person with his arms around me.
“Brady.”
Chapter 22
Foster
I stared blankly as Brady’s familiar frame appeared in the light of the living room. I’d come rushing into the room when Anika screamed, and both her father and Mitchell were in the room now too. Brady grinned down at a very clearly surprised Anika.
“Hi to you too.”
She stared at him and we all waited to see what she would do next. Finally, she wrapped her arms around him and clung to him. Anger and jealously flooded my veins and I wanted to break his arms. “Why in the world are you here?” asked Anika. “I didn’t invite you. How the hell did you even get my address? Why are you here at four in the morning?”
Brady chuckled and his hand ran down her back slowly, up and down. “Well—”
A small blonde wove her way around Brady and squealed, launching herself at Anika and immediately stealing her away from Brady, squeezing her hard enough that she squeaked in surprise at the new person’s grip. “I missed you!” Sierra squealed.
Anika laughed and hugged her tiny friend. “Of course it’s you. You always make an entrance.”
Once the greetings were over, I stood awkwardly off to the side, watching. Sierra walked to Mitchell and hugged him too, and Anika’s father shook hands with Brady.
“So, um, Anika, I know you didn’t invite Brady but I thought I should bring him anyway, and since it was a surprise I didn’t want to bring this up on the phone, but—”
No.
Do not say it.
“—is it okay if he stays here too?”
No.
It isn’t.
“Of course.” Anika smiled at Sierra but I saw hesitation behind her eyes. Was she still upset about the way they had parted? Did she feel uncomfortable with him being here now that the excitement had ebbed enough for her to realize what was going on? I would have given anything to know what was going on in her head when she saw him.
Brady’s eyes finally found me and he looked at me without much interest. “Foster’s here.” His tone was flat and full of distaste. I didn’t care.
“All of this is very exciting,” Anika’s father, Jensen, started, “but it’s a very terrible hour of the night to have five teenagers giving me a headache. Could we postpone this to tomorrow?”
Anika rolled her eyes a little but sighed and nodded. “Yeah, good idea.” She hesitated. “I don’t have a room ready for Brady.”
Brady smirked teasingly. “I could sleep with you.”
Immediately, Anika’s father raised his hand. “Hello? Dad in the room. Could you not make me think about the fact that my daughter is now in a house with three teenage boys more than I have to?”
I chuckled quietly. A flash caught my attention. Mitchell was taking pictures again. My eyes narrowed at him but he wasn’t watching me. He was watching Anika.
And from a few feet away, with painfully ecstatic eyes, so was Brady.
***
I yawned when I opened my eyes and sat up slowly, stretching. I’d only been asleep for a few hours since Brady and Sierra arrived, and I could smell bacon and coffee downstairs. I took a moment to consider this.
At Anika’s other house, it was cold and quiet and smelled only like her. Here, it was warm and full of laughter and smelled like coffee all the time. Here, she had a home. It had been the right choice to tell her to move here. Though I still hadn’t seen her mother, I was certain this house had a much more “family” vibe than the other one. Knowing this made my year of mind-numbing boredom and sadness worth it; she’d been happy the whole time, and that was what mattered.
I pushed myself to my feet and walked to the kitchen. Anika was nibbling on the corner of a Pop-Tart, Sierra was cooing over Charlie and giving her pieces of banana, and Jensen was sipping coffee, leaning against the counter and watching Anika and Sierra with affectionate eyes.
Sierra grinned at Charlie. “You like bananas? Yes, yes we do,” she cooed and grinned, putting a small piece of banana into the toddler’s mouth.
Anika looked up irritably at Sierra. “Vampire in the room, Could we avoid all of the morning energy, please? Also, Dad, could you make me some bacon, please?”
“Sure. Sierra, you want any?”
Sierra wrinkled her nose. “I’m a vegetarian now. I’ll pass.”
“Bacon is a vegetable. Pigs eat grass. So really, bacon is just converted grass. Chocolate is a vegetable too, by the way because, blah blah, something about cocoa beans.”
Sierra laughed. “You would make a terrible vegan.”
Mitchell walked past me and sat next to Anika, chuckling.
She groaned quietly and mumbled about mornings and bacon under her breath before leaning her head on Mitchell’s shoulder. He stroked her hair slowly and looked up at me. The gleam in his eyes was infuriating. He wanted to provoke me.
Reality hit me like a bus. If I lost control, I would have to leave. If I left, she would be unprotected.
Mitchell smiled at me innocently then kissed Anika’s forehead. “I’m gonna go grab everyone some coffee. Do you want anything?”
Anika nodded. “Alcohol.”
Jensen snorted from across the kitchen.
Mitchell flicked her ear and she winced. “No drinking, missy.”
“I’m going to be old enough i
n two years,” she muttered. “I’m an adult, you know.”
“No, you’re a child, and in two years you’ll be a child with a drinking permit. What kind of coffee do you want?”
“I want a venti French vanilla espresso with two shots of caramel, one shot of almond, no fat, soy milk only, two sugar packets, and one inch of foam,” Sierra piped up.
“Would it be wrong to slap her for being so stereotypically white?” Anika growled as she let her head hit the table. “Is there any chance you know what I want?”
Mitchell smiled and nodded. “Of course. You always get a black coffee with caramel in it, then add vanilla creamer when you get it. I’ll be back in a little while. Jensen, I’ll get you your regular too.”
Jensen glared half-heartedly. “I already made coffee.”
“And as soon as you figure out how to work a filter so I don’t have to chew my coffee, I’ll drink it.” Mitchell grinned.
Jensen waved his hand dismissively as if to shoo Mitchell. “You kids have no taste nowadays. Go on then.”
I stood there silently. Mitchell passed me and I turned to face Anika. “I’m going to take a shower. Anika, would you mind if I used the bathroom connected to your room? I believe Brady is in the other one.”
She groaned.
Sierra giggled. “That’s Morning Anika’s way of saying yes.”
I nodded and walked up the stairs to Anika’s room, closing the door behind me. Immediately I went to the vent to check for the camera. As I used the multitool in my pocket to unscrew the vent, I felt like I was being watched. Then again, maybe that was just the sensation I was getting from the camera lodged in the vent. Then a voice came from the doorway.
“What are you doing?”
Chapter 23
Brady
Six Months Ago
I looked up at Anika’s house. Sometimes I would walk by here when I had nothing better to do or when I missed her. No one had moved in here yet; it was like the house was waiting for her to come back, just like I was. It felt like time had stopped when she left. Nothing happened anymore. I stopped going to football practice, stopped partying. I’d sworn that I would be good enough for her the night she drove away from me, and I was going to do it. Every day since she left, I had strived to be the best I could possibly be, and I still wasn’t sure it was enough.
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