Nope, spoke too soon. My hand brushed against something and fire shot up my arm and through my fingers. “There was an explosion. The girls are safe, Valerie’s at the Sanders’ place.” That was Shayne.
My eyes flew open then and Track almost dropped me. “Put me down.” All four of them had been trying to carry me out of the bathroom, the bathroom that now looked like a tornado hit it.
I saw why my hand was hurting, the shit was swollen and bruised with a few cuts from the mirror I’d apparently smashed to pieces with my fist.
“Dude, what the fuck?” Alec still looked shaken as he ran his hand furiously through his hair.
“Let’s get out of here and then you can tell me what the fuck is going on.” Track was still dragging me by the arm.
We walked back through her destroyed bedroom and shit started coming back to me. “Wait where’s her stuff?” Shayne held up her medicine and the makeup bag. He wasn’t saying shit which meant he was pissed, or scared.
“What did I do?”
“You went fucking ape. I told you not to do that shit again.”
“Damn!” It’s been a while since I went ‘ape’ as he calls it. It’s just a little something that my mind likes to do when the pressure gets to be too much.
Outside the sun was beginning to change the color of the sky and the birds were waking up in their nests. I ignored the pain in my hand as we headed for my truck.
Alec jumped in the driver’s seat and Track helped me get in the backseat, his face looking like a storm. “Hey how’d you get home so fast?”
“We’ll talk when we get to your place.” He slammed the door and jogged back to his car. Well shit, he’s pissed. That’s never good.
The three in the truck with me kept throwing me looks like they expected me to go Hulk or some shit. “Don’t ask me what happened because you know I don’t know.”
“Yeah, we know, we were there.” Shayne turned to glare at me from the passenger seat. Then he shared a look with Jared who said, ‘you see?’ Like I didn’t know they were hiding some shit.
“Okay what happened?”
“What happened? You went into the room, we were right behind you. Then you started breaking shit.” There was still a hint of fear in his voice.
“The wall, the mirrors, every damn thing in sight. It was the fucking seventh grade all over again. I told you not to do that shit again. The last time the whole damn team had to sit on you to calm you the fuck down. What the fuck Jace.”
I must’ve really scared him. I know his scared voice even though he was trying to hide it. “It’s not like I do the shit on purpose.” I kept my voice even so he didn’t spook any more than he already was.
Alec was staring at the road as he drove like he thought it would disappear if he blinked. I looked at Jared who had a strange look on his face.
“What’s eating you?”
“Sian…you…” I knew what he was trying to say but he was way fucking off. I should punch him in the face for even thinking that shit.
“No, he would never hurt her. It’s the rest of us you have to worry about and the rest of the world population. That shit only comes out when one of his is hurt or in danger. In fact after what happened with Sian in that alley I’m surprised the fucker took so long to show up.”
“Wait, are you saying he has a split personality?”
“You saw that shit Jared, was he the same Jace you know?” If this shit wasn’t so funny I’d laugh at Shayne’s explanation.
“How do you know? That he won’t hurt her I mean.”
“Because the last time he did this shit it was because somebody fucked with me. He doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing, but he knows who the fuck he loves.” Shayne sneered at me before turning back around.
“You don’t have to be so pissy about it. You do realize somebody tried to fuck with my girl right? I’ma level this whole shit till I get to the bottom of this.”
I didn’t miss the way the three of them looked at each other. Yep, I’m listening to those tapes first chance I get. I’ll worry about their privacy later. They know something.
4
Track
I beat Jace and the others back to the house and was getting ready to break down the door if I had to before they pulled up. “Where is she?”
He opened the door and pointed up the stairs.
“Upstairs, The Shakespeare room.” I was halfway up before he finished talking.
I bounded down the hallway on Jace’s side of the house with the fleeting thought that the damn place was too big. It wasn’t hard finding the room since they all had little gold plates with their names written on the door.
I pushed it open lightly, stepping into the room as quietly as possible. She was asleep on her side, the morning light slowly creeping across her beautiful face.
I breathed easy for the first time since that phone call and had to rub my hand over my heart where it ached. She’s safe, she’s okay. Fuck me!
I pulled the chain with the ring she’d put on my finger from beneath my shirt and took the ring off, putting it on my finger as I walked towards her.
Toeing off my shoes, I climbed onto the bed next to her and wrapped my arms around her gently. I pulled her in close, still trying not to wake her though I wanted her to wake up so I could make sure she was really okay.
“Track?”
“Yes baby I’m here.” She crawled onto my chest, put her arms around me, and cried. My arms tightened and I let her cry it out while reassuring her that she was safe.
“It’s okay baby you’re safe, were you hurt?” She shook her head and held on tighter.
“I need you to look at me.” I lifted her chin with my finger until I could see her eyes.
“Were you hurt baby?” She shook her head and I pulled her down to cover her lips with mine. I’d lived in hell for the last few hours not knowing, I never want to go through that shit again.
I pulled her chain out from under the shirt she was wearing to sleep in and took it off her neck, removing her rings and putting them on her finger. “Track, what’re you doing?”
“We’re never taking these off again, that’s it.” I wanted to tell her that I’d never leave her again but the truth is, with my skills the government wasn’t in any hurry to let me go, so I kept my mouth shut.
I’d made a promise to myself long ago never to lie to her, and never to make her any promises I can’t keep. I know better than anyone that I’m the only one she can depend on and I never want her to regret that.
In order not to lie to her about what it is that I do when I disappear, I just don’t share that part of my life with her. Besides, it’s safer for her this way anyway.
I don’t like it but in order to keep the other special person in my life safe, I have to do it. Thinking about my sister had that mix of anger and fear rolling in my guts again.
“How did you get here so soon anyway?” She looked at her rings on her finger and I could see that she was pleased to have them there finally. “Jace said you would come but I wasn’t sure.”
I held her head in my hands and looked into her eyes. “I promise you that no matter where I am or what I’m doing, I will always come when you need me.” Please let me keep her safe.
The thought that this shit could’ve set off one of her asthma attacks or something worst while I wasn’t here to take care of her pissed me off. And I have a pretty good idea whose shit I’m gonna have to fuck up because of it.
“Tell me what happened baby.” She got settled again with her head on my chest and her fingers making circles on my shoulder.
“I don’t really know. Jace made us leave with his parents right after it happened. All we heard was the explosion but even when they came back no one said anything about it. It was weird.”
Perfect, that’s why I love Jace, he kinda thinks like me. “Did you go over there? You smell like smoke.” She sniffed my shirt. “Yeah! I knew you were spending the night.”
My body shoo
k with renewed horror. When I’d heard that explosion in the background and then that asshole had taken my phone…
She’s okay Track don’t lose your shit in front of her and scare her. But I’d seen that house and knew the damage that could’ve been done had she and her friends been in that room.
“Where were you guys when it happened?” From the way she tensed up I knew I wasn’t going to like what she was about to say. “Um, er…”
“Valerie!” I squeezed her shoulder.
“We were on our way to Mandy’s house.” The words came out in a rush and it took me a minute to figure out why the hell they would’ve been doing that.
“Did you have fun before all this happened?” I decided to leave the Mandy thing alone for now until I had a chance to talk to Jace.
“Yes, these girls are nice, especially Sian. In fact they all are. They didn’t make me feel like a fifth wheel. It was like we’d all hung out together before. No one was uncomfortable or made me feel like I didn’t belong. It was really nice.”
I knew what she meant. There were others who’d invited her in only to leave her standing out in the cold. Always on the sidelines like an outcast.
“I knew they would be baby, that’s why I told you to hang with them.” Of course my boys wouldn’t choose slags as their mates.
Well except for that one time Jace lost his fucking mind and dated Mandy, which is why we’re in the shit we’re in now. I’ma drop a house on her evil ass.
I hugged her a little bit closer, happy that she’d found real friends. People I could trust with her care when I wasn’t around.
“Yeah, I like them. They’re not a mean girl clique like those other clowns at school.” I smiled over her head at the incongruity of us having this inane conversation after the night she’d had. Not to mention the shit that I had to deal with in the next few days.
“I’m glad you’re home.” She cuddled in closer and I held on tighter. “Me too baby.” I wanted to stay with her but I needed to talk to Jace. I also needed to go home for a minute and make sure everything was okay there.
Now that I was sure she was alright my thoughts went to my amazing sister, Ariel. I still had a lot to
do to secure her safety. The next few days are going to be rough and this latest development only made things harder for me.
I wasn’t sure how Jace was going to react to my news, knowing him it could go either way. But if his mind is troubled because of all that has been happening with his girl, he might not be as understanding as I need him to be.
There was no help for it now though, everything I’ve been working towards was finally coming to a head and things were about to get sticky.
As close as I am to the others, Jace is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a brother, the one I worry about most. With someone like him, who he’s fated to be, honesty is very important among his peers.
I’ve always known and understood this maybe more so than Shayne and Alec. And I’m the one who’s been deceiving him for years.
I hope he at least gives me a chance to explain my side. I hope he knows me well enough to know that I wouldn’t have done this if there was any other way.
My sister has always been my responsibility. Ever since I was too young to understand what the word meant I’ve felt this strong need to protect her
She’s the only reason I would leave my girl and go away as often as I do. The only reason I’d put myself through the shit I have for the past year and a half.
Until I met Valerie she was the one person who lived in my heart. It was because of her I knew how to truly love. Even now, all these years later, that love has never wavered for the sister I see as the one who needs me most.
Now she’s in danger and I think the clock’s running out. I’m doing everything I can to keep her safe, was putting my life and freedom on the line to do it. Something that scares me more than I like to admit.
I’ve known from a very young age that there was something strange going on in my household. That there was a reason why my beautiful sister wasn’t allowed the same freedom I was.
The older I got, the more I saw how others lived, the stronger my feelings of unease grew.
It was because of this that I felt even more protective of her and wanted to fix whatever was wrong. All I knew back then was that I’d be putting her life in danger if I ever told anyone about her existence.
It was a heavy burden for someone so young to bear, but I never once resented her for it. Instead I think I blamed my parents, especially my dad.
Until the past year when I went searching on my own and a new story started coming to light, I had blamed him for keeping her hidden away from the world.
Her only exposure to the outside was whatever I showed her, or whatever she saw on the limited Internet access she was allowed.
Since she basically lived her life through the computer, I became a damn expert on those things in my youth.
It was because of this I developed a very special skill and was later drafted into an elite shadowy group that was right up my alley.
I knew in order to get the answers I needed I’d have to do some backdoor digging and this group
specialized in such things. Through them I learned to hone my skills until I became one of the best, which brought me to the attention of the leading hacking team in the world.
Because of Ariel I’ve always been a champion of the underdog. So when ANONYMOUS came calling at age fifteen I jumped right in.
Not only to help them with their mission to right the wrongs of the world, but because I knew they could get me one step closer to what I needed to help my sister.
That was something else I couldn’t share with my friends, another part of myself I had to keep hidden. But still it wasn’t as hard as Ariel had it. She had no damn friends.
As I got older I went digging to find the truth behind her imprisonment in our home. The more I dug, the more questions I had. But that digging led me to where I needed to start looking, within our nation’s military.
I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t anything like what I’ve uncovered so far. And I knew that I hadn’t discovered the worst of it.
So far none of the things I’ve uncovered looks good for her. Not only that, but in order to protect her I’ve had to put myself in the government’s hands under the pretense of helping them with their shady shit.
What I’m doing is dangerous as fuck. If anything goes wrong with my plan Valerie will be left out here all alone with no one to take care of her.
And my sister will spend the rest of her life in danger while I live out my days in some high security prison somewhere.
I couldn’t let my thoughts dwell in that dark place for too long though. I can’t allow myself to be weak in anyway in the face of the shit I’ve learned in the last year.
One of the things I’d learned so far is that I’m up against some heavy hitters. People who wouldn’t stop until they got what they wanted, and what they wanted was my sister. I just don’t know why yet.
One of the reasons I’m so good at this hacking shit is because of my sixth sense. It’s not quite ESP, don’t know what it is, so I just call it ‘knowing’.
And that ‘knowing’ has been nagging at me for the longest time. It’s what had led me to put myself in the way of being caught by the government.
When I first did that shit a year ago I had no idea it would lead me to where I am now. Someone was about to fuck with my family, my sister to be exact.
Ever since I was little I knew that Ariel had been adopted. It wasn’t something that was hidden, though no one talked about it.
But as I grew older I sensed that there was some mystery surrounding her. It was the way my parents acted, the way they kept her close to the point of smothering.
Add the fact that she was never allowed outside the house and it wasn’t a stretch for my inquisitive mind to go wandering down the path it had taken.
I still don’t know what that’s abou
t and neither does she, but I have a feeling from what I learned in the last few days that the shit’s about to hit the fan.
That’s why I needed to rush home this time. Even before the explosion happened I’d been thinking of a way to escape.
Now I feel trapped between protecting her from what might be coming, and taking care of Valerie and our friends.
This Mandy shit was getting outta control. I didn’t think things would go this far. But after last night I’m not about to take any chances.
I only have a small window in which to deal with that deranged twit before I had to go back and finish what I started, so I have to decide what I’m going to do about her dumb ass soon.
I didn’t want Jace to get his hands dirty though this shit was his fault for not listening to me in the first place.
I have a dossier on everyone in this town, and don’t give a fuck who likes that shit or not; it’s what I do. All I have to do is expose her and be done with it, but I’d be destroying a lot of innocent people in the process if I did that shit.
If I hadn’t been embroiled in this shit with my sister I would’ve found a way to handle it long before now, but it wasn’t something I could just toss out there. It needed time and planning, time I didn’t have.
I looked down at my baby’s head where it rested on my chest and my heart did its crazy dance. I’m doing all this, putting my life on the line so that I can focus on her in the future.
I couldn’t go on with my life, be happy, with my sister’s situation remaining the same. I have to make sure Ariel is safe. Only then can I truly be happy and give Valerie the life she deserves.
When I think of it, the three of them, Jace, Ariel, and Valerie, have never had it easy. They’re the three most precious people in my life and the ones who need me most.
So far I’ve only been able to focus on Ariel’s problem. And though I’d put my ring on Valerie’s finger, that was the only way I could protect her for now. While Jace have been left on his own.
I don’t resent my sister, not even a little bit. As her brother, the one she’s depended on her whole life to bring the world to her, we’d formed a bond that will never be broken.
Eden High Series 2 Book 5 Page 3