“I’ll see you guys later.” Ethan’s voice had me turning back to them. Ethan slipped into the crowd.
“What would you like to do?” I asked.
Lexie wiped the sweat from her face. “Can we go outside? It’s hot and loud in here.”
“Sure.” I took her hand that wasn’t holding Hades’ leash and started walking her through the crowd. In the hallway it was even louder than the game room. I was trying to get through when Lexie jerked her hand from mine. I was turning to her when Hades growled and barked.
A drunk guy’s hands were up. “Sorry, just a bit dizzy,” he said, his eyes on Hades.
Lexie had moved a step back from him into a defensive position, her shaking hands were up in fists. I moved to her side, slightly between her and the drunk.
“H-heel,” she told Hades. The guy stepped back into the crowd with a small smirk on his face. I ran through my memory looking for a name. Thomas Avery. I turned to Lexie, her face pale as she took a deep breath. Without thinking, I wrapped my arm around her and began moving her through the hallway. The crowd parted, allowing us to get through. I opened one of the doors to the backyard and guided her out.
The backyard wasn’t quite as busy, but after that scare she’d want quiet. Keeping my arm around her, I walked her down to the lake. She continued taking deep, calming breaths. We reached the end of the dock, as far from the house as I could get her. She slipped off her sandals and sat down, dipping her feet into the water. I sat beside her, watching her carefully. She looked down at the water and took several more deep breaths. My body grew tense.
“Are you alright?” I asked, keeping my voice gentle.
She nodded. “I think I’m going to stay outside for the rest of the party.” Her voice was quiet and shaking around the edges. She didn’t seem to be having a flashback…
“Whatever you need,” I promised. If she wanted to leave, we’d leave. If she wanted to stay outside until dawn, we’d stay outside until dawn.
She sent me a small smile. “Sorry.”
“I’m not big on parties, Lexie,” I told her as Hades sat beside me and I started scratching his ears.
“But you go anyway,” she pointed out, her voice quiet. I met her eyes. “Why?”
Because you do. I couldn’t say that though. Could I? Maybe I should tell her how I felt? The agreement with the others popped into my mind. Why did I put that up for a vote again? Looking into her beautiful eyes I couldn’t remember. I shouldn’t tell her. I’d be betraying the guys, not to mention, if she didn’t… I’d been quiet for too long. Say something!
“Sometimes I’m the only one Isaac will listen to, at least I was before you came along,” I told her. It was true, I'd just never said it out loud before.
She nodded. “That makes sense.” She looked down at the water and started making small waves with her feet.
“What happened in the hallway?” I asked, needing to know.
“That drunk guy ran into my back.” She shook her head. “I didn’t even see him coming.”
“You had a flash?” I asked carefully. She licked her lips and nodded. I made a mental note to have a word with Thomas before the end of the night. That smirk as he moved back into the crowd didn’t make it seem like an accident. “I’m sorry, Lexie.”
“It’s not your fault,” she reminded me. I reached over and took her hand. She gave my fingers a small squeeze.
“Are you still having nightmares?” I asked, carefully choosing my words. I didn’t know what was too personal a question in this situation, so I was feeling my way through it.
“A couple times a week,” she admitted. She tilted her head and leaned down to look in the water, her hair slipping over one shoulder. “Hey, fish!”
I leaned forward and looked down. She was right, there were a few tiny fish below our feet. “I believe they are baby perch. At least that’s my guess in this lack of light.”
She smiled. “You know everything, Miles.”
Everything but how to tell you the way I feel. I looked up at the sky. I needed to change the subject. “There’s Cassiopeia.”
She looked up at the stars. “Where?”
I pointed. “Right there; that W of stars.”
She shook her head. “I’m still not seeing it.”
“Alright.” I leaned closer so I could point accurately. “Do you see it now?”
“Nope,” she chirped.
I rested my right hand on her back, leaned further, and tried again. “See the one slightly brighter than the other?”
She chuckled, then scooted closer and leaned over until she was resting her back against my chest and shoulder. My heart slammed, my fingers tingled. “Okay, now show me.”
I carefully moved my right hand to her hip as I pointed over her shoulder so she could see along my arm. “You see this star?”
“Now I do.”
I smiled as rosemary tickled my nose. “Now, follow my finger.” I brought my finger diagonally down and to the right. “Do you see the star I’m pointing at now?”
“Yes.”
I moved my finger to the next, moving diagonally again, this time upwards. “How about now?” I asked quietly.
She nodded.
I moved my finger again. “Do you see it?”
“Yeah. How big is this constellation?” she asked.
“One more star.” I moved my finger diagonally again. “And that’s it.”
“Oh, it really is a W. Nifty,” she said, her smile in her voice. I dropped my arm.
“And right behind that,” I said, my voice soft, “is the Milky Way.”
“That stretch of stars, right?”
“Yes.” I smiled to myself.
She stopped leaning against me and smiled at me. “That’s pretty cool.” She looked back up at the sky. “That strip of stars is the rest of the galaxy. It’s beautiful.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Her eyes were sparkling. She was smiling a big smile that I rarely saw. Something settled inside me, making me wish that this moment wouldn’t end. “I think so,” I said as I watched her. I wanted to tell her. It was the perfect time. But she might not be ready to start dating again, she might not be interested, and... there was the 'no dating Lexie' agreement with the others. I shoved my feelings down and tried to keep my face blank. I looked out at the water; one of the row boats was coming in.
Eventually, Zeke came into sight as he rowed toward the dock. He maneuvered the boat next to the dock, got to his feet, and tied it off to a pylon.
“Have you been hiding out on the lake all night?” Lexie asked, her voice laughing at him.
Zeke ran his hand through his hair. “Maybe.” He began setting the gear on the dock. “I borrowed the Coopers’ gear and went fishing.” After he finished unloading the boat, he carefully stepped onto the dock. He looked down at us. “What are you guys doing out here?”
Lexie looked back down at the water and the fish. “It’s really crowded inside.”
Zeke met my gaze with hard eyes. I subtly nodded. He clenched his jaw as he looked at Lexie and ran his eyes over her.
Speaking of the hallway… I got to my feet. “I’m going to get a drink. Would you two like anything?”
Lexie shook her water bottle. “Some water, please?”
“Of course.” I turned to Zeke. His gaze shot to me. He knew I was trying to keep him here. He looked to Lexie then back to me.
“A soda,” he all but bit out. I nodded and walked down the dock towards the house. Zeke would stay with Lexie as long as she needed.
Inside, the party had gotten louder. I moved through the house with one thought on my mind. Thomas Avery.
It took a while, but after searching the house, I found him out the front. He was leaning against a tree and talking to a girl.
“Thomas,” I said, my voice cold.
Thomas stood up straight and turned around. “What do you want, Huntington?”
“Why did you run into Alexis Delaney?” I asked, my voice
calm.
He grinned. “Didn’t mean to, it was crowded in the hall,” he said, his voice smug.
“Really? No else seemed to have that problem,” I pointed out.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I was dizzy from drinking.”
I eyed him before I turned to the girl. “Would you please excuse us?”
She sent me a shy smile before heading back to the house. When she was gone, I turned back to Thomas. “You were dizzy from being drunk and yet a half an hour later you’re fine?” I eyed the beer can in his hand. “While still drinking?”
Thomas’s face turned pink as he stuck one hand in his pocket. “Yeah.”
I stepped closer and met his eyes. “Try again, and this time the truth,” I said, my voice icy.
He shrugged. “It was just a prank, man.”
“A prank?” I asked carefully, keeping my calm.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “Everyone knows that Lexie chick is jumpy since that crap with Ordin. So… some of the guys thought it would be funny to bump into her and see what she’d do.”
Anger burned in my chest. “They thought it would be funny?” My voice was cold enough to give someone frostbite.
He shrugged. “It was a harmless joke.”
Calm, calm, calm. I needed more information. “Who are these friends of yours?”
He scratched behind his ear. “Um, they’re not really friends. They just paid me to bump into her.”
The world grew silent as I found that quiet spot inside me that kept me calm. “They paid you?”
He cringed and nodded. “Yeah, now that I’m hearing it out loud, it does seem messed up.”
“I can’t imagine why. You just ran into a girl to scare her. A girl who has PTSD from an assault that left her with a crack in her skull and put her in the hospital. For money.”
He winced. “Oh, yeah. That’s bad.”
“I want names,” I told him.
He reeled off the names of four football players. People Asher knew. I turned around and left him there. I needed to find the others.
Chapter 4
Lexie
* * *
Miles walked down the dock and towards the house. I made little waves with my foot.
“Come on,” Zeke said. I looked up at him over my shoulder. “Help me put away the fishing gear and we’ll hit the fire pit.”
That sounded good to me. I got up and slipped my shoes on. When I took a pole from Zeke I got a whiff of him. “Whoa, you stink.”
He smirked. “I’ve been fishing. I’m going to smell like fish.”
“I didn’t realize that fish smelled that much. Unless you burn them at least.” We started down the dock. He led me to a large, four car garage. “So, did you catch anything? Besides fish smell.”
He grinned. “A few small mouth bass and some trout.” He opened the door to the garage and flipped on the light.
“Where are they?” I asked, confused, as I followed him to a rack of fishing poles.
“Catch and release,” he said as he put the tackle box away before taking the pole from me and setting it on the rack. “There’s no point in keeping the fish if I’m not cooking it.”
“I didn’t know you liked fishing,” I said as I walked out the door.
He closed it behind him. “I like the quiet.” We walked to the corner of the yard where the fire was starting to burn low. The logs were empty around the fire. Zeke went straight to the wood pile and picked up several pieces. I sat down on the grass and leaned back against a large log. Zeke added more wood and a handful of dry pine needles to the fire. It wasn’t long before he had it roaring again.
He sat down next to me in the grass. Hades moved to his side and flopped over Zeke's legs on his back. Zeke chuckled as he lifted the big lug into his arms and rubbed his belly. I smiled. Hades knew a sucker when he saw one. For a while we just sat there watching the fire; listening to the music from the house.
“How’s your research going?” he asked, his voice quiet as he shifted Hades a little.
“Not bad, I’m getting supplies now, so that should help,” I said. “Or at least, they’re supposed to.” Hades leaned his head back until he was looking at me upside down. He licked my chin. I chuckled and wiped his slobber off.
“You haven’t tried anything but getting rid of ghosts?” he asked.
“I made a sachet to help Miles sleep today. We’ll see if that works,” I replied.
Zeke looked down at me, his ice-blue eyes running over my face. “How are you really doing?”
I looked back to the flames. My scan results popped into my mind. No… “I’m doing good. I have a couple weeks left of therapy.”
“How’s that going?” He shifted Hades until the dog was lying his head on his chest, and his butt in Zeke’s lap.
“It’s okay.” I started to peel the label off my water bottle. “Next session she’s going over what problems I should expect in… you know, the future.”
“Good,” he said softly. I needed to change the subject.
“After my last session we should go for ice cream.” I peeked up at him. His face was hard as he watched the fire. His eyes were dark.
“Whatever you want, Baby.” His voice was low and rough.
“Tough Guy,” I whispered. He turned to me; his face worried. “Does that mean you’ll take me fishing this summer?”
The corner of his lips twitched. “If you want.”
“Yes!” I threw my arms up in victory.
He grinned. “You’re going to end up smelling like fish though.”
I dropped my arms. “Well, at least we’ll smell together.”
He chuckled as his arm moved over the back of the log. His hand found the back of my neck and squeezed gently. Warmth filled me at his touch. He gave me one more squeeze before taking his hand back.
We sat in silence, watching the flames dance.
“You’ve been quiet lately,” I whispered.
“I have a lot on my mind,” he muttered.
I leaned over and rested my head on his arm.
“I’m fine,” he reassured me. I sat up and met his eyes. He gave me a half grin that made me smile.
We were quiet as we went back to watching the fire, the music from the house floating over us.
Ethan stepped into the light of the fire holding a bottle of water and a bag of marshmallows. He handed me the bottle of water. “Zeke, Miles needs you for a bit.”
Zeke stiffened next to me. He glanced down at me then back to Ethan. “Are you staying?”
“Yeah.” Ethan held up the marshmallows.
Zeke hesitated before sighing deeply and getting to his feet. “Where is he?”
“The game room,” Ethan told him before handing me the bag. “I’ll get some sticks for roasting.” Ethan went to the tree line and began looking.
I looked up at Zeke. “Zeke,” I said with my sweet voice. “Can I borrow your pocket knife? I left mine in the Blazer and we need one to make roasting sticks.”
His lips twitched before he fished it out of his pocket and held it out to me. “Be careful, I just sharpened it this afternoon.”
“Gotcha,” I promised. When Ethan came back to the fire with several stick choices, Zeke headed towards the house. I turned to Ethan as he sat down on the log. “What’s going on?”
Ethan made himself look busy and avoided looking at me. Oh, yeah. Something was up.
Asher
I paced in the hallway in front of the game room. Those fuckers were inside at the poker table. I knew those assholes. I played football with those assholes! I rubbed my neck as I took a deep, calming breath. It was still hard to believe someone could be such a dick. Especially to Ally. It’s not as if the entire school didn’t know that Ordin beat the hell out of her. Everyone saw the fucking bruises when she came back!
Needing a distraction, I turned to Miles, who was standing next to the door, waiting patiently. “Are you sure we want Zeke with us on this?” I asked for the fifth time.
Miles' eyes were icy as they met mine. “Yes, I’m sure. There are four of them and we can’t put Ethan into a position where he could hurt his back more.”
Okay, when he put it that way, it made sense. But… “Without Ally we can’t stop him if he loses it.”
“Sure we can,” Isaac said from his spot against the wall across from the door. “We can just drag his ass out like we have before.”
I shook my head. I didn’t know why I was arguing. These guys needed their asses kicked for scaring Ally. For fun! Who does that?
Zeke strolled up the hallway to us. “What?”
Miles started tapping his fingers against his leg. “Thomas Avery ran into Lexie in the hall as we were going outside. It wasn’t an accident.”
“Then what the fuck was it?” Zeke growled, his eyes burning.
“It seems a few of the football players thought it would be funny to scare Lexie. They paid him to run into her,” Miles announced.
Zeke’s jaw clenched and unclenched. “Who?”
“Stuart Hopkins, Kyle Debbins, Blake Price and Nick Harris,” Miles said calmly.
“All football players,” I bit out.
“What the fuck are we waiting for?” Zeke growled.
Miles was disturbingly quiet as he turned and led us inside. The crowd parted as we walked through the room. When the assholes spotted us Harris turned pale, Hopkins shook his head, while Debbins and Price focused on their cards.
We spread out in front of the table. “So, who thought it would be amusing to scare Alexis Delaney?” Miles asked, his voice cold.
Hopkins snorted. “What’s it to you?”
Zeke grabbed the back of his head and bashed his face into the table, then held him there as he bled. “Wrong fucking answer,” he snarled.
The others’ eyes grew wide as Hopkins cursed at Zeke.
“Again, whose idea was it?” Miles asked. The others put down their cards and got to their feet.
When Evil Comes to Play Page 5