by Russo, Jessa
“Are you okay, Doll?”
“Am I okay?” I shouted, startling everyone even more. “No! I am anything but okay! I don’t want to listen to my mom and Jess talk about the vacation they forced me to go on, or pretend I wasn’t kidnapped halfway through it. I don’t want to watch you and Toby try to out-stare each other as if we’re in the fourth freaking grade and I’m a prize skateboard you both want. What’s next, guys? An arm-wrestling match?” I paused, trying to calm myself with a deep breath. I felt like an ass for snapping at Frankie like that, but it would appear I’d reached my boiling point. I whispered my next words, unable to keep them inside any longer.
“I don’t want to sit here as if this is just another meal, on just any other day.” I closed my eyes. “I don’t want to act normal, as if I’m not in fear for my life, and I haven’t just found out the worst news possible—” I stopped, slamming my mouth shut before I actually shared that news with the group.
Frankie reached out to—to what? To calm me? Fat chance.
“No. Sit down, Frankie. I don’t want to pretend anymore, okay? So let’s just put it all out here on the table. No sugarcoating. Someone’s after me. Maybe even more than one someone. I’m probably going to die. But before I do, I get to spend my last days on this earth, hiding and hoping for the best. So no, Frankie, I am not fucking okay.”
The gasp from my mom following my f-bomb wasn’t at all shocking, though my behavior absolutely had been. Too late now though, I’d said it all and couldn’t take it back. I walked out of the kitchen without another word.
No. I was definitely not okay.
I headed out to the living room to grab my bags on the way to my room and stopped when I saw the open front door. The screen door was closed, and the face on the other side looking in stopped me dead in my tracks.
“What the hell? What are you doing here?”
My mom, suddenly standing behind me in the living room, sucked in a breath, and her hand gripped my arm. I turned to look at her, surprised to see her eyes even wider than when I’d lost my language filter only moments before.
“Teddy,” she whispered.
Ted reached to pull open the screen. I was instantly alarmed—with good reason. After learning that not only was there a countdown on my soul but I was now hunted by people just like Ted, on top of the latest news that he’d taken Toby’s mother from him then tricked him into working for him all these years, Ted was the last person I felt I could trust around the people I cared about.
As I was about to head to the door to give Ted a piece of my mind, my mom’s hand tightened around my arm. I winced.
“Ow, Mom,” I whispered. “What are you doing?”
“Teddy,” she whispered again. “It can’t be.”
What the hell? My own angry confusion had shadowed her words a few seconds ago, but hearing her call him by a nickname a second time was a wakeup call.
“Teddy?” I asked, completely baffled by this moment.
Ted came inside. He just opened the door and waltzed inside, like he was a welcomed guest here. He stopped for a moment and surveyed the room with his icy blue eyes, and I realized now that they were nothing like Toby’s dark, sapphire eyes. They held none of the same warmth I’d found in Toby’s eyes.
Until his gaze landed back on my mom.
“Toby!” I shouted toward the kitchen. I figured he’d want to know his not-dad stood in my living room. No, not standing. Walking. Making a beeline for my mom.
I stepped more fully in front of her, and Ted’s eyebrows lifted with amusement.
“Am I interrupting anything?”
Ted didn’t wait for a response but continued walking farther into our living room. He had the audacity to walk right up to us and stop in front of my mom, who’d managed to move aside so I no longer stood protectively in front of her. I now stood protectively in front of a bookcase. Go me.
Mere inches separated my mom and Ted. My heart raced as I watched. I was scared of this man; of what he could do, of all the things I still didn’t understand…and probably never would. And suddenly, here he was, on the day I returned from my vacation—where I was kidnapped and learned I was being hunted—standing in my living room, and staring at my mom like he was going to eat her.
Ariadne’s shark-like smile floated through my mind. Her resemblance to Ted was uncanny. I felt myself shudder. He brought a hand up to my mom’s face, and I felt my body start to react before I’d even thought to move.
Frankie grabbed my shoulders, restraining me—I hadn’t even noticed that he’d come up behind me. I felt Toby on my other side, but couldn’t take my eyes off my mom and Ted.
The way he looked at her…
“Annabelle,” he whispered.
Um…okay. He knew my mom’s name. Well, I guess that wasn’t too strange—I mean, Toby could have told him, right?
“Teddy?”
When she whispered his name again, I realized something more than a chance meeting was happening here. My stomach twisted and turned.
As I stood there, unable to form words, I became acutely aware of the way they watched one another. It felt very strange. Like I was an outsider in my own home. A voyeur. Like…like I was spying on some tender moment I wasn’t supposed to witness.
Frankie pulled me into him so my back pressed against his chest, then wrapped his arms around me protectively. It was a good thing, too—I felt weak in the knees watching my mom and Ted gaze at each other so blatantly.
“Mrs. V.?” Now in the living room as well, Jessie tried to get my mom’s attention. Her voice was quiet and shaky—she was clearly as shocked as the rest of us by whatever the heck was happening.
My mom ignored her.
“You haven’t changed in over twenty years.” Mom reached out, tentatively at first, and ran her fingers across his cheek, down the line of his jaw, her hand shaking as she did so. The action reminded me of touching Frankie’s face after he…came back.
“Annabelle.” He said her name again on a sigh. “There’s so much to talk about. May we”—he glanced at Toby, then me, then Frankie, then over at Jessie and Greg who still stood frozen in the doorway of the kitchen—“go somewhere to speak privately?”
Ted’s odd request for privacy pulled my attention back to him. Absolutely not. There’s no way my mom was going anywhere with this guy.
“Yes… I mean, of course. There’s so much to catch up on.”
“I’m sorry, what? Seriously?” I practically shrieked. “Mom. What is going on? You know him?”
“Ever, honey, please. I just need a few minutes.”
“What? No!”
“Eleanor Victoria!”
What the hell? She yelled at me? I rocked back on my heels, shocked at the use of my first and middle names, as well as the tone and volume with which she’d said them. This was the woman who never raised her voice.
“Look,” Toby said, stepping away from Frankie and me and taking a step toward Ted. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but your timing is too coincidental for my liking. You need to leave this family—”
“This family,” Ted said the words slowly, as if tasting them. “Yes, this family. Once upon a time…my family.”
“Holy shit,” Frankie whispered, at the same exact moment the words flew through my own mind. What did Ted just say?
“Ever, honey, please. Give us a few minutes. I’ll explain everything soon.”
I couldn’t find words. I blinked repeatedly, trying to think of something to say, trying to make sense of what I watched. And what I’d just heard.
His family. His. And she didn’t deny it, didn’t correct his mistake.
“I see you’ve become protective over this girl, and this family, Tobias. I appreciate that. But I will speak to Annabelle privately now, son.”
“Not your son, Ted.”
“Indeed.” Ted cocked his head to the side and continued, “Annabelle? The kitchen?”
Frankie grabbed my hand and led me outside. I heard eve
ryone else following behind us and I cringed at the idea of my mom left somewhere in my house alone with him. What if he—?
No way.
Turned out that Ted was the least of my concerns. Ariadne stood in my driveway.
“Oh hell no. Is this a joke?” Jessie found her words before I did, as usual.
“Trust me, hon, I wish it were.” Ariadne pushed up off Ted’s black Escalade and approached us. “Oh, look. It’s Ever and Frankie. Hello, lovebirds,” she purred.
The screen door closed behind me as Toby and Greg came outside.
“Ooh, Tobias and Gregor are here, too! Why wasn’t I invited? That’s not very nice, Ever.”
She moved past Frankie, Jessie and me and stopped in front of Toby. She snaked her hands around his waist, smiling her sweetest smile as she gazed up at him. I seriously loathed her very existence. I imagined punching her. God it would feel so good.
“Hi, lover. Miss me?”
“Get your hands off me, Ari.” Toby’s words were forced through gritted teeth and dripping with anger. Part of me swelled with pleasure as he rebuked her.
“Oh, calm down, Tobias. I’m only giving our little friends here a show. I know you don’t want me anymore.” She shook her head, looking directly at me, and said, “Though why you’d still want her over me is beyond me completely. Especially since she’s chosen him.”
She cocked her head to the side and turned her attention to Frankie. “Hmm. Though I can’t say I blame you, Ever. You’re looking pretty damn tasty, Frankie. Life looks good on you. And I’m loving the new look.”
She licked her lips, reminding me of every clichéd other woman in every movie I’d ever seen—the pouty, sexy, lip-licking thing, trying to be the center of attention—then reached over and ruffled Frankie’s blond hair. Ugh. She was so typical. And yet my stomach clenched in response to her directing her attention toward Frankie.
“Enough, Ari,” Greg said.
Ariadne looked down and pouted as if she was a toddler whose ice cream had just been taken away. “Fine. You guys are no fun. Speaking of fun…did you enjoy your little vacation, Eleanor?”
I tensed, and Frankie’s arms tightened around me in response. I pushed out of his embrace and stepped toward Ariadne, not wanting to be coddled or comforted, or anything else Frankie thought I might need.
“What the hell, Ariadne? What were you doing in Mexico?”
“Ooh, she’s a feisty one, isn’t she, Tobias? I can see why you like her now. She’s a bit like me.”
“I am nothing like you.”
She leaned down, bringing her gaze level with mine. She stood close enough to me that I could smell the fruity bubble gum she chewed. “You are more like me then you think, hon. Just look at the way you play these two guys. You’re not all innocence and purity after all, are you?”
My eyes widened. Play? I didn’t think I played them at all…I didn’t…did I?
“Why were you in Mexico?” Toby asked. “It’s a pretty strange coincidence that you followed Ever and led a Seeker straight to her, don’t you think?”
Ariadne’s eyes widened as she straightened and brought her focus back to Toby. If she wasn’t really shocked, she was doing a great job pretending.
“A Seeker? In Mexico?”
“Don’t play games with me, Ari,” Toby said through a clenched jaw. “There’s no way you’re innocent in all of this.”
“Oh please, you guys, I had nothing to do with a Seeker finding Ever. He must have”—she looked down at the ground, thinking about her next words—“he must have followed me. I swear I didn’t know.”
“Yeah right! You expect us to believe that? I’m going to delight in punching you again, you know it?”
Ariadne rounded on Jessie, a challenge in her yellow eyes. “Take your best shot, bitch.”
“Your dad,” Frankie said to her, clearing his throat loudly and changing the subject as Greg stepped between Jessie and Ariadne. “Your dad is inside right now. Why?”
“I don’t know,” she answered with a shrug and a slight flick of her wrist. “I’m just here for the view.” She winked at Frankie.
“I really should punch her again,” Jessie snarled.
I didn’t have to see her smile to know it was wicked.
The Seeker showing up in Mexico momentarily forgotten, I remembered the more pressing issue. “They know each other, Ariadne. Your dad and my mom. What’s going on?”
Ariadne rolled her eyes. “What do you mean ‘they know each other’? You’re all foreboding about it—they were next-door neighbors, Eleanor. I imagine they’ve met before.”
“No, it’s not like that. This is something more. Tell me what you know. Why were you following me in Mexico? Why are you here now? Why did you lead the Seeker to me?”
“Oh get over yourself, little girl. You should be thanking me. All I was trying to—”
“Ariadne. Enough.” Toby’s jaw clenched tightly. He turned and glared at Ariadne, and I smiled as I watched her she shrink under his stare. How he could put so much power into just two little words, I had no idea. “This is all a bit too coincidental. First the stunt you pulled with Ever and Frankie, then the Seeker, and now this.” He waved his hand toward the front door of my house.
“What? Don’t look at me! I don’t know any more than you do!”
I found that hard to believe.
“Ha!” Jessie obviously shared my thoughts.
Toby turned back toward the door, making eye contact with me, then Greg. I followed his movements and watched as Greg nodded at him and then nodded at me, inclining his head toward the door, indicating I follow Toby inside. Apparently, we were going to deal with Ted now and Ariadne later. I grabbed Frankie’s hand and pulled him back inside.
Toby stopped abruptly, squaring his shoulders as if trying to keep Frankie and me—or probably just me—from seeing whatever stopped him dead in his tracks. We stopped so quickly that Jessie bumped into my back, and upon the second slight shove, I realized Ariadne had probably bumped into Jessie’s back as well.
“What the hell is this?”
When I pushed my way past Toby, I saw my mom and Ted sitting on the small loveseat, so close it was obvious they knew each other—or once had known each other—quite, quite well. Intimately even. My stomach turned when I caught their hands clasped together between them.
My mom jumped up, startled. Ted quickly stood beside her, placing a hand on her back. His easy familiarity with my mom made my skin crawl.
“Mom?”
“Ever. I… I was just—”
“Sit down, please. I’d like to talk to you both.” Ted spoke with authority. Like he could tell me what to do! And by both, who was he referring to? There were six of us standing here with our mouths open.
“Both?” I asked, my voice much more timid than I’d have liked.
An indecipherable look passed between my mom and Ted.
What the hell is going on here? I felt like a little kid about to have a stern talking-to from Mom and Dad. Only this was not my dad. And this mom…this mom was definitely not the same mom I’d known since my dad’s death. This mom had color in her cheeks and a gleam in her eyes that I hadn’t seen since…well, since before the car accident.
No one made a move to sit down, as Ted had requested. This moment between my mom and Ted we’d just interrupted, this intimate moment between two people who should have been strangers…it had my full attention, and apparently, the full attention of my friends and Ariadne.
I looked up at Toby’s face, briefly surprised to see anger. The tight set of his jaw, the vein in his forehead…
Without thinking, I reached out with my free hand and gently touched his clenched fist. He looked down at my hand, and then at me, his face softening just a bit as our eyes locked.
“Ever,” he said with a sigh, and Frankie’s hand tightened around my other hand. I quickly pulled my adulterous hand away from Toby’s.
The sound of his voice, the look in his eyes—it wa
s all so strange, like he’d already figured out the puzzle in front of us and I was once again the dummy with no idea what was going on. I was a bit tired of the whole always-in-the-dark thing, and beginning to feel a bit slow on the uptake.
“Tobias. Sit down.”
Toby stepped forward. I battled the odd temptation to reach for him again, so I was glad for the distance he put between us. What is wrong with me?
“You. You did this. All of this. I get it now. You brought us here for her, didn’t you? You…you caused all of this.” Toby’s words were soft. I’d never heard him sound so…defeated.
“Yes. You are correct. I knew Annabelle years ago, Tobias. And yes, I came here for her.”
“How? How could you be so selfish?”
“Selfish?” Ted glanced at me, then Frankie, and back to Toby. “I think you know exactly how selfish love can make a man.”
“Love?” I could barely get the word out.
“Yes, love. I’ve loved your mother since the day I met her.”
Whoa. What? I still wasn’t fully catching on. It was all too confusing. Love?
“And when exactly was that?” I was surprised I even found the ability to speak.
“Twenty-one years ago. Almost to the day.”
My mother’s eyes lit up, and she looked at Ted when she spoke next. “Yes, you’re right. I can’t believe you remember. It was a Tuesday in September… I remember it like it was yesterday.” She gazed at him like he’d just created the earth, hung the moon, captured an effing star with his bare hands. It was disgusting. Anger boiled up inside of me, along with my lunch.
“Excuse me. I hate to get in the middle of this creepy little reunion, but have you forgotten about Dad? Geez, Mom. He’s only been dead a few months!”
“Oh, Ever, I loved your father. I still love him with all of my heart. Please never doubt that, honey.”
How can I not? The way she leaned toward Ted, the odd look in her eyes—her body language alone told me my dead dad was the last thing on her mind. How could she be so comfortable with another man so soon after my dad died?
“Tobias. Eleanor—”