Serenade

by Heather McKenzie

“Yep. Never better. For real,” he said, but there was still a slight hesitation in his voice. He was lying. “How about you, baby girl, you okay?”

  “Yes, perfectly fine,” I lied back. There was a long pause. “Stephan, I’m sorry, but I’m not coming back for a while,” I choked out.

  “It’s okay, you go do what you have to,” he said quickly. The words were catching in his throat. My big man of steel was crying, and I felt awful.

  “Stephan I’m—”

  He cut me off.“Wait, listen very, very closely; I love you, Haley Alexandra.”

  “Wha…?”

  “I’ll love you forever and always with cookies on top.”

  He was using a pretend name and referencing an email game we used to play. Had he sent a message to that old account? Was it something private and not meant for Henry to read? “I love you too, Stevie Muffins,” I said, letting him know I understood.

  He didn’t reply. There was rustling and some muffled arguing in the background.

  “…Stephan?”

  Henry’s voice came back on the line. “Tell me where you are,” he said coldly.

  “Maybe if you answer my question and are honest with me for once in your life. You tell me this… who is she?” I said, trying not to sound desperate.

  “Who?”

  “My mother!”

  He swallowed hard. “Your mother is Lenore Lowen,” he said stubbornly.

  “You’re a liar. I think she is someone named Rayna. Rayna Claire Gless.”

  Seth dropped his cigarette between his legs and almost took the truck off the road. Henry became strangely silent.

  “Listen, Henry, you are not going to threaten me or hurt Stephan or anyone else I care about. You also aren’t going to try and find me or come anywhere near me, you know why? Because I have a perfectly preserved drop of Lenore’s blood in a convenient little silver necklace she gave me for my first birthday. She called it ‘insurance’. I call it DNA analysis. Now, I’m sure that John Marchessa would love to get his hands on this and compare his daughter’s DNA to mine. That would give him proof that I am not his granddaughter—and you’d lose it all.”

  I grinned madly to myself, and then I hung up.

  Seth cleared his throat and needlessly adjusted the window. “I am proud of you, girlie,” he said, rubbing his forehead.

  “Thanks.”

  “Did he take it well, your crazy father?”

  “No. And he is not going to give up until he gets me back. I know him. I just pray he doesn’t use the one family member I love against me.”

  “Well, it sounds like you’ve got some fire power yourself.”

  “Yeah. But, it’s best if we keep that between you and me.”

  Seth pondered this. “Well, if you don’t tell Luke about what happened back at the ranch, I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  Cool mountain air brushed my overheated cheeks, and just outside of town, we came upon the Bronco in the ditch. My mouth went dry. “Just ran out of gas is all, he couldn’t have gotten far,” Seth reassured, “there are probably only four places open in town right now, and he’s not playing bingo or doing laundry, so…”

  We ended up in front of a bar that Seth said he knew well. I tried to subdue the anxiety about to take over. Every worst-case scenario came to mind, and then escalated, doubled, and multiplied. What if we couldn’t find him? What if I never saw him again? What if I was walking into my own death trap? I reminded myself for the hundredth time that I chose to trust Seth. I had to trust Seth.

  A huge, greasy man with a head full of tattoos and a gorgeous brunette stood outside. The girl was talking on her cell phone and tapping a cigarette with long, silver fingernails, and the big guy was leaning as if he was holding up the wall with a beer in his hand. There were a zillion motorbikes in the parking lot. I stopped dead in my tracks a few feet from the truck, and Seth had to pull me forward.

  “Hey!” said the biker as we approached, his aggressive, burly voice frightening, “Seth, you old dawg! I haven’t seen you in ages, what brings you here?”

  “Just wandering through. Good to see you, too bro,” said Seth, giving the big guy a friendly slap on the arm and tipping his hat to the girl on the phone. She flashed a supermodel smile.

  “New girlfriend?” the biker asked, eyeing me head-to-toe.

  Seth laughed, “Nope. She’s way too skinny for me.”

  I contemplated running.

  “I’m here cause I need your help,” Seth said when the niceties were out of the way, “a friend of mine is in a bad way. Could be anywhere. I thought you and the boys might have seen him.”

  “Perhaps,” said the biker. “What are the particulars?”

  “Well, he’s a white male, about six-foot-three, muscular build, young—”

  “Blue eyes, light brown hair, and an incredible smile,” I interjected.

  The biker laughed. The happy sound didn’t match his exterior. “I’ll ask the guys. It’s been pretty quiet around here, though…” he said , and then his gaze fell to the bandage on my arm and his jaw dropped, “whoa, wait a second, are you… the girl?”

  I backed away instinctively and the brunette almost dropped her phone. “What? No way!” she said excitedly, staring at me like I’d turned into a Jonas Brother.

  “What girl? What are you talking about?” I asked as her silver talons pointed at my chest.

  “Look at the necklace, it’s a mountain lion’s tooth!” she said enthusiastically.

  The biker shook his head. “Well, damn, he was telling the truth. I knew it! You owe me five bucks, Tina!”

  “Who was telling the truth? Luke? Is that who you’re talking about?” I asked frantically.

  The brunette and the biker grinned at each other. It looked so odd. “Ma’am, if you care to follow me, I will take you to whom it is you seek,” said the biker, and he opened the bent and battered door and ushered me inside.

  “It’s safe,” Seth mouthed.

  I didn’t care if I was walking in a room full of snakes and gators. If Luke was in there, I was going in after him. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light and my nose to the smell, my burly host pointed toward a man at the bar.

  And there he was. Shoulders slumped, head hanging low, and a biker with a red bandanna talking closely to him and giving him pats on the back. Luke was nodding eagerly, agreeing with whatever the man was saying to him, and then, as if in a hurry, he pushed himself away from the bar. He shook the hand of the man in the bandana, and then he raked his fingers through his golden hair. I was mesmerized, frozen in awe the same way I had been when I’d first laid eyes on him in the garden. Only, now that I knew him, everything about him was even more incredible. He stood confidently, turned, and then he stopped dead in his tracks when his eyes met mine from across the room.

  “Oh my God, I think the story is true,” I heard someone whisper.

  “Yep, it’s really her,” said the brunette.

  The room quieted. I said his name slowly. He seemed very unsure of things—wary of me. Maybe he thought I was coming to say goodbye and twist the knife in a little deeper. “Luke, please forgive me,” I said, blocking out everyone but him, “I’m sorry. I was just trying to do what I thought was right.” I crossed the room, the ten steps toward him feeling like an epic journey. “I’m not going back,” I said, “I told Oliver I wouldn’t marry him.”

  A collective hush settled over the room, but Luke’s shocked expression didn’t change. I wondered if maybe he didn’t hear me, or if maybe he just didn’t care. I mustered up a louder voice. “I want to be with you—”

  He lunged at me and pulled me tight to him, holding my face in his hands and shaking head-to-toe. My legs went weak as his eyes bore into mine. “I was just coming to get you,” he said.

  Then he kissed me, fully and completely. I wanted nothing more than to linger against him, but I had to pull away. There was something important I had to tell him—something I ha
d waited too long to say. “Luke, wait,” I said breathlessly, “there is something you need to know.”

  He let go, looking worried, and he let his hands drop to his sides. I hoped he would fully feel the weight of my words—words I could finally say and mean wholeheartedly—words that I knew from now on were what I would be fighting for. “I love you,” I said.

  Tears filled his eyes, and all the air left his lungs. Then he swiftly picked me up and carried me out of the bar to the applause of the bikers. The moonlight shining on the bikes and the blinking neon bar sign was a romantic backdrop as our world stood still. It was as if we were the only ones on the planet, and we were wrapped up in this incredible madness called love. He kissed me hungrily, and I moved my hands up under his shirt to feel that place over his heart. The heat of his body made it hard to breathe, and the desire to know him in every possible way became all consuming. But it was impossible to ignore the fact that someone was clearing their throat and politely trying to get our attention.

  “Uh, ahem, hey, kids…” Seth interjected.

  We reluctantly pulled away from each other to see him standing on the curb grinning from ear to ear and looking nothing like the man who had held a gun to my chest a few hours ago.

  “One brand new Ford F-150, gassed up and ready to go,” he said and tossed Luke the truck keys. “The Bronco is going to go home for repairs—I only gave you the old girl 'cause I knew you wouldn’t get too far in her. And just so you know, Louisa will be in the best care. You have my word.” He gave us both a wink, and then he disappeared down the road.

  Rain started to fall, and the night sparkled with endless possibilities.

  “Well, the whole world is ours, Kaya,” Luke said, pulling me into his arms, “we can go, or do, whatever you want.”

  I watched as soft drops of water hit his beautiful face. Whatever I want.

  “So, what’ll it be?” he asked with a sly, breathless smile.

  I ran my fingers over the scar on his cheek and pushed my body in as close to his as possible. It was pure bliss. It was home. “Well,” I said happily, “how about we go for a drive and get a couple of slurpees?”

  And that was the exact moment, down to the very second, that I started living my own life. My head listened to my heart, and I was relieved of any doubt, uncertainly, or lingering reservation of whether or not I was doing the right thing, because doing the right thing didn’t matter anymore.

  All that mattered was him.

  The phone was ringing. Again. My steaks were almost cooked to perfection and two more minutes on the barbeque would ruin them.

  “Just answer it,” said Lisa.

  I sighed. If I didn’t do as she said, enduring her wrath would be much worse than talking to the crazy ex-wife calling me. I reluctantly made my way into the hot kitchen and got to the phone on the twelfth, persistent, ring. I didn’t bother with hello.

  “Are you there?” asked a silky voice.

  “Yup. Carl’s dead,” I said irritably.

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Huh. Well, that saves us the trouble of having to deal with him ourselves. He was becoming a pain in the ass. Good riddance to the old prick.”

  Old Carl had served his purpose and was no longer needed. She said long ago he was the love of her life. Then again, she’d said that about me once as well.

  “Where’s the girl? You said you had her,” she said. “Shouldn’t you be on the road delivering her to me right now?”

  “I should be, but I’m not. My plans have changed,” I said impassively, and I dipped my finger into the coleslaw… darn that Lisa was a good cook; it had the perfect tang.

  “What the hell do you mean? We have a deal. Have you lost her?”

  I pondered this—lost her? Nope, definitely not. More like saved her. “Listen, I’m done. It’s over. I can’t go through with this anymore,” I said, suddenly feeling happy for the first time in years, “I know exactly where Kaya is, which is far away from Henry and you. She’s safe, and she is going to stay that way. By the way, I got to know her, and she’s a great girl, in case you were wondering. Thank God she’s nothing like you.”

  There was heavy breathing breaking through the white noise. I could picture her petite nostrils flaring and her eyes shining like the devil was in them. “Okay, Seth, joke’s over.” She laughed sweetly. “You’ll get what you want when I see you next. Now, where is she?”

  I used to melt into submission at her every request—kneel at her altar, worship the very ground she walked on—but after eighteen years of putting up with the planning, hate, and revenge of a woman scorned, I realized it was no longer my burden to bear. Besides, she wasn’t ageing well.

  “Are we done here? I got steaks cookin',” I said.

  “You don’t want to cross me. I will bring a war to your doorstep,” she hissed.

  “Well, Rayna, it will be one hell of a fight then, won’t it? That girl isn’t going anywhere near you. I am going to make sure your daughter never has to lay eyes on your vile face.”

  “Then I will find her myself,” she spat out, “and I will kill her very slowly in front of you and deliver her in pieces to Henry… and then, my sweet, darling Seth… I will kill you too.”

  I tossed the phone into the sink. I shouldn’t have, because it was brand new and the sink was full of dishwater, but pissing Rayna off made me slightly giddy. I wandered back out onto the porch where I knew he was still watching from afar—the bloke probably never even left—but no matter. Oliver would come in handy when Rayna decided to retaliate. For now, I would just pretend to bask unaware in the bliss of the day, which was easy because Lisa had on that dress I loved and Louisa was giggling while Brutus lay on his back. The cold beer was plentiful, I had cash in the bank, and my new family was happy. Life was good, even though my steaks were choking to death on the barbecue…

  Don’t miss book 2 in the Nightmusic Trilogy!

  I am hunted.

  A pawn in a vicious game.

  The only way I can protect the ones I love...

  ...is to disappear.

  Finally free of her father, Kaya has the one thing that keeps her heart beating—Luke.

  Blissfully content in his arms, everything seems perfect…until their world is shattered by a deadly invasion. When an old ally comes to the rescue, Kaya wants none of it. She is devastated to learn the identity of her attacker, and that she must do something truly heartbreaking if she wants to save the ones she loves. Sacrificing everything and sinking into bottomless sorrow, Kaya finds solace in an unlikely friend—one who shows her a different kind of love, and helps her discover an inner strength she never thought possible.

  A heart-pounding journey of self-discovery, Nocturne is the transformative second installment of the Nightmusic Trilogy by Heather McKenzie.

  Get your copy today!

  This book wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my husband, Byran Bueckert, who kept reality in check and looked after life while I wandered about in my dream world. Haley Bueckert—your encouragement, love, and willingness to dream right along with me was more treasured than you will ever know. Emily Bueckert and Josh Bueckert—your extremely honest criticism was so important and so valued—I am grateful for every word you read. Mom—thanks for being there for me, always, and tackling the first mammoth manuscript like a champ. My friend Tammy Wiebe—I felt like you truly believed in me, and that has fueled the fires to keep me going, thank you for the advice and for being there for me in so many ways. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone at Clean Teen Publishing; I am so grateful for all you do! Rebecca Gober, Courtney Knight, Marya Heiman, Melanie Newton, and Wendy Martinez—your patience and guidance through the whole process was amazing. Editor Courtney Whittamore—I am humbled by your wisdom and thankful for the much-needed education. Thank you Clean Teen Street team! And a huge thanks to Shelly Mckenzie, Deirdre Nolan, and Bonnie Cannam for the first read through, and Tina Beattie, Reanne and
Kieran Averay-Jones, Grant Tarapacki, Brian Vincent, Erin Greenough, Darrell Newsham, Kourtney Bueckert, Myrna Bueckert, Tennille Sydor and Jaclyn Horne—you were all incredibly positive influences on this journey and for that I am wildly grateful.

  Heather McKenzie is a Canadian author and Serenade is her first novel. A professional singer/songwriter with five albums to date, she has been telling stories through music for years and pulls from her extraordinary experiences as a musician to fuel her passion for creating Young Adult fiction. A rocker at heart, a mom of three, an aspiring painter, and a lover of animals, she is kept grounded by her husband at their home in Edmonton. You can visit Heather at www.heathermckenzie.com

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  Are you at a loss for what to read next? Check out CATALYST by Kristin Smith. This first book in THE DECEPTION GAMES series, will keep you reading late into the night. Enjoy an exclusive excerpt here.

  In a crumbling, futuristic Las Vegas where the wealthy choose genetic modification for their children, seventeen-year-old Sienna Preston doesn't fit in. As the only "normal" girl, everyone around her is a little too pretty, a little too smart, and a little too perfect. But when her father dies suddenly, her world changes in an instant.

  Once I’ve made it past the gun-toting guard in the courtyard—with the aid of a few well-thrown, barrel-rattling rocks—I sprint soundlessly until I reach the keyless entry, the exact door I saw in the hologram. As I dial Chaz, I insert a tiny earbud into my right ear and wait until his face pops up on the screen.

  “I’m here,” I say, trying to catch my breath. “What do you have for me?”

  The clack, clack, clack of his fingers rapidly typing on the keyboard is his only response. I glance around.

  What if there’s another guard I’m not aware of?

  “Got it,” he declares in triumph.