Mia gave him a doubtful look. “Whatever. I’m being serious. Everyone seems to avoid you like the plague. Why is that?”
Rhett shrugged and glanced away. “I’m not well liked… I made some bad choices a few years ago and no one’s forgotten yet. Lilac doesn’t help the situation either. She’s made sure that no one will ever want to be anywhere near me.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Well she’s a pretty horrible person.”
“What about…” Before she could get her question in though, her phone rang.
Mia sucked in a sharp breath and drew back, realizing they had gravitated toward each other. Saved by the phone. Thank goodness for modern technology. Mia answered without checking the Caller ID. She glanced away from Rhett who blinked several times as if trying to disperse a spell from his thoughts.
“Hello?”
“Mia?”
“Oh, hey Mom, what’s up?”
“I have the store almost completely set up and was hoping you hadn’t eaten yet? I wanted to have dinner.”
Mia glanced down at her half drank milkshake and almost empty fries. “Nope, I haven’t eaten yet. I’m actually out in town walking around. I can pick something up if you want?”
“Oh, that would be great! I’ll be home in twenty.”
“OK! See you in a few.” Mia hung up and met Rhett’s gaze again. “My mom,” she said, holding her phone up.
“I figured.”
“She’s getting off early and wants to have dinner. I told her I’d grab something here and bring it back.”
“Riiight, while you were walking around town?” Rhett grinned, eyes dancing with amusement.
Mia gave a half-hearted scowl and hit him in the shoulder as she got to her feet. “I didn’t want her to feel bad for missing dinner, so yes, I lied. To spare her feelings.”
“How very noble,” he teased, getting up as well.
Mia shot him a smirk as she looped her purse over her shoulder. “I try. Anyways… I have to go…”
“Then I suppose I do too.”
“I knew it,” Mia said after a beat. Neither of them moved from their spots in front of their chairs.
Rhett cocked his head, frowning. “Knew what?”
“You came here because you knew I was here. You didn’t even get yourself food or anything.”
A smile creeped up onto his lips and his eyes laughed at her. “You caught me. Nothing gets past you.”
Mia rolled her eyes as she moved past him toward the counter. “Stop stalking me. It’s creepy.”
“I prefer to think of it as looking out for you. There are strange things in this town… things that aren’t too fond of oblivious young girls.”
“I definitely agree about the strange things,” she said, pointing at him and grinning. “You’re one of them.”
He placed a hand over his heart as if wounded. “Ouch. That hurt.”
“I think you’ll survive.” Mia couldn’t stop grinning as she turned her back on him and walked to the counter to order food. The whole way she could feel Rhett’s hot gaze on her, searing her back.
He brought something out of her, something she had never had before. The Mia from the city would have never bantered the way this one did… flirted the way this one did. Was that flirting? Her face warmed as she ordered her food and heard the door shut with Rhett’s exit. Even if it wasn’t, there was no doubt in Mia’s mind that Rhett saw her friendly attitude as flirting. She wasn’t sure if she liked that or not.
It wasn’t until she got the steaming hot burgers and fries and two milkshakes into the car that Mia remembered the second part of what Rhett had said. Things that weren’t too fond of oblivious young girls. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and goosebumps broke out across her arms at the ominous words.
Her phone beeped. She fished it out of her pocket as she turned her car on. Over the past few days, she’d stopped expecting Angie to call or text but when she glanced down at her screen her eyes widened in shock. There was Angie’s name scrawled across the top of the text.
Mia came to a sudden halt. Sorry I ran out on you. Family crisis. I’ll be back home tomorrow evening. Pls don’t be mad at me. I’ll explain everything when I get home! + I will come bearing gifts!
Leave it to Angie to still remain over the top perky even when she was apologizing. She had better have a good explanation. Mia wasn’t going to have some flaky best friend.
Chapter Fourteen
“I am so sorry,” Angie said for the hundredth time, hugging Mia again. “Really I am. A family emergency came up and I don’t have a lot of family in town so when something happens, I kind of have to be there. I didn’t even have time to pack and then when I got there it was just a mess of everything. You know how family can be, right?”
Angie finally let go of Mia who nodded even though she didn’t really know. She had grandparents she didn’t hear from a lot and a few cousins she wasn’t close to. So no, she didn’t know how family can be. “It’s no problem… I was just kind of worried. You disappeared and didn’t call or text.”
“I know… I suck,” Angie said, her head falling.
They were sitting on Mia’s living room couch with a movie’s home screen on. Mia had been about to hit play when Angie appeared at her front door bearing gifts. And they were the epic apology accepted kind of gifts too. A whole tin of these delicious double chocolate homemade cookies and a pair of gorgeous blown glass earrings. Apparently one of Angie’s relatives was a glass blower. They looked like little rain drops, going from clear glass at the top to a deep aqua blue at the bottom. Mia still wasn’t over Angie running out on her and not texting or calling her in days but… she did forgive her a little bit after seeing those earrings.
Mia sighed, giving her friend a knowing smile. “You don’t suck. Thanks for the presents again. I’m in love with these,” she said flicking one of the earrings which she already had in.
“I knew you would! So, tell me everything. What’s been going on while I was gone?”
What Mia really wanted to talk about was what Angie had been doing this past week but instead she went ahead and indulged her friend. Maybe she could sneak some questions and get some answers after she gave her a giant influx of information. When she mentioned Kai to her and having hung out with him, she watched Angie closely to see her reaction. Angie didn’t seem the least bit concerned… or to care at all. Poor Kai. Mia would fix that.
Mia kind of skirted over a few of the Rhett moments… She knew Angie wouldn’t approve and besides, Mia didn’t even really know what was going on with that whole situation. She’d fill her in eventually. Just not right now.
At last, she caught Angie up and sprang her questions on her. “So, what sort of family emergency was going on?”
Angie shrugged, always on the defensive. She brushed her hair over her shoulder. “It’s just so complicated. A super long story.”
Mia’s jaw clenched in irritation. She had just told her everything – well, almost everything – that had happened in the past week and Angie couldn’t even clue her in on what she’d been up to? Especially after ditching her the way she did? “Give me the short version,” Mia said, forcing a patient smile.
For the first time since meeting her, Angie actually looked a little nervous. She bit her lip and gave her a half smile. “You don’t want to know. It’s super boring.”
“Just tell me. Come on, what is the big secret here?” Mia asked, her voice rising a little too much. She flinched but didn’t back down, not even when Angie gave her a pleading look as if begging her not to force her to say anything. No way. Mia needed to know what had happened.
Angie seemed to realize Mia wasn’t going to give in and let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. I don’t mean to be so secretive it’s just… it really is complicated. So long story short… a friend of the family died.” She said it so matter-of-factly and emotionless that it took Mia’s brain a minute to catch up to what she had just said. A friend of the
family had died and if she’d run off like that, he must have been pretty close.
Wow… Mia felt like a total jerk for being so pushy. “Oh my gosh Angie, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
Angie shook her head, waving her apology away. “No, it’s fine really. Not to sound callous but we weren’t super close. He was close to the rest of my family and he was my mom’s best friend. That’s why I didn’t have time to call or text. I felt like I was the only like stable one there. I had to help out as much as I could.”
“Wow… that’s horrible.” And because Mia didn’t know when to stop, she tentatively asked, “Can I ask how he died?”
Angie’s face scrunched up. “Would you believe me if I said he was murdered?”
Mia sucked in a sharp breath. Not what she had expected at all. “Umm… maybe?”
Angie let out an over-dramatic sigh and got comfy with an elbow propped up on the back of the couch and her chin on her fist. Snuggling in for a good juicy story. “So, he actually lives on the other side of town and Monday night he turned up dead in the woods behind his house,” Angie whispered, her voice taking an eerie, urgent tone that sent goosebumps up and down Mia’s whole body. “The police are still unsure of who the culprit is, but it was obviously murder. They think like premeditative because of the… wounds. Someone had poisoned him. Super weird, right?”
Mia nodded, speechless. The way Angie talked about it so carelessly kind of set Mia on edge. No one should be able to talk about murder so easily. Angie didn’t seem to notice how freaky Mia thought it was though and went on. “So, everyone in the family is kind of freaking out right now. I can’t believe you didn’t see it on the news or in the paper? It was this whole big thing.”
“Wow…” Mia couldn’t seem to say anything else. She searched her brain for words but came up with nothing.
Angie blinked and cocked her head, giving her an odd look as if she was the weird one for being speechless at the fact that some guy had been murdered across town. Premeditative murder. Real nice. What kind of town did her mother move her to?
“You Ok?” Angie asked.
“How are you OK?” Mia asked before she could stop herself. “Your uncle was just killed, and you don’t seem the least bit phased.”
Realization sparked on her face and Angie frowned. “I’ve had almost a week to process this Mia. And like I said, we weren’t close.”
“Yeah, but even if one of my family members who I wasn’t close to had died the way your uncle did, I would be in pieces.”
“Well we are different people Mia. Everyone grieves differently.” There was a definite edge to her voice that Mia had never heard before.
Mia mentally kicked herself. Duh. What was up with her and blurting out insensitive stuff? First with Rhett about Kai and now with Angie. She needed to replace her brain filter with one that worked. “Right, sorry. That was awful of me. Everyone grieves differently, and you did have a whole week. I’m sure that was really hard.”
Angie let out another dramatic sigh that rolled through her whole body and made her shoulders slump. She scooted closer and wrapped her arms around Mia.
“Don’t apologize. I think we’re all just on edge. Hey,” Angie suddenly brightened, leaping back from her without letting go of her shoulders. “Why don’t we go shopping? The mall is about thirty minutes out of town, but it is so worth the drive. We can go tomorrow? I could use some major retail therapy after this week.”
Mia smiled. She hadn’t been to a mall in… way too long. “That sounds nice. I’d like that.”
“Great! Oh, rotting trees,” she swore – maybe? – “I totally forgot, I’m supposed to meet with Hazel tomorrow. I’ll be back by twelve and then we can shop till we drop.”
Mia grinned. “That sounds great.”
Angie beamed and clapped her hands before slumping back into the couch. “Awesome! Now, what was this movie you were going to watch? And what are the odds of getting buttery popcorn to go with it?”
“Pretty decent. I’ll go check.”
“Great,” Angie said as Mia got up and went into the kitchen.
After unwrapping a thing of popcorn and sticking it in the microwave, Mia grabbed the untouched newspaper she and her mom never read. She flipped through the pages until she got to the third page. Her heart stalled in her chest when she saw images of a man with black hair lying on the ground. Pale and dead. It almost looked as if the life had been drained from him. His skin was milky white, and his eyes were nothing but dark black holes. Something – the poison maybe? – had turned his veins black. The microwave beeping startled her from her thoughts, and Mia quickly shut the newspaper, hiding the macabre image.
But for the rest of the night, even while watching her favorite rom-com with Angie, Mia couldn’t stop thinking about it. She he couldn’t get that man out of her head. Most of all though, Mia couldn’t figure out who and why someone would want to kill a person in a sleepy town like this?
Chapter Fifteen
Angie left a few hours later and since Mia couldn’t get their conversation and the man who had died out of her head, she decided the best thing to do was to go for a run.
Mia changed into a pair of shorts, a pink tank top and her tennis shoes. Since the could-be stalker, Mia hadn’t gone for a run but now she needed to get some restless energy out. All the strangeness of the past week had set her on edge, and she needed to burn it off. She’d just do a quick run around the block and come home. The whole murder-victim thing had her paranoia at an all-time high. Unfortunately, her paranoia would have to hit red hot and nearly bubbling over before it could stop her from a good, mind-cleansing run. So, shoving her earbuds in, she took off from the front door and headed to the left. Away from Rhett’s house.
Mia blasted her upbeat workout music and got into the running rhythm, concentrating on her breathing and keeping her eyes straight ahead. That was what she liked most about running. When she ran, she had to keep focused on what was ahead. There was no sightseeing, no glancing back.
Her breathing leveled out and before she knew it, she had turned out of the neighborhood and was following the sidewalk toward a path into the woods that led to one of the parks nearby. Mia had run in the city park but that had been different. At parks in the city, there were always people. Joggers, walkers, moms walking kids in strollers, couples or friends chatting and walking dogs. Even through her earbuds she could hear the sounds of traffic and the hustle and bustle of the city.
Here, though… there was nothing. Just birds chirping and little animals scurrying and the wind rustling the leaves didn’t even pierce the slamming of the music in her ears. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second, letting herself absorb the feeling of being surrounded by nature. Mia could almost feel the earth under her feet, feel the trees all around her.
She realized she wasn’t as alone as she’d first thought. This place may not have joggers and traffic, but it did have the trees and the animals. When she let herself, breathe and focus, she could almost feel them like they were people. That thought comforted her. Made her feel less isolated and alone out on the dirt path.
Mia smiled. Was this what it was like to be one with nature like Angie seemed to be? To feel everything around her? Feel the stir of the leaves on the trees, feel the shift in the dirt where her feet stepped. She had never felt anything like this before in her life. With each step she could have sworn the earth fed her energy up through her legs and into her core. Mia felt alive, invigorated.
She turned a bend in the path just as someone came around too. He made no effort to move out of her way. The guy ran into her head on and they both went stumbling backward. Mia let out a gasp, tripping over something on the ground. She hit her backside hard enough for her tailbone to bruise. Her hands reached back to cushion her fall and the rocks and dirt of the path dug into her palms.
Mia coughed and pushed upward, starting to scramble forward so she could stand, when whatever it was that had tripped her wrappe
d around her ankle and made her nearly fall over again. Swearing, Mia spun around half expecting to see a rock or a twig but instead she saw… a vine sprouting from the earth and latching onto her ankle. Like it was alive.
Someone chuckled, a shadow looming over her. Mia’s breathing came out quick and fast as her eyes traveled the length of a tall, muscular body to a face Mia recognized all too clearly. It was the stalker from the city and from the neighborhood. Now that she got a good look at him, there was no doubt in her mind that it was him. He had followed them all the way to St. Croix Falls. Adrenaline coursed through her, causing her heart to slam against her ribcage and her stomach to twist in fear.
The man had his hands on his hips, frowning down at her. In a different situation she would have found him handsome. Inhumanly handsome with gold hair and tan skin and grass green eyes that sparkled too much for someone who wanted to cause her harm. “I found you,” he said, crouching down in front of her.
The vine around her ankle tightened, making Mia gasp in pain. A whole other kind of gasp escaped her lips when she saw another vine sprout from the ground at an unnatural rate and weave around her other ankle, keeping her in place. Her brain short circuited. Did not compute… How had that just happened? It was like… like he had done that. Controlled the vines. From the way he seemed unphased by the vines, he knew what he’d done. But how was that possible? How could someone do something like that? Like magic?
“Your mother was very clever in bringing you back here, but I’m very good at what I do. She couldn’t cover your tracks forever,” he said, scowling.
Before Mia could respond, his hand whipped out and grabbed hold of her shoulder. She let out a strangled scream as he tugged painfully, forcing her to stumble forward onto her hands and knees in front of him. “I’m afraid I’m in need of your help,” he whispered in her ear, before jerking her back. Mia’s whole body shook with fear. But it was nothing compared to when he wrapped his slender fingers around her throat and squeezed.
Wayward: St. Croix Falls Book 1 Page 10