by Lily White
Carefully, Jonah asked his next question, but I could tell he wanted to hurry this along to ask a hundred more.
“How do you know that, Calvin? Did you see someone at her grave?”
He shook his head.
“No. Nobody was there when I walked through. But there were fresh flowers next to her tombstone.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Olive
Soren had a sister?
The question kept repeating in my head the entire drive back to Winter Ridge.
After Calvin dropped that bit of information in our laps like a thousand pound boulder, Jonah couldn’t rush me out of there fast enough. He’d barely spoken three words to me in the thirty minutes it took to make the drive back, his eyes focused on the road while he was lost to his thoughts.
I couldn’t blame him. I was lost to mine as well.
A sister? Wracking my brain, I tried to remember back to when my family first moved into the area. Nolan has met Soren during the first day of school and they were fast friends, but no matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t remember either of them mentioning a girl named Emily.
It crossed my mind that Calvin was wrong, but then Soren wasn’t a common name. What was the likelihood of there being another boy with it living in the same area?
You remind me of someone...At least until you made the mistake of growing up...
Soren’s words to me from that afternoon filtered into my thoughts. Was his sister the person I reminded him of? Because if that was the case, it was a little gross considering he’d slept with me and all.
And what did he mean by telling me it was a mistake to grow up? Should I have died young like Emily? Or was Soren the person that hated her like Calvin had said and-
Nope. I wouldn’t let my mind go there. Because if it went there, it would go to the other deaths in Winter Ridge and there was no way in hell Soren was responsible for them.
No way, I kept telling myself.
Or maybe there is...
“Should I drop you off back at the convenience store so you can drive the Porsche home? Or should I take you straight to your house?”
I jumped in my seat at the sound of Jonah’s voice.
He glanced at me, his brow pulling together. “Are you okay?”
No. I wasn’t okay. I was very far from okay at that moment.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little jumpy after seeing a dead body.”
He didn’t believe me, but that was fine. I was a pretty crappy liar. Sometimes you just have to make peace with your failures, and that was one of mine.
“Uh, the convenience store is fine. I should take the car back to the house before Grady has a conniption fit that it’s gone.”
“You think they haven’t discovered it missing already?”
My thoughts went to the Escalade that passed us when we left early that evening.
“No. I’m sure they’ve noticed. But I have the keys, so they may not have been able to drive it back home.”
He nodded and turned a corner, driving the two miles in silence before slowing his speed as we approached the store.
Glancing over, I saw the reason for his slow approach. An Escalade was parked two spots down from the Porsche with Quinton and Grady leaning against the back of it to watch us pull up.
“Friends of yours?”
Yep. I was in trouble. They both smiled as Jonah brought the car to a stop.
“That’s Quinton and Grady. Two friends of Soren’s. They’ve been staying at my house. The Porsche actually belongs to Grady.”
He was silent for a few seconds before asking, “Do you want to give him the keys to drive his car home and I can take you to your house?”
It would only buy me a few more minutes of peace. I was sure Soren was waiting at the house for me to arrive home so he could punish me like Becky and shove me off a balcony.
Might as well face the music now. Tossing Grady his keys and driving off with Jonah would only delay the inevitable.
“No. I’m good. One of them will drive me back.”
Leaning over me, Jonah pulled the handle for my door. It popped open and he righted himself in his seat. Reaching into his pocket, he extracted a silver card case and took one out to hand to me. “Here’s my number in case you need me. Call anytime, day or night.”
“Thanks,” I said while climbing down from the seat.
After shutting his door, I walked into the beam of his headlights to face the firing squad.
Grady shook his head and tsked his tongue while Quinton just smiled like I was a dead woman walking. They didn’t say anything until I was close, their eyes staring ahead at Jonah’s car because he hadn’t yet pulled away.
“Somebody is in trouble,” Quinton teased. “And not the good kind, Little Sis. Soren was pissed when he saw you took the Porsche, but he’ll be even angrier when he finds out you ditched the car here to go on a joy ride with a federal agent.”
“I almost feel sorry for her,” Grady added. Holding out his hands, he demanded his keys.
I pulled them from my pocket and placed them in his palm.
“You two don’t have to say anything, you know? It could be our little secret.”
Quinton’s expression softened. “Your punishment won’t be that bad. We can only hope you ran to the cop to ride his cock instead of blabbing about what went down at your house tonight.”
Grady laughed. “I’m not sure either option is better.”
“True. Come on, kid,” Quinton waved his hand for me to follow. “Jump in with me and I’ll drive you home.”
Doing as I was told, I climbed into the passenger side. He turned on the engine and a wall of music slapped me across the face, bass pounding before he reached over to turn it down.
“Sorry about that.”
Outside the Escalade, an engine roared as Grady tore away in the Porsche, damn near colliding with Jonah’s car that was still parked behind us.
“Your new buddy going to stay here all night? Or is he planning on following us home?”
“Mostly likely he’s just making sure I leave here in one piece. You know, because some guys still know what it means to be respectful.”
“Word,” he laughed. “It’s too bad he’s the only one.”
Backing out of the parking spot, Quinton sped past Jonah and out onto the road, his head bopping to the music as his lead foot shoved the pedal to the floor. We would be at my house in a few minutes, but I couldn’t wait that long to find out how bad it would be when we got there.
“Is Soren waiting at the front door to beat my ass for leaving, or is he hiding in my room waiting to burst out at me when I least expect it?”
Quinton’s eyes slid my way, a crooked grin tilting his lips.
“Neither. Soren isn’t at the house. He took off with someone for the night. We were told to find your ass and bring you back safe and sound. I have to admit, it pisses me off that we wasted hours waiting for you to come back to the Porsche. Must have been one hell of a decent fuck for it to have taken that long.”
He nudged me with his elbow. “Little Sis getting her groove on. Bet you’re sore.”
“I’m not sore.”
He grinned. “You’re gonna be when Soren is done spanking your ass.”
“I didn’t have sex with Jonah.” My voice jumped an octave as I defended myself against the accusation.
“Then you ratted us out, which is even worse. I’d lie and say you rode that motherfucker in reverse cowgirl with a bridle in your mouth to keep Soren from beating your ass harder. Pledges aren’t supposed to talk.”
Heat was burning my cheeks an ugly red. “I’m not a pledge. And I didn’t rat out anybody.”
“Uh, huh. Then what were you doing with Mr. FBI for the last two hours? Hope it was worth it. Not that we deserved the disappearing act after doing you a solid. Soren was so pissed that you left, he cleared out the entire house.”
“How long did it take him to realize I was gone?”
“A littl
e over an hour. Grady and I figured it out first and we went to look for you, but when we found the Porsche abandoned, we had no choice but to go back and let Soren know. He cleared everyone out and then dipped himself.”
It was a huge relief to know Soren wouldn’t be waiting for me, but at the same time I wanted to know exactly who he went home with.
“Who was with him when he left?”
A smile stretched Quinton’s lips, his dimples sinking into his cheeks. “Jealous?”
The car came to a stop as we pulled up to the house. “I’m not jealous.”
“It wouldn’t matter if you were,” he shrugged. “That’s not information for you to know. Now get your little butt inside and go to sleep. You’ll need it for when Soren gets back.”
I started to climb down from his SUV, but stopped to turn back to him. “Want to give me a hint as to what punishment I can expect for running away?”
Quinton’s head fell back against his seat as he laughed. Wiping a few tears away, he shook his head, brown waves bouncing over his cheek.
“Not gonna happen. Guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”
Knowing I wouldn’t get any more than that out of him, I ran up to my room and jumped in bed, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fall asleep.
The sun was peeking over the horizon when I finally gave up and took a shower. The hot water felt like heaven. I stayed until it ran cold.
I left the bathroom wearing only a towel and made my way into the closet to pull on an old T-shirt and some underwear. By the time I was walking out, I heard muted music from outside and the sound of a car’s engine getting closer.
Running to the window, I watched as a black Mercedes pulled into my driveway. Not recognizing it, I kept watching long enough to see Soren step out from the driver’s side to walk up to the front door.
The front door opened and slammed closed downstairs, some conversation occurred, and then Grady ran outside to jump in the car and drive away. Quinton was right behind him, following in the Escalade.
What the hell?
Unfortunately I didn’t have time to ponder what I’d just seen because a pair of heavy footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs.
My heart pounded with a painful thump and I jumped in my bed to yank the covers over my head just in time for the door to open.
Praying that Soren thought I was asleep and would leave, I clenched my eyes shut when he closed the door and crossed the room to sit on the bed beside me.
His hand ran down my leg from over the blanket, his fingers closing over my ankle.
“You can stop pretending you’re asleep.”
He sounded exhausted, but I guess that’s what happens when you spend the night out with who knows what girl.
“How do you know?”
“I know what your breathing sounds like when you actually are asleep.”
My eyes opened. “Because that’s not creepy at all.”
He laughed.
“I know because you fell asleep on me two years ago after we fucked. Or do you not remember?”
How could I forget? My nerve endings still had the annoying habit of lighting up with memory every time he was around. I’d tried to forget about him by dating Charley. But no matter how many times we had sex, my body couldn’t forget the feel of punishing hands driving me crazy just for the fun of it.
“Must have slipped my mind.”
“Liar.”
His hand clamped down on my ankle so hard, I swore he would snap the bone. “Want to tell me where you went tonight after running away from the party?”
“Want to tell me where you went?” I countered.
It only served to make him squeeze harder.
“You’re hurting me.”
“Then open your damn mouth and tell me all about your adventures.” His hand loosened some even though I hadn’t answered him.
“I’m surprised Grady and Quinton haven’t told you already.”
His hand released my ankle and slowly trailed up my leg. I could hear his breathing, somehow knew he was staring down at my shape beneath the blanket while deciding what evil thing he would do to punish me.
“They did. I just want to hear what you have to say.”
Might as well get it over with. I flipped the blanket down and stared up at him.
“I was out with Jonah. Nothing happened between us and I didn’t tell him what happened at the party. He was there and I needed to get away for a little while so I jumped in his car. No big deal.”
His dark eyes held mine. “Where did the two of you go?”
“Vaughan’s Funeral Home.”
That caught him off guard, his brows tugging together.
“What? Why?”
I shrugged. “To go see Maia. Her funeral is tomorrow.”
Soren blinked a few times before releasing a heavy sigh. It was the first time I’d seen him so close to defeated. What had he been doing all night?
“I’m not sure I want to know what that was about. I’m too damn tired to think right now. But we will finish this conversation after I get some sleep.”
Tugging the blanket from my hands, he pulled it far enough to lay down behind me. I squeaked in surprise, but couldn’t deny that the heat of him felt as good as the shower had earlier.
There was no telling why I was freezing. Perhaps the cold wind that was inside me earlier was still blowing. Being with Jonah had only calmed me down a little, but what I learned about Soren still hadn’t left my mind.
Was I currently spooning with a killer? I wasn’t sure.
“Go to sleep, Olly.” He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me against him.
“How do you know I’m not sleeping? I whispered.
I could feel Soren grin against my back.
Hoping it wasn’t because he planned to smother me with a pillow, I closed my eyes and let sleep take over.
I dreamed of a little girl named Emily. And behind her Teagan screamed.
. . .
That afternoon, I woke up to Soren hovering above me, his eyes studying my body while his fingers traced shapes or letters over my stomach. My shirt had crawled up while I’d been sleeping apparently, but it wasn’t so high that he could see my breasts.
It was impossible to tell what he was seeing when he looked at me, what he was thinking, or what the tip of his finger was tracing over my skin.
I didn’t move or make a sound while waking, so I didn’t think he noticed that my eyes were open intently watching him while he studied me. He was so lost in thought that my change in breathing hadn’t clued him in to the fact that I was no longer sleeping.
I felt an intense need to reach up and touch his face. It didn’t make sense why I felt that way. Soren had never been soft with me, even when doing things that were supposedly a favor or an act of kindness.
He wasn’t a soft person. Wasn’t good in the way you expect most people could be when their masks are pulled aside enough that you can know their vulnerabilities.
I wasn’t sure that Soren was ever vulnerable. You needed a warm heart to feel pain, a soul to provide comfort. How could a person possess both and yet never show a sign of them, even if for a brief second?
Or maybe this was that second. Maybe you could only see who Soren really was when he didn’t know you were looking.
Dark stubble peppered his strong jaw, his hair a messy frame around his face from sleeping, but it was his eyes that drew me in the most because, for the first time, I saw Soren in the raw.
He wasn’t hidden behind his usual bad boy smirk, wasn’t protected by the cruel words he spoke. He simply was, and it occurred to me that I didn’t know the person staring down at me.
I wasn’t sure that anybody in Winter Ridge knew him.
Yeah, he had Quinton, Nolan and Grady but guys are guys, they don’t talk about the deep shit.
Would anybody know if Soren was secretly hurting?
He lost his sister. A sibling. And he had to have been a child when it ha
ppened. It’s not something to be swept under the rug with no effect on a person’s psyche. I couldn’t begin to guess what was going through Soren’s mind, but I knew how it would feel if I were to lose Nolan.
It would crush me.
If there was ever an opportunity to know this man before his mask of arrogance was pulled back in place, it was now. I would draw him in and finally get him to open his heart up to spill whatever secrets were trapped inside his head.
Reaching up, I intended to touch my palm to his cheek, to trace the light of the setting sun where it flowed against the skin of his strong jaw.
His hand moved from my stomach before I could stop him, his fingers grasping my wrist in a punishing hold.
“Ow, damn it. What are you doing?”
“What are you doing?” he asked, that dark gaze sliding to my face.
It appeared he wasn’t as lost in thought as I originally suspected.
“You looked sad.”
“And you look guilty.”
I shook my head. “Of what?”
The arrogance returned and I knew the moment from just a few seconds before was over.
His mouth pulled into a thin line, anger obvious in the tension of his jaw. A muscle jumped, catching my eye, and a nagging whisper echoed through my thoughts, something so close to the surface that I believed I knew what it was telling me. Yet every time I reached for it, it danced away.
“It’s rare that I ever do anything for anybody. Especially in this fucked up town with a bunch of fucked up people that mean nothing to me. I’ve known for a long time that nobody is worth the effort, that every person around me is nothing more than empty, meaningless pieces of shit that care more about hurting each other than actually doing something in their life that makes them worth anything.”
The whisper in my mind grew louder, carried by a cold wind. I tried to tug my wrist from his grasp but it only made him squeeze tighter.
“So what happens the first time I go out of my way for somebody?”
His eyes held mine, but it wasn’t fury I saw behind them. More like an emptiness. Or regret.
“Where were you last night? What were you doing?”
Swallowing hard, I barely loosened the knot that filled my throat. “I was with Jonah. We went to the funeral home. I already told you that.”