by W. J. May
“He just told you that? Out of the blue?” Maybe Kieran was trying to score points of sympathy with Zoe. I knew I was only trying to fool myself.
“I met his dad. He was drunk! He spoke to Kieran like he was nothing but garbage! His dad put a lock on Kieran’s door so he couldn’t get out. He would force him into his room and who knows what else he had to endure!” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “It’s not fair. He didn’t deserve that.”
I understood her pity, could even sympathize with it. However, the fact that he never reported his father missing stopped me from believing Kieran was completely innocent. If what Zoe was saying was true, then Kieran might have not killed intentionally at all. It could be self-defence. He could have buried his dad in a panic. "When did you meet his father?"
"Only once," Zoe said. "Kieran tried to keep me away from him. He didn’t know his dad was home. He wanted me to wait in the car but I heard him and Kieran fighting. His father did threaten to beat him up and then later that night, when all of us were together, he came in bruised."
I sat back, trying to process this information. Kieran's father was an abusive drunk. So Kieran could have killed him out of self-defence. I could hear the sincerity in Zoe's words and I knew she believed them to be true. "It doesn't explain why he covered up the body and tried to hide it. I mean, wouldn’t it have been smarter just to go to the police and tell them what happened? There's no way he would have been convicted for defending himself."
"Maybe the law works differently in Scotland." Zoe gestured with her hands. "Perhaps he was scared of being sent to jail. He panicked. Maybe his dad said if Kieran ever reported him, he would only cause trouble. Maybe it was better when his dad was gone. Maybe that was the best time of his life. I'm not sure if he has anyone left over in Scotland. Besides..." She trailed off and bit her lip, looking down at her lap. "I'm here," she whispered. She hugged her knees to her chest and shifted slightly over. "Sorry," she said as tears ran down her face. "I have to say it. There’s a good chance that he actually cares enough about me to cover up a killing."
“Why would you—Ohhh.” I closed my eyes and groaned. "You heard the entire conversation between Heidi and me, didn't you?"
She nodded. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, really. But it was kind of hard not to after a while." She smiled at me, looking beautiful with the tears on her face. "Why didn't you tell me, Brent?"
"I wasn't sure for a long time," I mumbled. "And then I was too nervous because I didn't want to make things awkward between us, and you were starting to like Kieran, so it wasn't really my place, was it?"
She wrapped her arms around my waist. "Well, I'm glad I know. I wish I knew earlier, though."
"Really?"
"Yes," she said, looking up at me. She bit her lip in that cute way that made my entire body go warm. "I’d have said yes to a date if you had asked."
"Damn," I swore. I smiled ruefully at her. There was still a chance. Maybe not right at this moment, but I was pretty sure I’d wait forever for her. "Well, should have, would have, could have, huh?"
"I guess so. You mean a lot to me, Brent. I can’t imagine my life without you in it." She sat up and kissed me on the cheek. "You're an amazing friend, Brent. Really."
"Except now there’s Kieran. You honestly think I want him in jail because he's dating you?" Well, I did a little. But not enough to actually put him there. "I want you to be happy, Zoe. If Kieran makes you happy… I have to be okay with that."
"I know, but..."
I put my arm around her and pulled her even closer to me. "No buts. Let’s prove he’s not guilty and then move forward from there. Who knows, I might get you to fall in love with me along the way. Or maybe not.” I laughed. “I’m only messing, gorgeous!”
Zoe leaned her head against my shoulder, lost in thought. I tensed as she did it. We had sat like this many times over the years for various reasons. Especially after Rylee's death. Now it felt different because she knew about my feelings for her. She seemed perfectly relaxed, but that didn't mean she didn't feel it too. "Thank you," she finally said. "For everything."
"No need to thank me," I said. "Really." I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling, glad she couldn’t see my face.
"Hey, Brent?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you tell me if anything important happens at the meeting today?"
I nodded. "I'll tell you.” Seth's words about her working with Kieran against us rang in my head, but I quickly brushed it off. I trusted Zoe, with all my heart. Besides, Kieran wasn't against us. I would have to get used to that idea again, but I believed it.
"Thank you.” She slowly pulled away from me and stood. “I should get going before Seth shows up. I’m glad I have you in my life." She opened the window and disappeared out the window and down the tree.
Little did she know, she’d taken my heart with her. I hated being the good guy. The understanding guy. The one not to cause trouble.
How was I supposed to win her over?
Chapter Nine
Zoe
I managed to get out of Brent’s just as I heard Seth's car down the road. I jumped out of the tree and broke into a run, turning the corner before he came within sight. He hopefully had no idea I had come. If he went into Brent’s room, he might sense me. Crap! I hadn’t thought of that.
I slowed my run to a walk and waited for my heart to slow down. No one was following me. I banged the heel of my hand against my forehead. I was such an idiot! Had I really just kissed him? Twice? On the cheek, but still. Really? He probably thought I was trying to manipulate him.
I hadn’t been! I just thought it was incredibly sweet of him to help me even knowing I was in love with Kieran. I stared at the snow on the ground around me. How had I not realized he liked me? I should have known… sensed it. He deserved someone better than me. Someone sweet. I liked him to bits but I couldn’t leave Kieran on his own.
I stopped walking. Kieran knew! He’d told me before he left Brent would take care of me. He knew and he hadn’t tried to stop him. What the heck?! I started walking again, my steps hurried in the snow.
I didn't want Brent to think I was trying to manipulate him. I really found him sweet and if he had asked me out, I probably would have said yes. I had never considered. I should have, he was pretty cute. Heidi liked him, I was sure of it.
My walk turned into a run as I headed home. After months of working out, as well as my enhanced abilities, running fast and for a long time left me only slightly winded, even though my ears rang from the wind. Even with the training and meditation I did, it was still difficult to tune out some noises.
Dad wasn't home when I got there. He had wanted to get back to work as soon as possible and went straight for the doctor's office after the plane landed. Always a workaholic. I smiled. I came inside and stopped suddenly.
Someone was upstairs.
In my room. I could hear a heartbeat and slow, steady breathing.
I could now detect differences in heartbeats and regular patterns between males and females, and it was definitely a man. Not Dad, though. The heartbeat was too slow and strong to be his. Someone younger.
"Kieran," I whispered.
Only those of us with enhanced physical abilities had such slow resting heartbeats.
I headed up the stairs slowly, just in case. I paused outside my room. “You can’t keep showing up like this.” I stepped in my room. Kieran sat on my bed.
He jumped up and opened his arms. “I missed you, lass.”
I wanted to do nothing more than wrap my arms around him and let him comfort me, but I forced myself to step back. "Sit, Kieran." I pointed to the chair by my desk. "I'm not happy with you."
He sat back down on the bed, looking crestfallen. "Zoe? Why don’t you believe me?"
“I believe you." I sighed. Brent. Kieran. Kieran, Brent. When had the complicated become more complex? I thought about Brent’s argument. "But that doesn't mean I'm not still ticked at you." I sat down in my desk cha
ir and glared at him. "Either you start telling me what the hell happened, or you have no right to talk to me again. You got it?"
"I didn't want to endanger you." Kieran looked exhausted. "You have to believe me."
"You lied to me, Kieran. More than once. I can't trust you anymore.”
Kieran stood, as if ready to leave.
I jumped up and pushed him back on the bed. “I’m not finished.” Anger and anxiety that had been welling up inside of me exploded. "Which means I'm not inclined to believe much of what you say. Before all of this went south, you should have told me about your father. I don't like being lied to."
"I didn't lie to you, Zoe." He hesitated and then sighed. "Not really. I just shaded the truth a little."
"Is there a difference?" I yelled, then forced myself to calm my heart and lower my voice. I sat back down on the desk chair. "Get the hell out or tell me what's going on."
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, his hand shaking as he rested his elbows on his knees. "What do you want to know? I’ll tell you everything. Scout’s honor.” He held up two fingers and quickly let his hand drop.
This was it. The moment of truth.
I swallowed. "Did you kill your father?"
"Yes." He stared at me with the broken soul of a lost boy. He blinked and made his face unreadable. "I didn't lie when I told you he kidnapped me and drove me to the mine in the trunk of his car. He was going to kill me. I knew it. I wasn’t going to let him win.” His eyes glistened but no tears fell. “He was completely, bloody mad. I kept trying to get away. I didn't want to hurt him, I really didn't, but he kept coming at me and—" He shut his eyes tightly, a shudder running through his body. "I knew something was within my reach when I fell. I knew what was going to happen.” He inhaled sharply. “I could sense it all. This thing at the mine that happened to me, it’s no gift. It’s a nightmare every day, watching things before they happen or sensing what people are going to say.” He pushed his shoulders back and straightened. “My dad had the tire iron in his hand, swinging it like a cricket bat. I grabbed a rock and rolled just as he swung at my head. I… I hit him and ran. I threw the rock and hit him square in the head. He fell back and… and…” He punched his knee with his fist. “I panicked.” He stood and began pacing. “I can't be deported, Zoe. I can’t go to jail. I won’t survive. I’m not a juvy, I’d be tried as an adult.” He shook his head. “I knew everything, the outcome of the court case, everything before it even happened. So I hid the body and made up the story about him being in Scotland."
I swallowed. “You don’t know everything. You couldn’t have sensed the court case. You imagined it.”
“I guess that’s between my brain and my conscience to decide.”
I stared at him, his gaze never wavering as he met my eyes. "What about the break-ins? Did you do those? Did you attack Brent's dad?"
"No," he said. "I mean yes. I mean..." He sighed and then started again. "I only broke into a few stores so I still had some money to live off of. But I never broke into any of those houses, and I wouldn't have ever hurt Brent's father. I mean it, Zoe. Only a few stores and that was only temporary, anyway. I tried the lottery. Comes in handy when you can sense winning tickets. All I took was enough to keep me afloat until college."
I really wanted to believe him. He was still everything to me, even though I had no idea if I could ever trust him again. Fate really was a bitch with a sick sense of humor, wasn't she? "What about Rylee?" I whispered. "She figured it out. She knew you had killed your dad. It makes sense that you..."
His look stopped me cold.
"I can't believe you, Zoe," Kieran spat, rage filling his eyes. "Out of everyone, you think I’m monstrous enough to—”
“You admitted it to me that night!”
“No! I told you I felt responsible. I still do. I should have sensed what was going to happen sooner. I could have protected her.” He jumped up, anger filling the room enough that I could hear it. “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t hidden my ability, I could have figured out a way to protect her. We all could have stopped it.”
"All of us?" I snapped, guilt taking over reason. "So you built lies upon lies and now Rylee’s death was an accident too?"
He stared at me in disgust, or was it disappointment? "No, I didn't bloody kill her! I meant it when I said I would never hurt any of you. I've been trying to figure out who the hell did."
I raised an eyebrow. "You've been carrying out your own investigation?"
"Don't sound so surprised." He crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles a momentary distraction before I refocused. "She was my friend, too. Besides, being a fugitive isn't nearly as exciting as it seems in the movies."
"If she was your friend and you claim you didn’t do it, why don’t you bring your work over here, then? Maybe I can help you. Maybe all of us can."
Kieran nodded slowly. "That's why I'm telling you this. I want you to help. And I think you can."
“If I'm going to help you, then Brent needs to know also.” Seth was not a good person to enlist at the moment, and Heidi would tell him if we excluded him. “Brent can help too."
Kieran's upper lip curled. "Really?" A single eyebrow rose on his chiseled face. "Brent's not going to help me. He wants you to himself."
"I know," I said.
Kieran rolled his eyes. "It was obvious, Zoe. You don’t need a sixth sense to figure that one out. He's a swell guy, but his poker face is as strong as the protection under a Scot's kilt."
I flushed. Was I the only one who had no idea that he liked me?
Kieran must have misread my red face. “Have you and him… you know?”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to admit it to him, but I couldn’t stop myself. "It doesn't matter." I glared at him. "You told me to have Brent take care of me, remember? He can't do that if he doesn't have all the facts." Not to mention that with the suspicion being thrown on me by Seth, it didn't look like I was really betraying them. "Brent deserves your trust. He can help you."
He sighed. "Fine," he said. "I’ll go with my gut-feeling."
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“It was a joke.” In a flash, Kieran pulled me into his arms. He kissed me lightly on my lips. "I still hope one day I can truly have you again." He sighed and then released me, leaving me longing to be in his arms again and have his lips on mine. "I should go. You can fill Brent in. I'll be in touch."
Someone was pulling into the driveway. I nodded and crossed my arms, as if that would protect me from the waves of emotions rolling through me right now.
He walked out of my bedroom door and I sat down on my bed, far away from where he was sitting. Despite myself, I listened to Kieran as he walked out the back door without stopping. I told myself it was because I wanted to make sure he got out all right without getting caught. Not because I wanted to make sure he didn’t steal anything on the way out.
Chapter Ten
Brent
The meeting accomplished nothing important. Seth spent half the time spewing out more gibberish about how we needed to get Kieran and take care of it ourselves. I don’t get what had happened to him. He seemed to have changed so much in the past five months.
Seth wanted to check the mine for more clues. He was adamant about it. Now that the cops had cleared the area, everyone could go up there freely again. I doubted Seth would find anything and told him so. He threw me a disgusted look and hopped in his mom’s truck, roaring off in the direction of the mine.
After he had left, Heidi and I tried to figure out how we could get Seth to come back to his senses. Aside from telling his father and strongly encouraging getting Seth enrolled in therapy, we couldn’t think of anything.
“I doubt he’d be open to seeing a therapist,” Heidi said. “I’m getting sick of seeing them myself.”
I nodded. My parents didn’t make me see a therapist, but I was definitely getting sick of seeing the inside of the office of the grief counselor at school. “Maybe we should
get him a therapy dog.”
“Really?” Heidi rolled her eyes. “That’s your solution? Therapy dogs are cute, but they won’t replace Rylee.”
“You think we should try and get him a girlfriend?” I stared at Heidi. If she did have a thing for Seth, then she now had no competition. It would be her chance to get closer to him.
Heidi shook her head. “Not fair to Seth or the girl. No one wants to date someone pining for another girl.”
I nodded. Good point. “We should ask Zoe what she thinks we should do. He’s not listening to us.”
“We can’t do much right now. Everything’s all messed and screwed up. We should be moving forward. It’s frustrating.” She stood, stretched, and picked up her purse. “I should go. Call me if you want to talk or you see something up with Seth, or… whatever.” She shrugged and looked down at the ground as she walked out.
“You too.” I couldn’t believe she hadn’t tried to argue and say Seth was fine. She usually sided with him these days. “And Heidi?”
She turned back to look at me. “Yes?”
“Thank you,” I said. “For believing me about Seth. I’m glad I wasn’t imagining the whole thing.”
She smiled slightly at me. “Thanks for being here to talk to.”
As Heidi pulled out and left, my dad pulled in from work. He looked exhausted. “How was your vacation?”
I shook his hand, forcing my face to appear normal as my supernatural ability picked up a notch. “It was good.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” He yawned. “Do you think you can tell me all about it in the morning? I’m really tired.”
“Yeah,” I said, trying to figure out why he would want to head to bed at supper time. “Where’s mom? I haven’t seen her today.”
“She’s probably in her room.” Dad locked his car door as we headed inside. “You know how she gets once a month.”
I nodded, totally grossed out. She would have come rushing down to see me if she was home. Something else was going on. Dad wasn’t looking me in the eye. Mom would rather go out and get lunch with friends or go to the tennis courts than sit in her room and ruin her figure with a tub of ice cream and reruns of Cheers and not greet her son. “Okay,” I said. “Well, see you in the morning.”