“Get her keys out of the purse,” he commanded as we approached the car.
“Where’s your truck?” I asked while opening up Annie’s purse.
“I didn’t need it.”
“Then how’d you get here?” I retorted.
“That’s not important. Right now, the only thing that matters is getting Annie home safely.”
His unwavering reassurance that Annie was going to be okay lessened my worries a bit, and for the first time, I actually agreed with him. I opened the passenger side door where Liam softly put Annie down and buckled her seatbelt. My body squeezed into the back seat while Liam sat down in the driver’s spot. Instead of starting the car and leaving, he turned and put both hands on Annie’s temple. Slowly, he bowed his head towards hers until their foreheads barely touched together. He shut his eyes and began to inaudibly mumble under his breath.
“What are you doing?” I bellowed, unable to withdraw my gaze.
Again, Liam didn’t respond. After a minute, he opened his eyes and gingerly guided Annie’s body back to her seat. I glanced in stunned silence as her face started to regain color. She didn’t look dead anymore, but instead appeared to be sleeping peacefully.
“What the hell did you just do to her?” I demanded again.
“Relax,” he answered, civility slowly coming back to his voice. “She’s fine. Luckily, she won’t remember anything that happened tonight.”
Without warning, he turned the key in the ignition and the car instantly roared to life. He burned out of the parking space and flew away from the lot, not stopping for anything or anyone, including a valet worker who had to jump out of the way before getting killed.
“What do you mean she won’t remember anything from tonight? How could she forget it? We almost died!”
My patience continued to wane with the vagueness of his answers. Instead of talking, he focused solely on the road. He zigzagged through traffic for a minute before we finally turned off the Strip and flew down the same back roads that Liam had taken on our double date. The Strip quickly dissipated behind us before he finally started answering my questions.
“Forget about it,” he responded.
“Forget about it?” I repeated hysterically.
“Yeah, forget about it. I told you she is going to be fine, that should be enough. Besides, I’d think you’d be worried more about what happened to you tonight.”
“For someone who supposedly knows a lot about me, you really are stupid,” I jeered. “How dare you say that? What else could be more important?”
“Why don’t you explain to me how you survived that little incident back there,” he said, his eyes studying me through the rearview mirror. Subconsciously, my fingers started running through the bullet hole that was left in my shirt while I tried to think of a reasonable answer.
“I don’t know, all I remember was the gun being pointed at me right before it went off. The next thing I saw was you coming away from the garbage bin. He must have missed me,” I said, looking back at him through the mirror.
“No, I don’t think he did, unless you bought that shirt with a hole in it already?”
“Fine, do you have a better idea?” I rolled my eyes.
“I’ve got a thought,” he said keenly. “But I’m not sure you’d want to hear what I think.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this but yeah, I do want to hear what you think,” I said.
He glared back at me with narrowed eyes and an ardent look on his face. I shuffled uncomfortably in my seat as his penetrating glare studied me closely.
“You’re one of Woodward’s special students.”
It took a minute for my brain to process exactly what he’d said. Professor Woodward was the furthest thing from my mind that night, but the sound of his name sparked the memory about the day he told me all about his supernatural world of angels and demons.
“Woodward,” I gasped.
“Yes, him.”
“What do you mean one of his special students?” I barely replied back.
“I’d heard he told you already,” he chuckled, looking and sounding rather amused at the situation. “Either I heard wrong or you’re not as smart as I thought.”
“First of all,” I sneered, my anger slowly getting the best of me. “You have no idea what we’ve talked about. Secondly, if it’s what I think you’re referring to, that’s absurd. There’s just no logical way it could be true.”
“Alright, then how do you explain that I knew exactly where to find and save you guys tonight? There are lots of dark alleys in Vegas. You think I randomly picked one and hoped that you’d be getting mugged in it?”
“I dunno,” I shot back, “maybe you were following us?”
“Okay, let’s go with that,” he mocked me. “You still haven’t explained to me how you survived getting shot. Most people are in a lot of pain and bleeding when they get shot, some even die. But you, well you’re sitting here talking like nothing even happened. Surviving that doesn’t seem very human to me.”
The emphasis on the word human made me shiver. It was difficult enough to believe it from someone I actually trusted; it was another to hear it from Liam. Even though it was something I wasn’t ready or willing to accept, the idea of being an angel would have explained a lot, especially surviving the gunshot. And Liam being a demon would have made a lot of sense, mostly with his unusual role of hero. He finally looked away from the mirror but I could still see his smug smile spread across his face. He continued to drive quickly as the comforting lights from campus came into view.
“Maybe he missed and I tore my shirt when I fell to the ground?” I said, doing everything in my power to find a rational explanation for what had happened. “There was a lot of glass scattered around. It could have very easily ripped right through.”
Liam let out a loud, demonic laugh that vibrated the entire car. Surprisingly, Annie didn’t move a muscle but instead continued to sleep peacefully in the passenger seat.
“Sure, I can buy that. I mean the whole thing adds up perfectly. I followed the two of you around the entire night without being seen and was able to sneak into an empty, quiet alley without anyone hearing me and easily dismantle a man with a gun. All the while wearing a pair of red contacts that I put in when I’m out on the town. And, to top it all off, the one shot he fired at you miraculously missed and you tore your shirt on the ground with the exact size of a bullet hole,” he said sardonically. “You’ve solved it and I’m glad you did! I’ve been thinking Woodward is just an old pinhead for over a year now. I’m glad someone else sees it too.”
“That’s not funny,” I said sternly. “It’s just not something I believe or accept. I mean come on; you’re going to tell me I survived because of some repressed magical power?”
“I didn’t say that specifically, but you’re onto something. I’d keep running with it if I were you,” he nodded from the front seat.
Even though my story seemed more logical, I could help but start to think that Professor Woodward’s ideas held some validity. Liam being a demon would have made sense and I just knew in my heart that the bullet had really hit me. Without wanting to give him the satisfaction of being right, I leaned back against the seat and folded my arms.
“Whatever,” I said distantly. “I just want to get Annie home.”
“Ask and you shall receive,” he said, coming to a complete stop.
I looked around and immediately noticed the familiar yard that we shared with Hope and Steph. Our argument had become so heated; I’d barely realized how quickly we’d gotten home. Liam opened the driver’s side door and got out. Instead of walking over and helping get Annie out, he waited while I pushed the front seat forward and climbed out.
“Do you need any help getting her out?” I asked annoyed, walking around towards the other door.
“Actually, Annie’s going to stay with me this weekend. Trust me; it’ll be a lot easier for everyone if I’m with her when she wakes up.”
&n
bsp; “No, she should be in her own bed. I’ll take care of her,” I argued.
“That’s very noble of you, but seeing as though you don’t believe anything extraordinary happened tonight, I think it’s best that I take care of her.”
“Wait a minute-” I retorted.
“Besides, you wouldn’t know what to do when she woke up in the morning not remembering anything from tonight, including your special dinner,” he added pointedly.
His words stung. Everything I’d worked for had come unraveled and there was no way to stop it. The thought of Annie not remembering the wonderful night we shared pained me deeply. For the first time in weeks, my life had returned to normal. But Liam was sitting there telling me that all of the things Annie and I worked out were meaningless and we’d have to start over from scratch. Angrily, I ran around the back of the car and was met with a slamming car door in my face.
“What did you do to her?” I yelled through the glass.
“Ask Woodward,” his muffled voice replied.
He then quickly backed out of the driveway and sped off around the corner of the street and was gone, leaving me standing alone in the driveway. Without another thought, I sprinted up the stairs and into our apartment. My computer wouldn’t turn on fast enough as I threw my body into the chair and started shuffling through my desk, looking for the one piece of paper I needed.
After another minute, the brightness of the monitor blinded me momentarily and my computer sat there, waiting to be used. Professor Woodward’s syllabus was tucked deep into my religious studies folder, which made it harder to find. I pulled it out, opened up my email, put in his address and started typing.
“Subject: Monday Morning Meeting”
Professor Woodward,
Hi, this is Zoe. I was wondering if you have any free time on Monday morning and can meet with me? There are a few questions I have about our last meeting, and was hoping to talk with you when you have some time.
I have Yoga from nine to ten, but after that I have a small break until about noon. If you have any time to squeeze me in, that would be great! Please let me know.
Have a good weekend.
Zoe”
I reread the message a few times before it sent. There was nothing in it that gave off a signal that something bad had happened. But knowing him, he’d want to see me as soon as possible after reading that I’d had some questions about our previous meeting. Once the message was gone, I closed my laptop and climbed into bed. Within a few seconds, my eyes began to shut while I hoped against hope that the entire night was just another in a very long line of terrible dreams that I’d eventually survive.
In what felt like a flash of light, my alarm clock was screaming at 8:30 on Monday morning. Groggily, I rolled over and smacked the snooze button in hopes of catching a few extra minutes sleep before going to yoga. But the sunlight had broken through the cracked open shutters and stung my closed eyes, forcing me out of bed earlier than planned. The weekend had flown by without a word from Professor Woodward or Annie, leaving me trapped in a depressed state of mind somewhere between loneliness and agitation. I tried to accept that no news was good news with Annie, and that Liam really had taken care of her. If something had gone wrong, I would have known.
Pushing the concerns about Liam and Annie aside, I rolled out of bed and stammered over to my computer to have my customary email check. But after a weekend of an empty inbox, I held no hope that Professor Woodward would actually have written me back. When the computer finally booted up and I opened my email, my heart jumped a few beats as Professor Woodward’s response awaited me in the inbox. With my hand shaking slightly, I clicked on the message and started to read.
“Zoe,
I have a class this morning at 10:30, but am around in my office until then if you can somehow make it in before Yoga. If not, try to get to here as quickly as possible afterwards so we can have adequate time to talk.
I hope you had a good weekend,
LW”
My eyes instantly flew to the nightstand clock, which read 8:35. For a moment, I weighed the option of skipping Yoga all together in order to see Professor Woodward as soon as possible. While my brain battled over the decision to ditch my first ever class, a loud knock on the front door resonated through the entire apartment. Leaping out of my chair, I rushed to the front door, hoping to see only one person standing there.
Steph’s misshapen face was looking back at me through the peephole as I unlocked the door feeling slightly irked. It was stupid to think it would be Annie, given the fact that Steph had actually knocked on the door. But after another weekend without her and not knowing if she was okay, seeing anyone else didn’t make me feel very good.
“Good morning!” she sang, poking her head into the apartment. “Care to join me on a walk to class?”
“I’m not sure I can make it to class today,” I said, opening the door enough to let her though.
“Why not? What better way to start your week than with a refreshing Yoga class?” she asked curiously.
“I need to go see another Professor about something, it’s pretty important.”
“Oh, what Professor?”
“Professor Woodward, he’s my religious studies teacher. We, uh, have a big test this week and I need to get a handle on some stuff,” I replied nervously, throwing the door closed behind her.
Some of the light in her face faded for a moment as my words sank in. Her normal smile had diminished slightly while she stared at me. The pause was miniscule, but noticeable. Seeing my puzzled expression, she quickly regained her composure.
“Oh come on Zoe, you’re the smartest person I know. Can’t you just wait until you have class with him? It’s important to get your body off to a proper start for the week. He’ll be there after class!”
Both the studious and curious sides of my personality were clashing like gladiators. Even though I’d been waiting all weekend for the chance to talk to Professor Woodward, the hesitation to miss my first class ever made the choice more difficult than it should have been. Steph stared at me eagerly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. I could tell that there was no way she’d let me miss class.
“Alright,” I surrendered. “You win. Give me a minute to get ready.”
“’Atta girl!” she smiled, patting me on the back. “I’ll just go say hi to Annie real quick. Is she still sleeping?”
“Actually,” I stopped with my back to her. “She hasn’t been home all weekend.”
“Oh,” she replied uneasily. “I know the two of you went out on Friday night to fix things. I’ve been running around all weekend so I didn’t have a chance to see how it went. Must not have gone so well then?”
It was too painful to relive everything that had happened that night. Recalling the tale to Professor Woodward later in the morning was going to be hard enough, let alone telling it for the first time to Steph. Even if I wanted to say something, what would it be? That I’m supposedly some hybrid angel and demon? She’d tell me I was crazy and probably never talk to me again. Unable to lie directly to her face, I kept my back to her and responded.
“No, it didn’t go so well. It ended pretty badly and she’s been at the Beta house all weekend.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” she apologized. “How are you holding up?”
“The weekend helped, gave me time to think about things. But I don’t really want to talk about it, I’ll be out in a minute,” I said shortly and continued onto my bedroom.
“Any time you want to talk about it, I’m here for you,” she said to my back as I closed the door behind me.
When the clock on the nightstand read 8:45, I started to feel rushed. Moving quicker than ever, I threw on a pair of white running shorts and a sea blue tank top then ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Without even realizing it, I was back in the foyer of the apartment and ready to go in no more than five minutes. Even Steph looked surprised.
“Wow, that was fast!” she exclaimed while I opene
d the front door again and beckoned her out. “I’ve never seen anyone get ready and look so good in that short of time!”
“When you’re in a hurry, you’re in a hurry,” I shrugged, locking the door behind me.
“I guess so,” she smiled. “I’m glad you’re coming to class. You won’t regret it.”
We descended the stairs and started walking towards campus. Steph’s earlier inquiries about Annie, although innocent, were still difficult to hear. In an attempt to avoid talking more about Annie or even Professor Woodward, I shifted the topic of conversation before she could ask anything else.
“So, how was your weekend? You said it was real busy right?”
“It was awesome,” she gloated as a mischievous smile spread across her perfect lips. The excitement in her voice was unmistakable. I decided to push for more, hoping that her ranting would help clear my mind for Yoga.
“Details!” I demanded.
“Okay, well you know Damien right?” she asked.
My stride faltered briefly as I stumbled, taken aback from her question. Knowing Steph and, to a lesser extent Damien, I could see where she was going with it. I just nodded uneasily for her to continue.
“Well, he took me out on Saturday night and let me tell you…” she whistled, nodding her head slowly in some type of sick approval.
It was hard to stomach listening to her talk about the two of them, even though I had no attraction to Damien whatsoever. For the first time ever, I’d been a victim of guys and their stupid games, with one of my good friends being the ultimate prize. Blaming Steph wasn’t the solution though, so I tried to focus back on her.
“And?” I said, hoping she’d spare me any gruesome details.
“Let’s just say I didn’t leave my room much yesterday and this is the first time I’ve been outside since Saturday night,” she said, barely able to contain her excitement.
Knowing exactly what she meant by it, I couldn’t figure out who had the worse weekend: me with the mugging or Steph with an intimate weekend with Damien?
“Wow, I guess congratulations are in order then?” I asked in a bad attempt at sounding supportive.
Common Ground (The Common Ground Trilogy Book 1) Page 20