by Sam Mariano
He’s going away, all right, but my predator isn’t easily distracted. He has a long memory and an axe to grind, and as he speaks again, dread gathers in the pit of my stomach.
“You ruined my life. It’s only fair I return the favor.”
I don’t say anything to that. He doesn’t expect me to.
Dropping his hand, he looks at me one last time, then he crosses the bridge and heads off in the direction of his house.
Even now, in this moment, I still don’t want him to go. I don’t know if I’m more worried that he’ll start a new life there and completely forget about me, or he’ll be true to his word and come back for me when he’s old enough and nobody can stop him.
I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I do have a sinking feeling that if I ever see Hunter Maxwell again… he’ll make me wish I hadn’t.
PART TWO
Chapter Twelve
Riley
Four years later
“How are we out of coffee?”
I stand in front of the coffee pot, chagrined as I hold the useless filter in one hand and stare into the empty canister on the counter. And I do mean empty. It would appear that when Mom made a pot yesterday morning, she turned the can over and beat on the bottom to get the very last of it out.
“Mom! Did you buy coffee?” I call down the hall toward the bathroom where she’s getting ready.
“Don’t kill me,” she calls back, sapping my will to live. “I meant to last night, but I forgot. I’ll stop and get some after work.”
“How is that supposed to help either one of us this morning?” I demand, shoulders slumping.
Today is my first official day of senior year. After a long, wonderful summer, I have to go back to Hell.
I’ve been hyping myself up all week, trying to convince myself it won’t be so bad. I still don’t have a car of my own, but the walk to school isn’t far—and hey, it’s good exercise. Being back in school means I’ll get to see Sara every day—that’s a definite pro. I’m signed up for some classes I’m really eager to take, too, and in nine short months, I’ll be free of Hawthorne High forever. That’s the best part.
The doorbell rings, jogging me from my thoughts. I put the useless coffee supplies down and call out, “I’ve got it,” so Mom can finish getting ready.
When I open the door, my mood brightens at the sight of who’s on the other side of it.
Mom’s sorta-boyfriend, Ray.
Then I see the drink carrier full of steaming hot coffee, and I clasp both hands over my heart.
“My hero!”
Ray smiles, nodding in acknowledgment as he makes his way inside. “Figured you ladies might need these. Your mom was supposed to go grocery shopping when she left my place last night, but I distracted her.”
“I don’t even care that you were to blame, all that matters is you swooped in and saved my morning.”
He plucks a cup out of the drink holder and hands it to me. “Here you go, kiddo.”
“Thank you. I love you,” I tell him, shutting the door behind him, then heading back toward the kitchen.
“Man, I hope your mom responds like that.” Ray follows me around the corner. “Where is she?” he asks, seeing she’s not in here.
“Almost done getting ready.” I go to the counter and pick up the bag of bread I had been preparing to make breakfast with. “Want some avocado toast?”
“Does anyone ever want avocado toast?” Ray asks, taking a seat in one of the chairs and putting Mom’s coffee down on the table.
“Mom’s on an avocado kick right now. She bought a whole bag of them at the store last time. It was madness.”
“Nah, I’m all right, thanks.”
From down the hall, Mom calls out, “Don’t be hating on my superfood purchase.”
“That’s what happens when I don’t get coffee on the first day of school,” I call back.
Mom finally emerges from the bathroom, hands up, still fixing a piece of her dark hair as she walks into the kitchen. “You heard the man, it was all his fault.”
Ray stands as soon as Mom enters the room. His whole posture relaxes when she’s around, and now is no different… even if technically, it should be.
Mom cocks a dark eyebrow and props one hand on her hip, looking at him. “What are you doing here?”
“It was Riley’s first day of school. I couldn’t let you two be coffee-less.”
“Is there some part of ex-boyfriend you’re not understanding? When my boyfriend brings me and my daughter coffee in the morning, it’s sweet. When my ex-boyfriend brings me and my daughter coffee in the morning—”
“Still sweet,” I pipe in.
Mom points at me. “Shush, you.”
“Yeah,” Ray says, nodding as if in understanding. Then he follows it up with, “I’ve been thinking it over, and I reject your proposal to break up.”
“What?” Mom blinks at him. “That’s not a thing. You can’t reject my break-up.”
He shrugs almost apologetically. “Except I did. Sorry. All I can suggest is maybe wait 30 days and try submitting it again.”
Mom tries to keep the horrified pleasure off her face, but she’s too stunned to pull it off. “You are insane. You are a crazy man.”
“I am. Crazy for you,” he teases, wrapping an arm around her waist and tugging her close. “You look gorgeous today, by the way.”
Mom puts a hand on his chest, stopping him from pulling her all the way close. “That’s not going to work. You can’t charm me out of dumping you. You lied to me—”
“I didn’t lie to you. I told you the truth, you just thought I was joking. That is not my fault.”
Mom sighs impatiently at his completely reasonable argument. “That’s not the point.”
He cocks an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she insists. “I can’t do this. I can’t. I’m sorry. I re-explained everything last night. I’m sorry if it makes me a bad person, but I just can’t. And you can’t overrule me. I am a strong, independent woman fully capable of—”
Before my mom can finish her tirade about how he’s not allowed to force her to keep being his girlfriend, Ray stops her, gently but firmly grabbing the back of her neck and covering her mouth with his. Her objection dies a swift death, the fight melting right out of her as she wraps one arm around his neck and one around his back, closing her eyes and giving herself over to the kiss he initiated.
I smile to myself, turning away to give them a little privacy. I pop the bread in the toaster and grab two plates, then I cut an avocado in half and wait for the bread to pop up.
Behind me, I hear the kiss finally end and Mom sigh in defeat. “Dammit, why are you so good at that?”
I love Ray. Mom only dated him for three months before dumping him earlier this week because she got spooked, but she was wrong, and I’m so glad he isn’t staying away.
Mom met Ray at a bar. She was actually there to meet someone else for a second date she wasn’t super excited about. Her date was running late so she ended up sitting at the bar alone. Two seats down there was an attractive man a few years older than her. She told me at first glance he looked like Jason Statham, and Mom has a massive celebrity crush on him, so she looked again. When she did, he caught her. Mom being Mom, she made a joke, and Ray being Ray, he liked it. Since she appeared to be there alone, he asked if he could buy her a drink.
They got to talking and she was completely captivated. Seeing as Ray is from here and we’ve lived in this town for most of my life, Mom joked, “I can’t believe I’ve never seen you around before. Where have you been hiding?”
“Prison,” he answered, straight-faced.
Mom laughed, Ray smiled, and they went about having the best non-date Mom had ever been on. When her date finally showed up, she ditched him and spent the rest of the night sitting there chatting with Ray.
When she came home after only that first night of talking to him, she sat down on the couch and just g
rinned uncontrollably while she told me about how great he was. “I didn’t think they even made men like him anymore,” she told me.
They kept seeing each other; more and more each time, like every hit of each other made them need even more. She fell hard and fast for him. I’ve never seen her so happy.
As it turned out, though, he hadn’t been kidding when he told her he’d been in prison. When it came up again and she realized he was serious, she sobered a little and wanted to know what he was in for. Turned out, aggravated burglary, assault, and a felony firearms charge.
All his charges were from the same incident and it happened when he was a teenager. He’s nothing like that now—he’s a bringer of coffee and the man who causes my mom to walk around the house with a dopey grin on her face—but Mom was spooked. She was torn because she was seriously falling for him, but she felt like it would be irresponsible to bring someone with a violent past around me. She believed him that he’d changed, but she’d been wrong about guys before. She was so afraid she was wrong about this one too—and with much higher stakes—that she broke up with him.
I was heartsick for her. We curled up on the couch and watched movies about doomed love while we ate ice cream and mourned together.
Then the next morning, Ray brought us coffee. He had done that all the time when they were together, just a little thoughtful thing he did, but Mom was more than a little confused that he was still there after she’d dumped him.
“Are you lost?” she had asked, standing there in her PJs with eyes puffy from crying all night.
“Nope,” he answered confidently, holding out a cup of coffee for her. “I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”
Since then, Ray has behaved as if he is still her boyfriend, and Mom has not known what to do with it. She said usually guys are really easy to lose—just say the wrong thing and they’re out of there, but Ray’s different. He found a really strong connection with my mom, and he’s not going to let her disconnect without a fight.
Like I said, I love him. He’s exactly what my mom needs. She doesn’t see it, but she has spent so many years in relationships that didn’t work out, I’m not sure she even knows what to do with one that can.
She needs to get out of her own way because Ray makes her really happy, and I’d hate to see her lose that.
Fortunately, it looks like Ray’s not ready to get lost.
I glance back over my shoulder and see Mom still standing there with Ray’s strong, tattooed arms locked around her as he gazes down at her. I’ve never seen a man tame my mom the way he does, but she’s almost sweet as she caresses the back of his neck and says, “Thank you for bringing us coffee.”
“Anything for my girls,” he says.
Mom grins and they start kissing again. I bite back a smile and turn back to grab the bread out of the toaster.
Just as I put the toast on the table and go to sit down, the doorbell rings again.
Since we’re all here, I frown. Mom does, too, but since she’s busy I go answer it.
My eyes widen as I open the door to a flower delivery guy. He’s holding a huge bouquet of white roses and a small brown gift bag.
At first I think it’s another stunt in Ray’s mission to win Mom back, but then the delivery guy says, “I have a delivery for Riley Bishop.”
“I’m Riley Bishop,” I say, looking at the flowers in confusion.
He flashes me a smile. “Well, then, these are for you.”
I’m no less confused as he passes me the huge bouquet and then hands me the gift bag. After telling me to have a good day, he turns to leave, so I call out to stop him. “Wait, am I supposed to tip you?”
“Nah, it’s already taken care of,” he assures me. With that, he heads back to his car.
Mom and Ray come to the door to see what all the fuss is about. Their gazes drift to my delivery, both scowling mildly.
“What’s this?” Mom asks.
“I don’t know.” I turn around and carry the flowers to the kitchen so I can put them down. Thankfully, they came in a vase, so I don’t have to try to find one.
“Did that Anderson kid send you these?” Ray asks, sounding none too impressed.
My brow furrows. I guess they have to be from him, but it seems way premature for Anderson to be sending me flowers.
Anderson Milner is… I guess the closest thing I’ve ever had to a boyfriend.
When Hunter informed the whole 8th grade male population that I put out, one of the many things I worried about was that even though I don’t believe it was his intention, he was opening me up to a lot of unwanted advances from guys who believed him and also wanted an easy lay—even if it was with some nerd they had never spoken to before. Especially with him leaving the country and no longer around to even police his territory, I thought things might get bad for me for a while.
They did, I guess, but not in the way I expected. While I am still periodically remembered and made a social pariah, I’m mostly invisible—especially to males. Literally every guy at our school treats me like the plague. Not only did none of them push unwanted advances on me after Hunter’s pronouncement, they treated it like a “no touch” policy. Senior year begins today, and not one guy at our school has ever so much as asked me to a school dance, let alone out on any kind of date.
Until Anderson. He didn’t go to our school when Hunter did, so I guess he missed the memo about me being persona non grata. It also helped that we met over the summer, so there was no school environment to contend with.
Hanging out with him has been nice, but we haven’t even kissed yet, so I’m confused as to why he would send me roses.
There’s a card in the flowers, so I pluck it out to see what it says.
First day of senior year.
Let’s make it memorable.
Huh. Weird. Thoughtful, but weird.
I set the card aside and lean in to smell the roses. I’m still not sure how I feel about him sending me flowers, but they do smell nice. I guess it was a nice thing to do. I should be appreciative, not wary.
“What’s in the bag?” Mom asks.
I turn my attention from the flowers to the little brown bag. It’s really thick, high-quality paper with “Made in Assisi” stamped on the front and handles as sturdy as shoe laces. There’s a brown satin bow tied on top to keep the bag closed, so I grab a ribbon and pull it loose.
“Where’s Assisi?” Ray asks.
“I don’t know,” Mom murmurs, still frowning.
There’s a little brown jewelry box inside with a note on top. I pull out the note first, and as I read it, my eyes narrow and my ire builds.
Wear this to school today. I want everyone to know who you belong to.
“What’s it say?” Mom asks, ever curious.
This time instead of dutiful gratitude, I fill up with blind rage.
“It says Anderson has lost his damn fool mind, that’s what it says,” I mutter, dropping the note and opening the jewelry box. Who I belong to. What the hell is he thinking?
I sort of glare at the box as I open it up. I don’t know what I expect it to be, but it’s not what’s there. Resting on a bed of soft black velvet is a silver necklace. The chain is delicate, and the pendant dangling from it is an “M” with a… devil tail?
It’s pretty, but I don’t entirely understand it. M for Milner? Why the tail? None of this seems anything like Anderson’s style, and I’m totally thrown by it.
As confused as I am, Mom asks, “What’s that?”
“Um… a devious letter?” I say, baffled.
“It’s the Scorpio zodiac sign,” Ray states.
Mom looks back at him. “It is? Why do you know that?”
“Because I’m a Scorpio.” He reaches over and grabs the note off the counter. Reading it causes his scowl to deepen.
“Why did I not know that?” Mom asks.
“I don’t know.” Ray looks back at me. “When’s Anderson’s birthday?”
“I have no idea.”
>
“Hm.” Ray drops the note on the counter. “Well, looks like you’ve attracted the attention of a Scorpio. That was a bad idea. We don’t fall in love often, but when we do...”
He leaves it hanging there with both me and Mom staring at him, waiting for him to finish. “When you do?” I demand impatiently, eyes wide.
Ray glances at my mom before looking back at me. “We lock on to someone hard enough and that’s it; you’re ours.”
Mom’s eyes were already wide, but now she shakes her head in mild disbelief. “Oh my God, you believe in astrology? I’m learning so many new things about you right now.”
Ray’s lips curve up faintly. “Not really, but I can’t deny a lot of the supposed traits we carry are accurate—at least, they are for me.”
“I am a rational woman, I need facts to back this up,” Mom states.
“Whatever we set our minds to, we achieve. We’re deeply loyal, incredibly magnetic, more than a little possessive, and intensely sexual.”
Her eyes widen in mildly scandalized amusement. “Okay, I’m convinced.” She looks back at me. “Also, you should dump Anderson. He sounds like trouble.”
I can’t help smiling at her faulty logic. “Oh, sure—trouble for me, but good for you.”
“I’m an adult, I can handle it. You’re my tiny sweet baby and no one should ever gaze upon you with lust.”
I roll my eyes, abandoning the necklace and the flowers and going over to retrieve my coffee. “I don’t know who’s crazier, you or Anderson.”
___
I sigh, looking ahead at the swarm of high schoolers crowded around the entry doors as I approach. They’re all off in their little groups, chattering away.
Normally when I pass people by, it’s as if I’m a ghost. The air around them might shift, but not so much as one glance turns in my direction. Hunter turned me invisible when he left, and somehow even in his absence, his word is law.
If anything, his influence here has actually intensified. It’s not like I’ve kept tabs on him, so I don’t know everything Hunter has been up to in Italy, but news of some of his exploits made it back here. It was impossible not to pick up tidbits from his fan club.