“You won’t let go?”
“I won’t let go,” I lied.
She got off to a great start, pedaling pretty well, keeping her own balance. She’d eventually fall. After the first two times I let go, she was pretty much done trusting me to hold her up, but she wasn’t ready to give up riding the bike just yet. Especially not when I hopped on and rode it like it wasn’t a big deal.
We had been at the park nearly four hours when she finally figured out how to ride the bike, by which point we were both exhausted. I flopped down on the grass and handed her a bottle of water.
It was a beautiful day—gorgeous, really. Blue skies, fluffy clouds, the perfect temperature. Even with Henry lurking around somewhere, albeit out of sight, I couldn’t have imagined a better day.
That is, until the police showed up, and we left the park in handcuffs.
Chapter 23
There wasn’t time to run. There wasn’t even time to react. We had no warning. I didn’t hear sirens or see any lights. They barely even said anything when they approached us.
When they did speak, they were rattling off so quickly in French I couldn’t keep up. As we were being walked back to their cars, I caught sight of two lovely gentlemen I recognized. The two from the halfway house I’d taken Rory to. Freaking jerks.
Rory was crying, asking me what to do, but I couldn’t answer. I was going numb. My brain was racing as I went through a spiral of all the things that followed.
If Henry could see us, he would call Nash. If not, I’d have to call him from the police station. He’d be furious. They wouldn’t let Autumn pick us up because she’s not my parent, like always. Nash would have to fly back.
I was dead meat.
They put us in separate cars, which was absolute agony. The only solace I had was that the one I was in was behind the one they’d put her in. I could see her head bobbing in the back window.
She didn’t deserve this. Being arrested for the first time was terrifying, and it was all my fault she was in this mess.
They booked us, took the mug shots, and took us down separate halls, nowhere near each other. The last time I saw her was when they got our fingerprints.
I was brought into a room where they asked about the halfway house. They asked why we ran. They asked about Rory. God, they had so many questions about Rory. They concluded I was American and a minor, and promptly ended the conversation, at which point I was walked to a cell.
Nearly an hour later, I was allowed to make a phone call. I should have called Nash. I knew he was who I should have called, but Nash wasn’t there. He was in Seattle.
I called Autumn.
“Even?” she nearly shrieked into the phone. “Why are you calling me? You should be explaining yourself to Nash!”
“Yeah, well.” I sighed. “Nash isn’t here, so… I’m guessing he already knows?”
“Henry called him as soon as they took you. And then he called me to try and figure out what happened. Even, what the hell were you doing?”
“Nothing! We were just… we were just riding bikes in the park.”
“People don’t get arrested for riding bikes, Even.” She mumbled something I couldn’t hear.
“Okay, okay… I tried to find a place for her myself,” I grumbled. “Before you found out. Before anyone knew about her. It was some… I don’t some halfway house or something.”
“You took her to a halfway house?”
“I know. I know it sounds bad, but she was desperate, and so was I. Once I realized we were in trouble we got right out of there—”
The phone beeped twice.
“Shit, I think I’m out of time on this thing. Listen, just tell Nash… tell him I tried to do the right thing, okay?”
“Sure, Ev, I’ll—”
The line went dead. I let out a long sigh before hanging it up and getting walked back to the cell I’d be waiting in for the next eleven or twelve hours.
This was different than the system they had in Seattle. I wasn’t waiting in the lobby. I was waiting in an actual cell. They hadn’t even told me what my actual offense was, but I was pretty sure they’d tell Nash. I didn’t know what Rory was arrested for, either.
I just hoped we weren’t arrested, arrested. I hoped they were holding us like they did in Seattle. A part of me knew that wasn’t the case. There was a good chance Nash couldn’t get me out of this. Getting in trouble in another country? Not my brightest move.
The jingle of the cell door woke me. I was walked out, down a few halls, and into a lobby where Nash was waiting with Autumn.
He was furious. Beet red, sweat on his forehead, hands-in-fists kind of furious. He didn’t try to hug me. He didn’t smile at me. He wasn’t happy, which I knew full well I deserved.
But I didn’t care about that. What I cared about was the guard had locked the door behind me. And Rory wasn’t here.
“Where’s Rory?” I asked.
“Probably still in holding.” Nash sighed, exasperated. Long flight? “I don’t care, let’s go.”
I didn’t move, crossing my arms. “I’m not leaving without her.”
“Even, I get that you’ve gotten close, but someone else can come get her—”
“She doesn’t have anyone else!” I yelled. “And I’m not going to just abandon her in a jail cell.”
“You are trying my patience.” Nash gritted his teeth. “I said, let’s go.”
“Excuse me, sir?” I said to the officer behind the counter. “If he paid any bail, go ahead and refund it. I’d like to be rebooked.”
Nash was at my side fast, pushing me away from the counter. “Don’t be ridicu—”
“No, Nash, you don’t be ridiculous.” I smacked his hand off my shoulder. “I am not leaving without her. So, you can do whatever magic you have to. I’ll go to jail in Seattle, I’ll go to boarding school. I don’t care. Just get her out.”
“Why do you think for any reason I should be doing you favors right now?”
“It’s not for me, it’s for her.”
“Don’t pretend like you aren’t getting benefits out of this,” he sneered.
I could have slapped him. Instead I eyed Autumn.
“Oh, no. This isn’t about me,” he snapped. “This is about you. You and your lies, your deceit, and your obsession with trouble.”
“I don’t have an obsession with trouble,” I groaned.
“You seem to cause a lot of it. And you’ve got no self-preservation. Did you really walk across a city in another country by yourself just to keep a secret?”
“Yeah, I did.” I let out a breath. “I don’t know why, I just… did.”
“You don’t know why you do anything you do,” he scoffed.
Autumn reached out a hand brushed across the back of both his shoulders.
“No, actually, I do know,” I snapped. “I was scared. Do you have any idea how fucking lonely it is up in that penthouse every night by myself? You told me I’d be going to jail if I got in trouble here, or boarding school. So, you can bet your ass I was willing to do what I had to. Because I knew you’d already given up on me, anyway. You didn’t want to listen.”
“Even…” He sighed.
“You know,” I scoffed, “I went through something incredibly traumatic at a vital age, and rather than getting me therapy, rather than just being around when I needed you, rather than listening to a damn word I said, you expected me to just be fine. I’m not fine. I haven’t been fine for quite some time. But you’re never there to see that. Yeah, I do stupid things. Because getting high is the only thing that keeps me from reliving it, and getting in trouble is the only thing that makes you notice. But god dammit, Nash I didn’t do this on purpose, and Rory didn’t do anything wrong. Please. Get her out.”
“Nash,” Autumn sighed. “Do it.”
Chapter 24
I don’t know what magic Nash had to work. He was on the phone for a good minute before he even talked to the officer behind the counter. The officer was on the ph
one for what felt like forever. But finally, finally, Rory was walked out of the same door I was.
She was crying when I wrapped her up in my arms. She mumbled something to me, but I couldn’t really understand her. I tried to shush her, calm her down enough to get a comprehensible word out. By which point, Nash was really done, and he basically shoved us out the doors.
We rode back to the house in separate cars. Nash and Autumn in one, me and Rory in another. I had a feeling that was for the best. Being in close quarters with Nash probably wasn’t the best idea.
“Even, go to your room, pack your things,” Nash snapped as we stepped into the house. “You’re going back to Seattle. Whatever this is,” he pointed between me and Rory, “It’s over.”
A knot rose up in my throat. I pushed Rory behind me. No way was I letting her get in the middle of all this.
“No, Even, don’t do that,” Autumn said before I could even turn away. Nash reared on her, basically seething. “Go to your room. Nash and I need to talk.”
“Autumn, it’s really not your place—”
“So, help me, Ignatious McCoy, I will walk out of this door and out of your life.”
Nash swallowed hard. No one used his full name. There was a lot of power behind it. He stormed off to his room.
I waited until they were all the way there until I followed. Rory was poking her head out the spare room door, her lip trembling, while I stood eavesdropping.
“I thought you said spending summer in juvy was an empty threat!” Autumn hissed, barely above a whisper. “Is that really what you think will solve this? Did you not listen to a word she said at the police station?”
“It was an empty threat, Autumn, until it wasn’t.” He let out a sigh, and I heard him flop down on the bed. “I don’t know what to do with her. She’s clearly incapable of staying out of trouble, no matter what she says, and I can’t trust a word that comes out of her mouth.”
“She didn’t do this on purpose, Nash, but I think you know that. She was trying to do the right thing, and I think she did pretty well for being left by herself in a foreign country.”
“She wasn’t by herself. She had—”
“She didn’t have you,” Autumn groaned. “Don’t you get it? She doesn’t need me and Henry. She needs you. You’re the only family she has left.”
“Autumn…” He sounded defeated.
“I know you’re trying to protect her—”
Protect me from what?
“—but I don’t think this was the way to do it. And I know you’re mad. She lied to you, but I think… I think if she hadn’t had Rory, she’d have done a lot worse. She’s worked hard. She’s not even smoking anymore.”
“You knew about Rory,” Nash said. It wasn’t a question. And he was pissed.
“Yeah, I figured it out,” Autumn sighed.
“You figured it out?”
“Yeah, Nash, I figured it out.”
“How? Why didn’t you tell me?” he snapped.
“Because she needed to tell you.” Autumn sighed. “And because I paid attention, something you don’t seem to do when it comes to Even. You expect her to be just fine, well, she’s not.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing.” His voice cracked. It actually cracked. I could have sworn I could hear him crying.
I peered around the corner to find my normally gruff, collected uncle sobbing into Autumn’s stomach, clinging to her for dear life.
“I didn’t want this,” he choked out.
Of course, he didn’t. He didn’t want me. He never did.
“I didn’t want to run the company,” he continued, “And I’m not built for parenting. I failed her.”
“You didn’t fail her,” Autumn whispered. “But if you send her away instead of showing her you’ll always be there for her, you will.”
I turned back to Rory, who was still watching me tentatively. I grabbed her cheeks in my hands and kissed her before I slipped back to my room.
I really didn’t want to get caught.
A knock came at my door a few minutes later. Nash poked his head in to find me pulling things out of my closet. I had a feeling I wasn’t going back to Seattle, but I had half a mind to run away, anyway.
I looked up at him, but kept ripping things off hangers.
“Ev, why don’t you sit down?” He sighed.
“Did you come in here to yell at me?” I swallowed hard.
He shook his head.
“Okay.”
He came over and sat down, rubbing his face with both hands. I pretended not to notice.
“I need you to tell me what you can about Rory,” he said finally.
“Are you going to help her?” I bit my lip, feeling my eyes swell.
“I’m going to try.”
I let out a sigh. “What do you want to know?”
“How did you meet her? That’s a good start. The real story this time.”
“I found her,” I said carefully, “By herself, in the… woods.”
“The woods? Even, what the hell were you doing in the woods?”
“You got a house parked up against a nature reserve. I just… I just took a walk.”
“And she was just alone out there?” he asked.
“I mean, so was I?”
He took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “So, then what?”
“She was scared, and I offered to help her.” I sighed. “And I tried, that’s why I took her to that place.”
“Even, why didn’t you just tell me? You know I have friends here. You know I have connections. We could have gotten her settled from the beginning.”
“I was just scared, I guess.”
“So you just went off on an adventure to a halfway house.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I didn’t know it would go like that. And we only ran because… because you said if I got into any trouble… And then how could I help her?”
“Are you sure she is who she says she is?” he asked.
“I’m positive.”
“Alright.” He nodded, letting out a long sigh as he stared at a blank point in the wall. “I’ll make some calls. She… she can just stay here in the meantime—”
“Thank—”
“I wasn’t done,” he continued. “I don’t think you should be bringing her to the office anymore. Or the gala. That’s a disaster waiting to happen, especially if we find out she’s—”
“She’s what? A criminal or something?” I let out a laugh. “Nash, what do you think I am?”
“Even…”
“She’s been an amazing help at work.” I bit my lip. “She’s the only reason I’ve done so well. And she deserves to be a part of all this just as much as anyone else.”
“When is Autumn not right?” He let out a soft laugh.
“What—what do you mean?”
“You and Rory… there is something going on, isn’t there?”
I swallowed, opening my mouth to answer, but it took too long.
“Yeah, I thought so, too.” He sighed. “You’re not going to just let her go, are you?”
I looked down at my hands, biting down hard on my lip to keep my eyes from swelling.
“I can if it’s what’s best for her.”
“That’s probably the most grown-up thing I’ve ever heard you say.” He grinned.
“Yeah, don’t get used to it.” I gave his shoulder a shove.
“I owe you an apology,” he sighed after a minute.
“Nash, can we not, I’m tired, and I—”
“Let me get this out.”
I nodded for him to continue.
“You were right earlier.” He cleared his throat. He hated admitting he was wrong about anything. “I should have been there for you. I shouldn’t have thrown myself into work. I should have thrown myself into taking care of you. I didn’t know about the dreams… I—and that’s not an excuse. I would have known if I’d been there.”
“Nash…” I sighed. “You never wanted kids; I get it.�
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“Nah, that’s not it.” He scrunched his nose. “I can’t have ‘em. Not possible. But being handed one that’s mostly grown… I thought I’d do best by you if I didn’t try to be your dad. I’m never going to amount to what he was. I know that.”
I let out a soft chuckle.
“I’m sorry, Ev. I should have been there. But, I’m here now. I—I’m trying.”
I nodded, feeling my eyes start to swell.
“And when we get back to Seattle, I’m going to be around more, I promise.”
I looked up, and a single tear escaped. “Okay.”
He leaned over and gave me a one-armed hug. That was more like the Nash I knew. Then he wasn’t all over again.
“I love you,” he whispered into my hair before he stood and left the room without another word.
Three words I hadn’t heard once since my parents died. They clung in the air like a thick fog. Suddenly I was sobbing. It was one thing to know you were loved, feeling it implied, but hearing it is something else entirely.
Chapter 25
I’d thought Rory would be out of there in no time, headed off to some foster home to adjust to real life. Nash had a way with working magic. I always thought it was the money.
A part of me was okay with that. I knew it was what was best for her. I was only in France for the summer, anyway. I’d let myself grow far too attached. But another part of me was blissfully grateful there was nowhere else for her to go.
My and Nash’s rooms weren’t far apart, and Nash had never been known to talk quietly.
“…she’s sixteen years old,” he was saying as I slipped out of my room and stood outside his door in the hall. “Because she told me, that’s how I know.”
There was a long pause. Nash was getting tense. I could see his back grow rigid as I peered over the doorframe.
“She’s lost them… No, I don’t know how!... Yes, Aurora King, that’s what she told me… Yes, I’m sure she’s French, why would I say she was if she wasn’t?... She told me… why would she lie about that?...”
My heart was pounding. It wasn’t like anyone could possibly guess the truth, I knew that, but what would they do otherwise? It wasn’t like we had any ID for a girl who’d been born in the 15th century.
Waking Rory Page 13