Taking Talon (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles 2)

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  “At least we know he’s home.” I smiled. “You sure can’t miss seeing his truck.” We climbed the stairs to the second floor and rang the bell.

  No answer. We waited and rang the bell again. Still no answer.

  Confused, I crinkled my brow. “What? I know he’s home.”

  Drew reached out and tried the knob. I knew what he was thinking, that maybe something was wrong. The knob twisted easily and he slowly pushed open the door open. Everything in the front room looked in order. “Let’s check the bedroom,” I whispered.

  Drew nodded that he understood and extracted his gun from the holster. I also pulled mine out, just in case. We crept down the hallway, our steps muffled by the plush, grey carpeting.

  Drew paused in front of the open bathroom door and silently moved inside. I kept watch in the hall while he checked it out. Not making a sound, he shook his head, indicating it was clear. I held up my hand for him to stop and listened with my super hearing. Recently, I had been practicing at turning it off and on. Really, it was like having a switch that I could flip when I needed it. Before I could put the super hearing to use, we heard voices and then what sounded like a painful groaning.

  We looked at each other for a split second before taking off down the hall toward the bedroom. Drew didn’t hesitate; his boot connected with the wooden door and it burst open. We both flew into Zander’s bedroom with our guns drawn, ready to fight.

  What we saw, though, wasn’t anything either of us had expected to see.

  A very surprised looking Zander lay twisted in his black sheets with a very pissed off looking Christina beneath him. Both of their heads swiveled toward the door, which now hung loosely on its hinges. “What the hell?” Zander hollered at us.

  Christina didn’t move. “What is wrong with you two?” She reached around Zander and pulled the sheet all the way up to his neck.

  I was so shocked at what I was seeing at that I couldn’t respond. My gun fell to my side and I continued to stare. Thank God all of their private parts were covered; only their necks and shoulders were exposed.

  Drew still held his gun out. I think maybe he was contemplating actually shooting Zander. He used to date Christina, but their relationship was more than that. They have known each other since childhood … they were like family.

  Even though I got this, my jealousy about Christina and Drew’s relationship still lingered and I really didn’t appreciate how angry he looked about seeing them in bed together.

  “Drew, lower your gun,” I told him quietly.

  He did, slipping the weapon into the holster with a huff. Suddenly he spun around, charging past the broken door and out into the hall. A minute later we heard the front door slam.

  I glanced at Zander and Christina, who were simply staring at me in anticipation of my exit. Christina pointed at me. “Chloe, what the hell is wrong with you? Get out!”

  I backed up a few steps. “We rang the bell,” I told them.

  “Well I ignored it.” Zander tilted his head downward in exasperation. His black hair fell down over his eyes between himself and Christina.

  “I’m sorry,” I muttered through my embarrassment and headed for the door. “Oh, and sorry about the door,” I added as I rushed out into the hallway.

  Back down at the truck, Drew sat behind the wheel fuming. I opened the door, climbed in, and scooted across the bench seat into the middle. “Are you all right?” I asked, trying to make my voice as soothing as possible.

  He reached out and turned the key so that the engine roared to life. “It doesn’t matter.”

  I knew better than to try and get him to talk about it. It would just cause a fight between us if I pushed it. God help me though, it still ticked me off that he cared about her so much.

  Drew sped home faster than I ever thought the truck could have gone. By the time we pulled up into the driveway I was pretty sure he had blown off some of the steam. “There is no reason for you to be mad about this,” I told him.

  He shut off the engine. “I know that.”

  I tilted my head. “Still, you’re mad and I want to help you, but I can’t do anything about it.”

  He sighed. “I’m not mad, not really. I don’t really know how I feel about it. Christina can do whatever she wants, of course, but I don’t really think Zander is a good guy for her. I think that’s what’s getting me about this.”

  I nodded. Zander wasn’t the best guy in the world, but oddly enough I thought he was perfect for Christina.

  “You can’t just stop caring about someone, and I do care about her. Not like before, but I feel like there are better guys out there for her.”

  I reached over and ran my fingertips over his thigh. “She is a big girl and she is going to be fine. You don’t need to protect her.”

  “Yeah, I know. I just feel like all she has been through in her life … that she deserves better than him.”

  I choked back a laugh. My goodness, the girl was hell on high heels and caused grief everywhere she went, and he thought she deserved better? “Drew, they aren’t getting married or anything. We all know that she sleeps around, what’s the big deal?”

  He shook his head. “Forget it. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  Well, the silent broody Drew was back. Wonderful.

  Dinner was incredibly uncomfortable that night with everyone lifting their eyebrows at me in question about Drew and his mood, and me shrugging that I didn’t know what was wrong with him. Everyone knew better than to ask him about it; they knew he would talk about it if he wanted to.

  After dinner he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before wandering off to his room. I watched him go, wishing he would stop being so moody, and brought my plate to the sink.

  Luke waited until Drew was gone for a few minutes. “What’s going on with him?”

  I knew they were going to grill me about it. I should have escaped when Drew did. “I don’t know. He’s been like that since after school.”

  My grandfather raised his eyebrows. “So you know nothing about what is bothering him?”

  I rinsed my plate with the sprayer. “I already told you. No, I don’t know, and even if I did, it’s up to him to tell you.”

  “I see.” Luke slid his chair out and brought his own plate to the sink. I took it from him and rinsed his off, too.

  Oscar was still shoveling food into his mouth. “Maybe it’s because Gavin is back,” he managed to get out between bites.

  The plate I was holding slipped from my fingers and landed against the stainless steel sink with a clang. I turned around to face him. “What? Gavin is back? When did he get here?” My thoughts swirled back to the day at the pond when he kissed me and told me that he was leaving, but he had also said that he was going to come back and fight for me. Oh God, this was not good at all. Things had been so calm when he was gone. It looked like the recent month had been the eye of the storm. Unless, of course, he had moved on and given up on me.

  Oscar swallowed his food. “I don’t know when he got back. I saw him today down at the market.”

  “He got back last night,” Alice intervened. “He is staying with his mother again.”

  Oscar turned away from me to face Alice, a silent question in his eyes.

  “What?” she demanded.

  All of the sudden I saw a new Oscar. “How do you know so much about Gavin?”

  Surprised, Alice responded, “I was at the gym and I saw him there talking to some of his friends. I said hi, and asked him when he got back.”

  Oh, holy moly! Oscar was jealous. This was a new one; usually he was a true ‘roll with it’ kind of guy. Alice had him twisted around her magical little finger.

  “Chloe, what the heck are you smiling about.” Alice’s voice snapped me back from wherever I had gone for a minute there.

  “Nothing.” I shook my head. “Just thinking.” Yeah, thinking about how cute they were.

  Luke paced the kitchen. “If Gavin is back, this might actually help us.
He would assist us with the Talon building if someone could convince him.” Luke’s eyes landed expectantly on me.

  “What?” I pointed at my chest. “Oh, I see. You want me to sweet talk him into joining Team Talon, huh?”

  Luke nodded. “Yes. Yes I do, and you’re also going to be the one to sweet talk your boyfriend into being all right with it.” He lifted his lips into a warm smile, patted me on the back, and left the kitchen.

  Giving Alice and Oscar a look of desperation, I pointed at them. “You guys are helping me convince him. Drew is not going to like this at all.”

  ~~~***~~~

  That night I lay in bed, thinking of Drew and Gavin and how us asking Gavin to go on the mission with us was truly not a good idea. Especially since Drew was already in a bad mood because of the whole thing with Christina and Zander.

  Alice lay across the room, softly snoring. She used to sleep with me because she didn’t have a bed, but since Trevor left her all that money she could afford to buy one. Since we had plenty of room, she finally got a bed of her own.

  I did not want to be the one to have to convince Drew that Gavin should join us, but the fact of the matter was that I was probably the only one who actually could. The hard part was going to be getting Drew to look past his issues with Gavin for the greater good of the group.

  I pulled my purple comforter up till it touched my chin and rolled over onto my side. My thoughts turned to Christina and Zander. Drew being angry about them still bothered me. It bothered me a lot more than I wanted it to. I’d actually gotten used to Christina; she was part of the group whether or not I wanted her to be. However, I still couldn’t help but be jealous that she evoked that kind of reaction from Drew.

  There was no moon out to shine through my windows and illuminate my dark room, the only light was the glowing green numbers on my alarm clock. I closed my eyes again and tried to fall asleep. Most nights, I was out like a light. Exhaustion from training usually took everything out of me and I could pretty much pass out standing up if I wanted to. Unfortunately this night I laid awake, and sleep never found me until about four in the morning.

  When I woke up, both my eyes and my tongue felt like sandpaper. I rolled over to check and see if Alice was still sleeping, but found her empty bed neatly made.

  I reluctantly tossed back the covers and headed for the shower. I couldn’t believe I had to go to school after such a crappy night’s sleep. The hot water helped wash away some of the cobwebs and my teeth sure did feel better after I brushed them, but I was going to have to guzzle coffee before I left the house. After a quick glance at the clock, I realized that I was running late. I threw on the first items I set eyes on; jeans and a blue, long sleeved T-shirt. I just knew the day was going to suck. I couldn’t put off talking to Gavin for Luke, and Drew just wanted me to stay away from him.

  “Freaking wonderful,” I muttered to myself as I hurried out of my bedroom and into the kitchen to find coffee. I turned the corner and missed running smack into Alice by about an inch.

  “Whoa!” She steadied the tray with muffin batter she held. “What’s the hurry?”

  “I’m going to be late for school.” I grabbed a coffee mug and filled it up. The only reason we had the coffee pot in the first place was because I liked coffee and had picked it up on one of our outings to the city.

  “Here.” Alice plucked a muffin from the batch that were sitting on the cooling rack and held it out for me.

  I grabbed it and set both the coffee and muffin on the counter while I slipped on my jacket and backpack. “Thanks, Alice.” I gathered them back up into my arms and headed for the door. “I’ll see you after school.”

  She followed me to the door and opened it for me so I wouldn’t have to put all of my stuff down again. She shut it behind me, and as the latch clicked I heard her call out, “See you later.”

  ~~~***~~~

  “Absolutely not!”

  “Why?” I set my hands on my hips and prepared for the worst.

  Wham! He hit the punching bag so hard it flew backward. “You know why.” He stepped out of the way as the bag came flying back at him.

  “You know that he can help us. I don’t know why you can’t just admit it.”

  Wham. Wham. Wham

  “Drew!” I reached out to steady the bag and get him to stop hitting it. “Talk with me.”

  He reached up, brushed his blond hair out of his eyes, and started unwrapping the tape from his hands. “Fine, let’s talk.” He looked up at me and my heart sunk. I was expecting to see anger there, to see how ticked off he was about Gavin, but no … it was hurt I saw swimming in his pretty green irises.

  I led us away from the training area to a more private spot in the corner. He was agreeing to talk to me about it and that was actually way more than I expected, so I went with it. Alice and Oscar were over by the weapons practice area, ready and waiting for me to signal if I needed them.

  I have to admit, I made sure I looked cute, too. I had my hair twisted back into two braids and I wore a tiny—and tight—pair of workout shorts that were really not much bigger than boy short panties. I had also put on a small cotton T-shirt over my sports bra. Normally I just wore a pair of yoga pants or regular shorts, but today I figured it wouldn’t hurt to show a bit of skin.

  Drew turned to face me as soon as we were far enough away that people wouldn’t hear what we were discussing. “Chloe, we don’t need him.”

  “Yes, we do,” I countered. “He is a great Hunter, and he is one of the only Hunters with extra powers.”

  “If we ask him, the only reason he will say yes is to be around you. Then all I will be able to think about would be his lips all over yours and I don’t want to think about that.”

  What? “Oh, you mean like the other day when you threw a fit about Christina and Zander and all I could think about was you and Christina doing far more than kissing?”

  Drew’s eyes widened and I knew I just dug myself a very big hole. Wonderful. I had every intention of leaving that alone. But, I was a pretty argumentative person, especially when I went on the defense.

  “Chloe—”

  “No,” I cut him off, “you don’t get to say things like that. That is over, we fought that out! But, we never talk about Christina because you don’t want to and I get that… really I do, I understand what she is to you. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have moments where I think about the fact that you had sex with her.”

  This time his eyes narrowed. “Did she tell you about that?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “No, she didn’t have to tell me. I’m not stupid, I have eyes. And you are a guy, after all.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “You know exactly what that means. It means that you, being a guy, think about sex all the time just like every other guy. But the problem here is why you haven’t even tried it with me.” I stepped back one pace. “Don’t you want me like that?”

  “God, Chloe.” His voice sounded more irritated than soothing.

  “What?”

  He reached out for my hand and I snatched it away.

  “Knock it off and come here.” He reached out again, and this time I let him take my hand and pull me toward him. He used his fingers to tilt up my chin so that he could look into my eyes while he whispered, “Of course I want you like that, but you are only sixteen and it’s not right … not yet.”

  I lowered my head. “But it was okay with her?”

  “No, it wasn’t.” He tried to tilt my chin up again and I turned my head away. I’d just made a complete fool out of myself. I had thought about this a lot before and knew better than to talk to him about it. The last thing I wanted to do was come off like some needy girl.

  But I was a needy girl and I hated that he was able to love Christina like that and not me. I shrugged away from him. “Forget it.”

  “I’m sorry about the thing with Christina and Zander. I don’t even know why it bothered me so much.”


  “Duh!” I swung my hand out. “It bothered you because you care about her. Idiot!”

  “Okay, fine, then I don’t know why I still care. I definitely don’t love her. That is only for you.”

  “I know that you love me, Drew—and I love you, too—which is exactly why I don’t understand why we can’t ask Gavin to join us. I have to watch you be around Christina all the time and deal with your little hissy fits about her, so you should be able to do this one thing.”

  I had decided the argument was going the wrong way; it was time to direct it back to the whole point of Gavin and the Talon Building.

  “I should, but I still think we don’t need him.”

  Ugh! He could be so stubborn. “Then you are a big idiot.”

  He narrowed his eyes and his face turned a deep shade of red. “Maybe I am an idiot,” he whispered and stomped over the mats toward the doors, leaving me standing there wishing that I was the one who had stormed off.

  I watched him go. I glanced over toward the weapons area to find Oscar and Alice staring at me in confusion. I gave them a thumbs down sign before hurrying to the locker room, where I threw on my jeans and a sweatshirt over my work-out clothes.

  Why in the world hadn’t I gotten my driver’s license yet? I just wanted to get away from everyone … and fast. Angry at myself for yet another reason, I furiously ripped open my backpack, extracted my cell phone, and called the only person I knew who would take me where I wanted to go.

  ~~~***~~~

  Christina screeched to a halt in front of the gym in her little red car and tapped her horn a couple of times.

  I hurried out from under the overhang at the front door of the gym and opened the passenger door. Christina raised a questioning eyebrow as I slid into the seat beside her.

  “Why did you call me? Doesn’t your boyfriend cart you around everywhere?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I told her, “You know that I wouldn’t have called you if I had any other options.”

  “Whatever.” She flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder and sped out onto the road.