Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (214 page)

A jagged breath escaped my lips. I
brought my arms across my chest and bit my knuckles. My thoughts,
like they did every so often, tried rushing back to that day. I
fought it, thinking about Portland. The Kember might not be there,
like Aiden said, but that didn’t mean this trip would be a dead
end. Someone somewhere had to know him. He’d pay for what he did.
Focusing only on that, I packed my bag and walked
outside.

Aiden stood from his crouched position
by the truck tire. He dusted off his hands and strode to the
driver’s side. “Did you bring the book?”

I scowled, pulled the passenger door
open and threw my small bag over the seat. Gripping the paperback,
I waved it in the air. If I was lucky enough, a huge bird would
swoop down and take it off my hands.

Luck evaded me.

I climbed in the truck. “So, let me
get this straight: we’re not starting any fights and we’re not
looking for that Sable Gage dude?”

“
Correct.”

I threw my hands up in exasperation.
“Then what’s the point of this overnight venture?”

His eyes flickered to the book in my
hand.

“
You can’t be serious. When
I asked to go to Portland, it wasn’t so I could waste away reading
some outdated book.”

“
I suggest you get to it
then.”

I grimaced and motioned to the stereo.
“Well, maybe I could if you’d turn off this crap music. You might
be used to banjos and bad grammar, but I grew up with some class.
No need to make me suffer.”

Aiden put the truck in reverse and
backed down the driveway. “It’s the only station that comes in
clear out here.”

I slumped back. “In that case, I
prefer static. Maybe you should take it as a sign.”

“
A sign of
what?”

“
That we live too far from
civilization.”

He reached under the seat and grabbed
a bulky black CD case, tossing it into my lap. “I prefer to stay
out of cities.”

“
Why? You have some weirdo
obsession with pine trees?”

I thought I detected a bit of humor in
his eyes, but it disappeared before I could be sure. “The smallest
sounds keep me awake. Out here, unless it’s a rare night, the worst
things I hear are animals and, of course, you.”

Me? Great. My nightmares. Had I been
sleep talking? I’d been known to do that. What had he
heard?

“
So
it
does
get
annoying.” I shot him my best smug smile.

He took a moment, choosing his words
carefully. “Every gift has a flaw. Sometimes the hearing
is…inconvenient.”

“
I bet it drives you crazy
in crowds of people.”

“
It’s like being trapped in
a small room while dozens of people are each having their own
boisterous conversation. You don’t know which to tune into or out
of.”

“
How’d you get through
school?”

“
Earplugs.” He lifted the
wavy hair covering most of his ear. “No one noticed. During the
summer months when I attended the Kember Academy, they only allowed
me to wear them at night…I had to learn to pull certain voices from
a crowd.”

Kembers attended normal public school
like we did. Once they started seventh grade, they were required to
attend the Kember Academy during the summer. Their junior and
senior years, they enrolled in the academy full-time, training and
preparing to take the oath. Some Kembers didn’t. Some actually
refused to complete their schooling and went out into the normal
world, disgracing their names.

“
Is that the reason you
joined the Guard? They wanted you to spy or something?”

“
Partly.” He grabbed a pair
of black sunglasses from the consul separating our seats.
Obviously, he didn’t feel like elaborating.

I opened my mouth to ask more
questions, like why he wasn’t there anymore, but decided not to
push him when he reached over and tapped the cover of the
paperback.

Half asleep, an hour later, the truck
slowed. I yawned and glanced out the window, then did a double
take. My breath caught. I popped forward in my seat. The familiar
urban neighborhood…houses. “Are you crazy? What the hell are we
doing here?”

Aiden tightened his grip on the
steering wheel, refusing to meet my gaze. “Just a side
stop.”

Chapter 11

Skyler dropped the basketball, mouth
agape. He glanced back at Joshua, who stood beneath the hoop
looking just as stunned. When Skyler finally managed to shut his
trap, he grinned and sprinted toward Aiden’s truck.

Oh, here we go.

Pushing
the door open to meet my best friend, I glared back at Aiden,
hoping I intimidated the crap out of him. Hell would be waiting, in
the form of me, when we left this house. I loved Skyler, sure, but
I didn’t feel like being whipped into a verbal frenzy. He’d bring
up
everything
—things I’d die before talking about. Hence the reason I
hadn’t returned his calls. Now I’d have to explain myself, and I
didn’t even have time to muster up a good lie.

Skyler grabbed me from the truck
before my feet hit the ground and pulled me into a strangle hold.
He spun me around like we were in some cheesy old movie. “What
gives? You don’t call, you don’t text. I thought you were pissed at
me.”

“
No.” My voice was muffled
against his chest. “Just been busy.”

“
Busy? Don’t you sit home
every day?”

I wiggled down his lean, six-foot-four
frame until my feet touched the cement. “Yeah, thanks for the
reminder.”

His brow furrowed and he grabbed my
chin. “Your eyes. They look—”

I jerked my head away. “Bad. I know.
So does the rest of me.” I hardly had any makeup on and my once
cute designer clothes looked like they were bought at a garage
sale. The result of having two outfits over the last three
weeks.

“
That’s not what I was
gonna say.” He frowned.

Aiden’s low voice came from behind me.
“How’re you, Skyler?”

Skyler tore his gaze from me, his grin
sliding back into place. “Great, now. I missed my little Tay.” He
rumpled my hair.

“
I know. I’ve been taking
the phone calls.”

I’d never
asked him to play receptionist;. I just didn’t want to talk
to
anyone.

Joshua
strode forward, his happy smile turned small and sympathetic. No
doubt getting ready to ask
that
question: “How’re you holding up, Tay?” The words
were forming in his mouth. My stomach churned at the thought.
People used to think I was tough and witty. Now everyone worried
I’d go crazy and throw myself off a cliff. I had my dignity to
save, starting here.

I tilted my head. “That’s the slowest
I’ve seen you move. Forty’s gonna be tough on you, old
man.”

Joshua beamed like he’d witnessed a
resurrection. “Watch it, girl, I’d hate for this old man to
embarrass you.” He pulled me into a hug. I closed my eyes, feeling
his familiar embrace. It almost felt like I was hugging—

No, no.
Don’t go there, Taylee!
I stepped away,
silently inhaling.

Joshua studied me. The corners of his
lips fell as the tip of his finger traced below my eye.

Great. Even Joshua noticed the Zombie
resemblance.

With a nod, Joshua motioned Aiden
toward the beige, river-rock house. They walked away. I was unable
to shake the weirdness of Joshua without Delmari. Skyler and I
followed them. Could Aiden take the spot of Joshua’s best
friend?

Skyler knocked me out of my thoughts,
talking about basketball tryouts.

“
My dad’ll be flying back
around Thanksgiving so he can meet with the scouts.” He rolled his
eyes. “He’s determined to be at every game. Not easily done when
you live six states away.”

Yeah, but the prick would push back
court dates and pull all the strings a manipulating Drea lawyer
could to be there.

“
I’m sure he’ll manage.” I
stepped over piles of clothes to his unmade bed.

“
So…how’s the new place?”
There was reluctance in his voice as he shut the door.

I shrugged. “Fine, I guess. Not the
White House, that’s for sure.” Skyler’s house could fit three of my
houses inside it. Then again, the Authority provided my home—not my
rich father. They also paid Aiden’s salary because I didn’t have a
family or income.

“
So, why don’t you come
live with me? There’s plenty of room for you and Aiden here. We
could go to school together and…”

Just sitting in Skyler’s room made the
continual, dull ache in my chest throb. Everything looked the same.
Pictures of us from the time we were two years old tucked in and
taped to his mirror. Over and over I reminded myself to breathe. No
way could I live here. Happy memories surrounded me, reminding me
the best days of my life were gone.

“
Daddy would love
that.”

Skyler lay next to me, placing both
hands behind his head. “He doesn’t have a choice. Talk to Aiden—”
His eyes widened and he sat up. “What the heck happened to your
wrist?”

I was glad for the subject change but
not so happy about where it went. “Aiden rammed into me. It was an
accident…I think.”

He reached out and took it, examining
it like he had X-ray vision. “What’d you do?”

What did I do? Why was it always my
fault? “Nothing…it’s a long story. Don’t worry about it. So, doing
anything fun tonight?”

“
Why?” His eyes brightened,
ridding his earlier concern. Mission accomplished. “You staying
here?”

“
I don’t think so. We’re
headed to Portland.”

“
For what?”

I lay back, rolled to my stomach and
rested my chin on his chest. The Kember flashed in my mind. I
didn’t dare tell Skyler. He’d try and talk me out of it. “Aiden
promised if I read this book, he’d take me there.”

He coughed in surprise. “You did it? I
figured you’d tell him what he could go do to himself.”

“
Yeah, well, I gotta walk
the line. Ian’ll lock me up like some crazy if I don’t.” The words
slipped and I turned away, resting the side of my face on his
chest. Skyler and I hadn’t talked since the funeral incident. I’d
bash my head against the wall if he brought it up now.

He laughed under his breath. It
sounded totally off. “You were tired and upset. Nothing’s wrong
with you. Got it? Everyone understands.”

Everyone? Fantastic. Nothing like a
“let’s talk Taylee” gossip party.

Skyler’s hand swept my cheek as he
brushed the hair from my face. With long gentle strokes, he
continued to run his fingers though the length of it, not even
trying to downplay his obsession with the softness. “Did you hear
about Camille Whitmore?”

“
The blonde whore you dated
forever ago?”

“
She’s missing,” he
whispered. “Her whole family’s gone, and all their Kembers were
killed two nights ago.”

I lifted my head to look at him. A
strand of hair fell from his fingers. “Missing? Wh—How?”

He swallowed hard. “Rygons probably.
Joshua heard officials in that area found the Kembers’ bodies, but
the Dreas weren’t anywhere. This is secondhand, though. The
Authority hasn’t released any information yet.”

I stared
blankly. Sure Camille and I had our differences. Okay, who was I
fooling? I hated the bitch, but still, she didn’t deserve to be
kidnapped. “Rygons don’t take Dreas. Dead or alive.” They might
drag them a few hundred yards, depending on where the attack
occurred, but their bodies were
always
found.

He propped himself up on his elbows.
“I know. It’s probably a rumor. You know how they fly around in our
world. Just promise you’ll be careful and keep out of
trouble.”

I rolled my eyes. “This coming from
you?”

He chuckled and leaned his forehead
against mine. “Hey, I only get in the trouble you get me
into.”

“
Yeah, but if we were both
like you, we’d look both ways and still never cross the
street.”

Skyler pulled back, keeping his face
inches from mine. “Well, someone’s gotta try and save you from your
reckless ambitions.” His brown goo-goo eyes sparkled as they set on
my lips. We’d kissed a few times but never been on a
boyfriend-girlfriend status or had anything intimate. Our
friendship was too important to risk losing. Sometimes he needed
reminding.

I blew in his face.

Blinking, he jerked back and snapped
out of Skyler-land.

I stuck my tongue out and jumped from
the bed as his shoe connected with my butt. “Come on, Homeless
Girl. Let’s get you some new clothes.” He chuckled.

After buying two black suitcases and
stuffing them with outfits, I went on and bought the makeup I
obviously needed: powder, blush, mascara, eye liner. Tonight, I’d
transform from a zombie into a seventeen-year-old girl. By two
o’clock, Aiden and I were back on the road, bad music and
all.