Focus (The Crescent Chronicles, #2) (21 page)

“
I’m fine. You can
go.”

“
Not a chance. I already
told you I’m staying for awhile. You might have a delayed shock.”
He put an arm around me as we walked toward my dorm.

“
I’m not in shock. I think
I’m starting to get used to getting kidnapped.”

He stiffened. “That isn’t
funny.”

“
I wasn’t joking.” I didn’t
want to upset him, but the truth was that he put me in danger the
moment he decided to give me the ring.

On Levi’s insistence, we took the
elevator. It was that or let him carry me upstairs. It was with
relief that I collapsed on my bed. Levi nudged me over so he could
lie next to me. At least he took his shoes off first.

“
Ugh, I forget how
uncomfortable these beds are.”

“
You don’t have to sleep on
it, so it’s not an issue.”

“
You don’t either.” He
touched my cheek.

“
Yes I do.” I sat up on an
elbow so I could see Hailey over Levi. “How’s Anne? Have you heard
anything about Tiffany?”

“
Anne’s fine. She’s taking
it well.”

“
I’m actually not
surprised.”

Levi laughed. “You took it well too,
Al.”

“
I guess I did…”

Hailey sat down on her bed. “And
Tiffany is okay. They kept her overnight to check for inhalational
burns, but everything came back clean. She really is
lucky.”

I felt sick just thinking about it. “Or
unlucky for being my friend. She was only in danger because of
me.”

“
That’s not true.” Levi
turned to look at me.

“
He’s right. You can’t
start blaming yourself for everything,” Hailey said
softly.

“
Easy for you to say.” I
yawned. I guess everything with Bryant made me tired.

“
You can close your eyes.
I’ll be right here.” Levi played with a strand of my
hair.

“
You really don’t have to
stay.”

“
I want to.”

“
Do you guys want privacy?”
Hailey stood up, ready to leave the room.

“
No, that’s okay.” I
answered quickly. Levi nodded.

“
If you’re sure.” Hailey
sat down at her desk.

I fell asleep to the sound of her
typing.

I woke up a few hours later tucked
under my covers. Levi was gone. I sat up disoriented. Hailey was
playing a game on her phone.

“
What time is
it?”

“
Six.”

“
Six o’clock at night? You
let me sleep all day?”

“
You needed it.”

I stretched. “When did Levi
leave?”

“
A few hours ago. He fell
asleep too.” She tossed me her phone. “Check out this picture. I
already emailed it to you both.”

I glanced at her phone. There was a
picture of Levi and I snuggled up asleep. I had to admit it was
cute. “You sent it to Levi?”

“
I figured it would earn me
brownie points. I have a feeling I’m in trouble.” She leaned up
against the wall.

“
Why? Why are you in
trouble?”

“
I shouldn’t have left the
hotel without you. I should have waited.”

“
You took Anne home, and
you thought I was safe. You can’t be with me all the
time.”

“
I should have come back
after dropping Anne off, but I didn’t.” She bit her nail. I’d never
seen Hailey do that before.

“
Is there something you’re
not telling me?”

“
This stays between us,
okay?”

“
Of course.” I looked at
her nervously. That opening was usually a bad thing.

“
I got lunch with
Cole.”

“
Cole? You mean the bouncer
from Bruno’s?” We’d run in to him a few times, and it was obvious
he had a thing for Hailey.

“
Yes.” She still didn’t
meet my eye.

“
Why is that a
secret?”

“
Remember what I told you
about Pteron’s dating?”

“
You aren’t supposed to get
serious with anyone but a human.”

“
And you’re definitely not
supposed to date lower shifters…” She trailed off.

“
Wait, what’s Cole?” I’d
always assumed he was a Pteron because he seemed part of the inner
circle.

“
He’s a
Grizzly.”

“
He’s a bear?” I’d figured
out that most shifter names related to the type of animal they
were.

“
Yes. In terms of shifters
he’s high up, especially because his grandfather saved Levi’s
grandfather, but he’s still below a Pteron.”

“
So that’s why he had such
a good seat at the meeting.”

“
Yes.”

“
I’m guessing that doesn’t
change the dating rules?”

She sighed. “No.”

I crossed the room and sat next to her.
“I’m sorry, Hail. You like him, huh?”

She evaded my question. “It’s not a big
deal. But it makes my screw up even worse. My parents are going to
kill me.”

“
They won’t find
out.”

“
Yes they will.”

“
Give me a
second.”

“
What?”

I picked up my phone and called
Levi.

“
Hey, how are you feeling,
Sleeping Beauty?”

“
You really like to call me
princess names, don’t you?”

He laughed. “Well, you are my
princess.”

“
I guess that’s true. The
reason I’m calling is because of Hailey.”

“
What?” She stood
up.

I waved Hailey off.

“
She wasn’t there because
she was taking care of Anne, and making sure she wasn’t going to
tell everyone about The Society. Hailey should be rewarded for
being so careful, don’t you agree?” Levi was usually really good at
reading me, so I hoped he understood what I was doing.

“
Absolutely. I’ll make sure
her parents know.” I could hear him smiling through the phone. He
really could be a decent guy sometimes.

“
Great, talk to you soon.”
I hung up.

“
Now you can stop
worrying.”

She let out a deep breath. “You didn’t
have to do that.”

“
Want to make it up to
me?”

“
Yes, anything.” She looked
at me eagerly.

“
Order us something good
and greasy for dinner. I need it.”

“
I can definitely do
that.”

“
Good.” I loved my best
friend.

***

I folded my laundry and took my time
putting it away. As soon as I finished, I’d be out of excuses not
to call my mom. She was going to kill me. Thanksgiving was just as
big as Christmas to her. It was bad enough I’d stayed in New
Orleans for school. Now I was canceling my first trip
home.

I finally built up the nerve to call
her. “Hey, Mom.”

“
Hey, honey. I haven’t
heard from you in a while. How’ve you been?”

“
I’m doing fine, just busy
with school.”

“
Have you decided when
you’re coming home?”

I swallowed. “I’m not coming,
Mom.”

She sighed into the phone. “What’s
going on?”

“
Nothing. I just have too
much work.”

“
You can get plenty of
studying done here.” I could hear the pleading in her
voice.

“
Not without
distractions.”

“
Do you want us to come
there?”

“
Who’s us?” I played with a
feather that had come loose from my down comforter. It was overkill
for New Orleans, but I loved the shade of blue.

“
Steven, Andrew, and
I.”

I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to the
idea that my mom was seriously dating the father of a guy I hated
in high school. “No, it’s okay. I’ll see you in December
anyway.”

“
We’ve never spent
Thanksgiving apart.” The disappointment in her voice hurt, but I
didn’t see any way around it. It had only been a few weeks since
the fire, and although the buzz was finally dying out on campus, I
wasn’t over it. I couldn’t believe that because of me, hundreds of
people could have died, including a good friend.

“
I’m sorry.”

“
If you weren’t okay, you’d
tell me, right?”

“
Yes.” I hated lying, but I
didn’t have any choice.

“
You need to do what you
need to do. You’re an adult, and I can’t force you to do anything
anymore. If you change your mind, you know we’d love to have
you.”

“
Thanks, Mom.”

I wanted to go, but I couldn’t. I
didn’t want to go home if it meant bringing guards with me, and
taking the chance of endangering the people I loved. It was bad
enough my friends were involved.

I hung up and tried to fight off the
tears I knew were threatening to spill. I gave up the fight just as
I heard a soft knock on the door.

“
Are you okay?” Tiffany
took a seat next to me on my bed.

“
Yeah, sorry.”

“
Do you still want to go
for manicures, or do you want to skip?”

“
I want to go.” I wiped my
eyes.

“
Is there anything you want
to talk about?”

Tiffany had to be the nicest friend I’d
ever had. I loved Hailey, and Anne was cool, but Tiffany was just
so sweet.

“
I had to tell my mom I
wasn’t going home for Thanksgiving.”

Tiffany put a hand on my arm. “Oh, I’m
sorry. That must have been rough. Are you sure you can’t just ask
Levi to go with you?”

“
Theoretically, I could,
but he’s so busy with his dad right now, and honestly I don’t think
I’m ready to bring him home.”

Some people might have pushed me, but
Tiffany just smiled. “Well, at least you get to spend it with
Hailey and Owen. That should be fun, right?”

“
Definitely. I’m curious
what a Pteron Thanksgiving is like.” I loved that I didn’t have to
hide The Society from my friends anymore. Tiffany had taken it
about as well as Anne. She said she always knew there was something
different about the guys and Hailey.

“
Speaking of Hailey, where
is she? Isn’t she coming with us?”

“
Nope. She had to meet for
a group project.”

“
Wait, so they’re actually
letting you out on your own?”

I laughed. “Yeah right. Let me out
without a chaperone?”

“
Then who’s coming with
us?”

“
Jared.”

The look of horror that crossed
Tiffany’s face was almost comical. “Jared’s coming with us to get
manicures?”

“
Well, I doubt he’s going
to get his nails done. When Hailey cancelled, I had to find an
alternative. Jared was more than happy to oblige when he found out
you were coming.”

Tiffany blushed. “Come on, that’s not
true.”

“
Yes it is. I don’t know
what happened the night of the fire, but he’s been acting even
weirder than usual ever since.”

“
I already told you, I
don’t remember what happened. I just remember feeling really dizzy
and light-headed and the next thing I knew, I woke up in the
hospital.”

“
I know. But I think Jared
was scared he was too late.”

“
I can’t believe I slept
through a hot guy flying me to safety.”

I laughed. “It was more than sleeping.
But if you want to try flying, I’m sure Jared would oblige. But,
I’d make him swear to be on good behavior.”

“
Sometimes I think this is
all a dream. Like I fell asleep reading one of my Paranormal
Romance’s or something.”

“
Don’t I know.”

“
Are you ready to
go?”

I got up. “Sure. Jared’s
waiting.”

Before we could walk out the door, my
phone rang. I debated picking up when I saw my dad’s name on the
screen, but I was tired of fighting with him.

“
Hi, Dad.”

Tiffany gestured that she’d wait in her
room.

“
Hi, sweetie. I owe you an
apology.” His voice was soft, and I could tell he meant
it.

“
You do, but I
understand.”

“
Everything is okay
now.”

“
Really?” I asked with
surprise.

“
Yes. We got some new
investors, and I think we can go ahead with the openings we had
planned for next year.” I could hear him smiling through the
phone.

“
Wow, that’s
great.”

“
Isn’t it? These investors
came out of nowhere, but they checked out.”

“
I’m glad to hear
that.”

“
Are you spending
Thanksgiving with your mom?”

It was rare enough to talk to one
parent in a day, now I was talking to two. “Nope, I’m going to
spend it with my roommate’s family.”