Saving Sloan (Sloan Series Book 2) (10 page)

S
LOAN GOT IN HER
car and pulled out her phone. She texted Ray the assignment and that she was going home, not to his house. Her eyes felt heavy and, truthfully, all she wanted to do was sleep. Home. Bed. Sleep. Not thinking about anything sounded so good.

She turned on the car and sat there for just a second, waiting for the fuzziness to get out of her eyes. Had she not taken her vitamins or something? It was weird. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so tired. Maybe her hormones were out of whack or maybe she was getting sick.

Whatever the case, she didn’t feel like going to Ray’s. She didn’t care what he found at Boyd’s house, and she didn’t care about his excuse for not coming back to school. It didn’t make sense to her. Any person with half a brain would freak out if someone was stalking them. And she was. In her own way, she was. But she couldn’t force herself to get worked up about it at the moment. Something was definitely wrong with her.

When her hand hit the gearshift, her phone vibrated in the seat next to her. Sure enough, it was Ray.

“Hello?” she said with the phone to her ear. It wasn’t like him to call. Text? Yeah, but not call.

“What do you mean you aren’t feeling well? Are you sick?” Ray said on the other end of the line.

“Hello to you too.” She sounded annoyed, even to herself. Frustrated, she leaned her head on the steering wheel, willing the conversation to go quickly so she could get home. Actually, now that she thought of it, she needed to take the flowers to the dump first before she went home. It wasn’t like she wanted them in her trunk longer than they already had been.

“You didn’t answer me.” Ray was very curt today. “Are you sick? Did something happen at school while I was gone?”

“Why no, Ray. Nothing happened.”

“Good.”

Oh, he’d think “good” in a minute. “Except for the fact that Darcy hates my guts now and I had to basically grovel to get our homework assignment. Then there was a weird little junior scoping me out at lunch, and the new Biology teacher thinks I’m a slacker. So, except for that, yeah, peachy day.”

There was a pause. “So not a good day then.”

What was his first clue? “Look, Ray, I’m sorry. I’m tired. I want to go home and sleep. I think I’m coming down with something, but I just don’t want to go and do homework.”

“When are you going to get it finished?”

How in the world did she know? It wasn’t like she cared. “Someday. Maybe in the morning. I’ll set my alarm for early, okay? I just… I’m just spent.” Not a lie in those sentences.

“Okay. I’m just worried. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you sound so bad, and that’s hard coming from you.”

Oh, Ray and his compliments. She’d get the big head if he kept it up. “Don’t be worried. I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”

“And what if you get two roses tomorrow, Sloan? What then? Then can I worry?” Now it was Ray sounding snippy. They all just needed a vacation.

She didn’t say a word, too exhausted to fight with him. Funny how she really didn’t care about anything at the moment: not homework, not Ray, not Aaron, not even Mr. ICU. Oh, she should care. She knew in her mind that she
should,
but she just couldn’t. All she cared about was her bed and sleep. Sleep sounded good.

“And it worries me that you don’t seem concerned about this. What happened? You were freaking out this morning and now you just want to go home and sleep?”

“I’m tired.”

“We all are, but we have to figure this out. We need to talk. Work on what we found out. You haven’t even asked where I went today.” He had the nerve to sound hurt? Was he serious?

“I didn’t find out much.” She ignored his attitude. “Darcy knows my combination because she used to be my friend and watched when I opened it. Accidently seeing it over and over, I guess. It burned in her mind. So see, nothing, but she got mad when I asked her about it. Accused me of not trusting her. She was right too.”

“Technically, it’s me who didn’t trust her.”

Ya think? “Yeah, thanks for that. I appreciate it.” It wouldn’t take much for him to get the sarcasm in her voice. It wasn’t like she was trying to hide it.

“Sorry about that, well, not really sorry because now we know it’s not her. Or we think we know.”

“We know.” Sloan hit her forehead hard enough to jolt a little on the steering wheel. “What do you know?” Hurry this along, man.

“I went to see Boyd. I know you told me not to,” he added quickly, as if she’d be mad. She was too tired to be mad. As long as he hurried, he’d be okay.

“It’s fine.” She yawned. “What did you find out?”

“Your enthusiasm is overwhelming.”

She rolled her eyes without saying a word.

He took the hint and kept going. “Boyd’s in a wheelchair alright. If he wasn’t, I’m pretty sure he’d gotten up and beaten me for asking. Talked to his mom too. Wow, she’s nothing like Mr. Lawrence.”

“Did you see him?” Sloan finally interjected. Mr. Lawrence had been her favorite teacher, and she very much missed him in Biology.

“No. He’s not been there for a while, Boyd said. Something about a job in Nashville or a convention or something. He’s been gone for a month. Said he’d be gone a few more weeks.”

“Long convention,” she mumbled, fighting to stay awake.

“Yeah. So, anyway, I wanted you to feel better that your theory of Boyd sending you those things isn’t correct. He couldn’t have been outside your window. He genuinely can’t walk.”

Sloan wasn’t entirely sure how that was supposed to make her feel better. “Did he try?”

“To walk.”

She grunted.

“He tried to stand. He was ticked actually. Said we were falsely accusing him of something he couldn’t do. Maybe rubbing it in his face.”

“I don’t know. You attack someone twice, you start to question their motives. They become suspicious.”

“I know. I told him that. He said to tell you,” Ray’s voice strained, “that he was sorry.”

“He can tell me he’s sorry until he’s blue in the face. I know it’s my duty as a Christian to forgive him, but Ray, I’m telling you, I can’t.” It was the most passionate she’d felt about anything in a few hours.

“I know it’s hard.”

“It’s more than hard. It’s impossible. See you at school tomorrow.”

“Wait!” he yelled.

Sloan hesitated before putting the phone back up to her ear. “What?”

“Let me come over to your house tonight. I’ll bring food, and we can work together. You can wear your pajamas if you want. I don’t care. I just… I want to see you.”

Sloan shut her eyes and leaned back against the headrest. “I’m afraid I’m not good company.

“It’s okay.” He sounded like he was smiling. “I’m used to it.”

She smiled at his honesty.

“Please. I won’t stay long, and I’ll cover you up if you go to sleep doing your homework. I might even be all romantic and carry you upstairs to your room.”

“Some would consider that creepy.” She grinned.

“And they would be wrong.”

Sloan let out a big sigh and thought,
Why not?
It wasn’t like she had any other plans besides sleeping. Ray had been right earlier, not that she would admit it. She did have to do her homework. She couldn’t just go home and sleep, no matter how much she wanted to. So, having him come over and help her didn’t sound terrible. And that way, she didn’t have to drive home afterward. Double bonus. “Okay, you can come over. As long as you realize, I’ll probably be asleep by like, seven.”

“Deal. See you in a few minutes. Got to run home first for a second.”

“See ya.” Sloan hung up the phone and tossed it in the seat next to her. Why did she let him talk her into things?

When she looked back out of the window, every car in the parking lot was gone. With her eyes drooping, she slapped her cheeks to wake up. Good glory! All she’d taken was headache medicine! It wasn’t like she’d thrown back two sleeping pills!

She put the car in drive, forced her eyes open, and pulled out of her space. Praying the entire way, she slowly made her way home. Thankfully, she didn’t hit anything, and no cop pulled her over for doing twenty in a forty-five.

She felt like kissing the ground when she got home. When she shut the car door, she wanted to kick herself. Those stupid flowers were in the truck of her car still. She thought a word she didn’t normally say and opened the trunk. She’d put them in the garbage bin and forget it!

The trunk lid opened and Sloan stared.

No trash bag.

No flowers.

Nothing.

“What the crap?” she whispered. She’d put them in her car. She knew she had. This was crazy. Stupidly crazy.

Sloan shut the trunk and staggered to the front door. After opening the door, she slammed it behind her and threw the keys on the side table under the mirror.

What in the world was going on here?

Clenching her fingers together to make herself wake up, she started up the steps to put on something comfortable before Ray got there. He’d better not be expecting something awesome… or even clean.

Something red in the kitchen caught her eye. On the island.

Rose petals?

Slowly she walked in, forcing her fuzzy eyes to focus.

It was rose petals all right. And they formed letters on the surface of the island.

I C U

Sloan didn’t stop to think. She ran up the stairs and slammed the bedroom door behind her, locking it. She fell against the door and tried her best to breathe. He’d been there. Sometime during the day, not only had whoever it was get the flowers from her trunk, but he’d gotten inside her house and had taken the time to fix them on her island.

This didn’t make any sense.

None.

Who had a key to her house?

And how could someone get in the truck of her car?

She paced the room and stumbled on a shoe she’d left on the floor, falling face down in her bed. She rose on her hands to get up, but they gave way.

Her bed felt so nice.

So soft.

So peaceful.

She was locked in.

No one could get her there.

Ray wouldn’t be there for a few minutes.

She could just rest her eyes.

Just for a few minutes.

And then she’d feel better.

She’d feel much…

“Sloan!” She shot up and looked around. Where was she?

Home. Okay. Home. What time was it?

The sun was going down. Almost night. How long had she been asleep?

“Sloan, are you in there?” Another voice. A woman. Her mother.

“Sloan! Unlock the door!” Ray. He sounded… worried. Frantic even.

She sat up enough to look at the clock. After seven! What?

“Coming.” She sounded so far away, like her voice was as blurry as her eyes. When had someone hit her with a sledge hammer?

And then it hit her.

The roses.

As quickly as she could, she stumbled to the door. “Did you see it?
Did you see it?”

The three people staring at her stared harder. Her mom, Ray — and Aaron — yes, Aaron. She hadn’t expected him. He wasn’t supposed to be there.

“See what?” her mom asked worriedly.

“You look horrible,” Aaron added helpfully.

Ray elbowed him in the stomach. “I stopped by two hours ago, and I couldn’t get you to open the door. I called your house phone and your cellphone. Nothing. I freaked out and called your mom. I knew you were here because I saw your car. Are you okay?”

That was a good question. Was she? It wasn’t like she’d felt yet. She’d rolled out of the bed for goodness’ sake. “What time is it?”

That would be the first question she wanted answered.

Her mom looked at her strangely. “Honey, we already told you that. It’s after seven. The boys were worried about you so I rushed home.”

After seven. Wow. Wait, she saw that. On the clock, right? She wiped her eyes to get the fuzziness out of them, but it didn’t quite work. Falling back on the bed would be good.

“Sloan?” her mom said again, and she tried to shake the cobwebs out of her head.

“Yeah. I must have slept pretty hard.” She yawned and tried to focus.

“Need some coffee?” Aaron asked, pushing past Ray. He looked at her with an intensity she hadn’t seen in him before. Take that back. Well, yeah, she had seen it before. In his house yesterday when he thought she was taking some sort of illegal pill in his bathroom. He could just get over it because she hadn’t taken anything but aspirin. Jerk.

“No, I don’t need coffee. I need…” Wait. Wait! Food. The kitchen…

The roses.

“Did you see them?”

“See what?” Her mom must have thought she was totally weird. Sloan thought it was totally weird they didn’t see the big huge
ICU
on the island.

“The letters.”

Nothing. It didn’t even register with any of them.

“In the kitchen.”

Was she talking to the wall?

“What letters? There wasn’t any mail,” her mom said helpfully.

This couldn’t be happening. Sloan ran her fingers through her hair, frustrated with the entire day. “The flowers, Mom. The flowers! They spelled letters.”

Her mom shook her head and looked very worried. “Honey, there wasn’t anything in the kitchen.”

That wasn’t right. It couldn’t be. There was something there. She’d seen it.

In fact, that’s why she’d run into her room in the first place. To get away from whoever it was who’d put them in her house. “They were there.”

She pushed past them and barreled down the steps. She’d show them they were crazy. It wasn’t like she wanted her mom to know, but, oh well. She needed to know now.

Sloan rounded the corner of the stairs with the other three behind her. They couldn’t have been so blind that they hadn’t seen…

Nothing.

She looked again.

Nothing.

It was gone. Just. Gone.

“It was here.” She stumbled toward the island, catching herself on the side. “It was here. I saw it.”

“What?” her mother asked, frustrated. “What was here, Sloan? You’re freaking me out.”

“I’m sorry, Mom!” she yelled. Why did they all have to have this dumbfounded look on their faces? It was getting on the very last of her fragile nerves. “I’m not trying to freak you out, but it was here.” She spread her hands over the table. “
They
were here. All of them.”