Saving Sloan (Sloan Series Book 2) (16 page)

T
HE FUZZY FEELING SHE
had grown accustomed to didn’t let up when Aaron and her mom left. Before they had, things had gotten a little less tense. Aaron had taken Ray aside, and they’d seemed to have a civil, if strained, conversation. Her mother had kept her occupied, talking about the store. Such a weird thing to think about when her life was spiraling out of control, literally falling from under her. But she’d listened to her mother talk. It actually had been nice to think about something else for five minutes. It would have been nice if it had lasted longer.

They had asked if she felt like staying the rest of the day. She’d lied and said she did. What was she going to do? Go home and mope the rest of the day? Besides, she’d miss too much if she skipped school. Too many tests tomorrow since there would be no school on Friday for the prom.

Prom.

Something she did not want to go to.

That wasn’t true. On one level, she wanted to go to prom. As a senior, it was one of those moments they say must be experienced. And she had the dress, so she was ready.

But she wasn’t ready for the predetermined weirdness between her and Ray. And she definitely wasn’t ready to find out what would happen at the end of the countdown.

After lunch, Ray piled both of their trays on his. Neither had eaten very much. She didn’t have much of an appetite here lately, and especially not after what Aaron had discovered. They walked into the school building together, but Sloan felt so far away.

A bed would be nice.

A nice nap to end the day.

“I don’t know why I’m so sleepy all the time.” She wiped the tiredness from her eyes. “I’m sick of it.”

“Could be stress,” Ray said without looking at her.

Could be. She’d heard that stress made a person tired, and she’d had her share of it. They put their trays up in the cafeteria. Sloan looked, but Mackenzie had already gone. She’d have to text her about the powwow going on at her house this evening. Mackenzie was her best friend and needed to know if everyone else did. Plus, maybe she got something out of Travis Blaylock’s cousin, Sarah. It seemed so strange for his cousin to just be there out of the blue. Sloan prayed Mackenzie had an answer that was better than what Aaron had gotten.

Ray walked Sloan to her locker. “Oh man!” he said and hit his palm against the locker next to hers. It wasn’t loud, but it definitely got her attention.

“What?”

“I forgot a pencil, and I need it for my next class. I think I left it in third period.”

She smiled despite herself. “Fine. Grab one out of my bag.”

Ray grinned from ear to ear. “You’re a life saver.” He grabbed her bag and kissed her cheek, right where Aaron had kissed her earlier.

That wasn’t weird at all, she thought sarcastically. She opened her locker and grabbed the books for her next class. She heard Ray at her feet shuffling through her bag: pushing the papers and headache medicine bottle out of the way to get a pencil. Funny, she didn’t think it would be that hard to find it.

“Got it,” he said, putting his hand in his pocket. “Thank you.”

“It’s a pencil, Ray. I didn’t give you gold.” She grinned.

“You have no idea.” He stood there for a second looking at her like he expected her to say something back. She hated to tell him, but she had nothing. Not really. “Um… so, I’ll see you at my house after school.”

“Yeah… yeah, I’ll be there.” He nodded several times more than necessary. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. There has to be an answer.”

“I just hope it’s not ‘Sloan’s crazy’.” She tried to make a joke out of it, but it fell flat.

Ray took her hand and squeezed it gently. “No matter what my brother says, I believe you. I know you would never stage this stalker, split personality or not. It’s not like you.”

Her heart fluttered, and she felt a smile tug her lips. “And you know me so well.”

“I do,” he said very seriously. “Better than anyone. I’ll see you after school.” He kissed her knuckles and walked away, leaving Sloan dumbfounded.

Both brothers had an effect on her. She couldn’t deny that. And she couldn’t deny that both had feelings for her. Strong feelings, and it wasn’t right to lead them both on. She needed to pick, and pick quickly before things got even more strained between them.

With Ray gone to his next class, Sloan shut her locker door and started down the hall to hers. At a minute until the bell, the hallways were starting to clear. She really needed to start getting to class sooner.

As she rounded the corner, her eye caught a glimpse of Boyd’s old locker. She remembered the first day of senior year, seeing him standing there. He’d dumped her a few days before. It still stung, still fresh. And Darcy had just coined the term “Saint Sloan”. It had been an eventful few weeks.

Sloan had to laugh at the memory now: big strapping jock unable to get the combination lock on his new locker to open, the guys standing around him, Darcy included, laughing. He wasn’t amused, and she wondered if they’d known what they knew now, if they would have laughed so hard.

She stopped dead in her tracks. Wait. Darcy had said she knew Sloan’s combination to her locker because they had been best friends and she’d seen her open it numerous times.

That was her junior locker, not her senior one. When they were seniors, Darcy hated her. She’d never been to her locker except to taunt her, and she sure hadn’t opened her locker in front of her.

Darcy had lied. To her face, lied. So how did she really know the combination to her locker? And why?

The late bell rang, and she started toward her next class. She only made it two steps when she turned around and marched back to the office. When she got inside, she smiled politely at Mrs. Baker, the secretary, and signed her name and the time out. She was eighteen now and legally could check herself out of school. Next to the reason, she wrote
sick.

“Feel better soon.” The short, slender lady smiled from behind the counter.

“I will. Thank you,” Sloan said with her best impression of a sick person.

With that, Sloan left the office, went down the hallway, exited the building, and went to her car at the far end of the lot. It might be crazy, but for the first time, she knew what she had to do and how she had to do it. There was no sense running from any of this. She knew exactly who she had to talk with to get answers.

She unlocked her car door and slid inside. With her foot on the brake, she pushed the start button, causing the Charger to roar to life. Determined, she pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road out of town. Once the businesses turned into houses and houses into farmland, Sloan turned left onto Brown Hollow Road, down a road she hadn’t been on since that November night she’d rather forget.

A few miles down she saw a two-story white farmhouse sitting off the road. With her heart beating a mile a minute in her chest, she slammed on her brakes.

What was she doing?

This was Boyd’s house. Boyd Lawrence. The same guy who’d tried to rape her twice and then tried to kill her. The same guy she’d put in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. She rubbed her eyes, trying to figure out if she was thinking clearly. It had been a few hours since she’d taken the headache medicine, and she didn’t really feel like she needed it. Didn’t mean she didn’t want it though.

This might be a bad situation and hurting didn’t appeal to her.

Then again, neither did being dizzy.

Steadying every nerve she had, she eased her foot back onto the gas and rolled toward the house. She turned next to the black mailbox, the one where she’d stood the first time she’d met Aaron. That night wasn’t her favorite. Boyd had been having a party and she’d known she shouldn’t have gone, but Mackenzie had wanted to go, so she’d gone too. Darcy had gotten drunk and had cornered her in a bathroom, spouting all sorts of horrible things at her — not to mention the beer she’d thrown in her face.

Sloan had run all the way to the bottom of the driveway. Aaron had pulled up in his dark blue Mustang. He’d recognized her, but she hadn’t him. It hadn’t been her fault. She hadn’t seen him in about ten years.

She’d been so nervous to be around him that night, but had accepted a ride home so Mackenzie wouldn’t have to leave Travis. Her life had changed that night. Some for the better. Some for the worse. One thing was for sure: Sloan didn’t get regret getting in the car with him. And she didn’t regret meeting Ray. What she did regret was what happened to Boyd: being in a wheelchair all of his life. She regretted him going nuts and attacking her, just because they’d broken up — just because he’d thought she deserved it.

Boyd’s life was changed forever now, stuck in that wheelchair and facing charges. It was his fault of course; he’d been the one who’d attacked her. Still, Sloan couldn’t help feeling like she’d egged him on somehow.

Stupid guilt.

She slammed her hands against the steering wheel to knock some sense into herself. “He’s the bad guy here, Sloan. He attacked you. Don’t you go getting all soft.”

With her foot back on the gas, she drove to the head of the driveway and put the car into park. It looked like it always had: house with white siding, large front porch with the swing she and Boyd swung on when they’d dated. They’d had their first kiss there. They’d also gone to more
bases
than she cared to admit on that swing.

Mr. Lawrence’s car was missing, which made sense since he’d supposedly gone away on a business trip. An Explorer sat in the driveway with spiny seeds from the maple trees — a sure sign of spring — on the windshield and hood. Boyd’s shiny black truck sat off to the side. The truck he’d never drive again. The first time they’d ever slept together was in that truck, way in the back of the hollow, next to the Falls. It hadn’t been anything to write home about. It sort of hurt and was a bit uncomfortable. It wasn’t her first time. Far from it, but still… it hadn’t been the best-feeling experience in her life. He hadn’t seemed to notice though. Now that she thought back on it, he’d never even asked her if she’d had a good time. Just pulled his clothes together and started back home. The roar of Chapel Falls had faded behind them.

So much for that trip down memory lane.

Sloan’s legs shook as she got out of her car and stood on the gravel. Why was she there? Well, she knew why she was there, but really… why? This probably wasn’t the best idea ever. Ray had just been there. And what if Boyd really was stalking her? Was being at his house such a good idea?

Still…

She needed to know.

Besides, his mom’s vehicle was in the driveway so she wouldn’t be alone with him. She just needed five minutes. Just to see what he knew. If he knew anything. It would narrow down the list of suspects in her mind.

With a deep breath and trembling fingers, Sloan opened the screen door and tapped on the white wooden door behind it. She waited a few seconds, feeling a chill not from the weather. Chapel Hill was very pleasant with a high in the low sixties that day. It would be colder on Friday for prom, of course. She’d always imagined she’d go to prom with Boyd… Another slip into memory lane.

Shivering from the fear and adrenaline running through her, she tapped on the door again. Finally, the doorknob rotated, and Sloan plastered a smile on her face to greet Mrs. Bridges. It had been a while since she’d seen her.

The door opened to nothing. No one stood in her eye line. Dread filled her stomach as her eyes slowly lowered until they found Boyd sitting in his wheelchair with the door in his hand. He didn’t look shocked to see her, but he didn’t look happy about it either.

His face looked older and more worn than she remembered. It had always been attractive, very handsome. Now he had dark circles under his light blue eyes, and his skin looked like it needed the sun. His blond hair lay disarrayed around his head. It wasn’t from any styling product, she deduced. Why would he need to dress when he couldn’t leave his house?

He had on a tight, black T-shirt, so she could see all of his muscles. They hadn’t suffered in the accident. She’d heard he was getting physical therapy so he’d, of course, had to work on his upper body. On his legs, he had on light gray sweatpants, the loose kind. He wore faded black sneakers with flecks of mud on them.

All in all, Boyd looked good. Healthy. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but she hadn’t expected him to look so much like himself. Her hands started shaking and she put them quickly in her pockets so he wouldn’t see. She hadn’t been alone with him since… Maybe she should have taken some time to prepare for this instead of just going on a whim.

Boyd’s eyes scanned her from head to toe and then back to her eyes. It made her self-conscious, and she had to fight every fight-or-flight response she had to run to her car and get away.

“Hello, Sloan. Out for a drive?”

Words, coherent words, wouldn’t form in her head. She stuttered a bit and pushed some hair behind her ear. “Yeah, well. I wanted to see… see you. See how you were doing. I was thinking about you at school today.”

Good glory, it was true. She was a big flirt. That statement could be taken so many ways. She prayed he’d taken it the right way.

“Did you now? Nice to be missed. How is school?” He didn’t seem threatening or even… anything. His words had no emotion to them.

“It’s there. Everyone’s excited about prom on Friday.” Did she really just say that?

He nodded sadly and smiled. “Yeah, guess I missed the bullet there. Don’t have to go now.” He pointed to the police monitor on the wheel of his chair. “Couldn’t go if I wanted.”

The words
I’m sorry
started to form on her lips, and she instantly swiped them away. She was not sorry. She’d broken his back protecting herself and Aaron. If she hadn’t hit him and knocked him off Aaron, Aaron would be dead. No doubt about it. She could not feel sorry for the monster in front of her.

“Any other reason you came, or did you leave school just to chat about prom?” Finally. An emotion from him. Not a good one. More annoyed than anything.

A plan would have been good. “Uh… no. I just came to see how you were and… is your mother home?”