The Soul Healer (11 page)

Exhausted, I sank back down on his bed, hanging my head in shame. “Thanks.”

“It’s okay,” he said, sitting next to me. “I probably wouldn’t know my boyfriend’s phone number either. Not,” he said with a loud sigh, “that I have a boyfriend.”

I tilted my head sideways. “You don’t?” That was unbelievable; Philip was a great guy. How could he not be with someone?

“No. It sucks. I mean, there are guys, but they aren’t my boyfriends.” He kicked at the floor. “They’re good for hookups, but nothing more.”

I felt myself turning red again and mentally chastised myself.
He’s nineteen, Gabi! Of course he’s done…stuff before!

Still. Philip deserved a boyfriend. A really awesome boyfriend. And the universe sucked if it didn’t produce one for him very soon.

“Ha, you’re thinking perverted things again, aren’t you,” he said, poking me.

“No, I’m not!”

Philip gave me a lazy crooked smile. “So you and Rafe haven’t…”

I picked up his pillow and smashed it into his laughing face. “Why do
es everyone keep asking me that!”

“Probably because you blush so easily,” he replied, stretching onto his back and hugging the pillow to his chest. “And I definitely remem
ber Rafe being shy around girls. Is he still like that?”

“Yeah, he can’t even kiss me in front of my dad without breaking out into a sweat.” I shook my head, laughing. “He battles demons all the time, but my dad? Forget it. Rafe’s convinced Dad spends all of his free time sharpening the kitchen knives so he can stab Rafe one day.”

“It’s nice to know he hasn’t changed,” Philip said, amused. “How did you guys meet?”

I raised my eyebrows. “You want the long version or the short version? Because it’s pretty complex.”

“Do I look like I have anything else to do?” He plopped the pillow behind his head before folding his fingers together and resting them over his stomach. “Unless you’re in a hurry to return to your room?”

“Uh, you mean my prison cell?” I shook my head. “No thanks.”

“So stay here. With me,” Philip said. “I’ll sleep on the floor, you can have the bed.” His face was open, earnest, and I could tell he really did want me to spend the night with him. I felt a wave of sadness. Why did I get the feeling Philip was lonely?
Maybe because everyone you’ve met is either a bastard like Charles or a loser like Scott. Would you want to be friends with them?

“Okay, I’ll stay. But you’re not sleeping on the floor.” I settled down next to him, curling up on my side. “I trust you won’t take advantage of me in my sleep. Although
, honey, you don’t know what you’re missing out on.” I flipped my hair over my shoulder.

Philip snorted. “I’ll take your word for it.” He poked me. “Now tell me about Rafe!”

“Well, one night I was working at my horrible job from hell when this shoplifter came in…”

Chapter Seventeen

Rafe was late. Maybe that was typical of most teenage boys, but Rafe was never late. In fact, he was usually early by a good ten minutes, while I was the one rushing around, trying to get ready in time. Tonight, the night of the winter formal, I had started getting ready the moment I got home, just so I would be ready when he arrived at 6
pm. Rafe was taking me out to dinner, to the Italian restaurant we had visited on our first non-date, and I couldn’t wait to enjoy a romantic, delicious meal without Evan around to annoy us. And that chocolate cake… I had been dreaming about that chocolate cake for months.

Rafe had laughed when I told him that. “I’m not even surprised that the cake is the highlight of your night.”

See how well trained he was?

So. School dragged (as usual), and once the final bell rang, I rushed home with Chloe and Penny, my fairy winter formal godmothers
. (They had come up with the term, not me.) After a long shower, they had me sit on the toilet so they could attack me with hair products and various makeup brushes. They only stopped long enough to eat the pizza Dad had picked up on the way home (I wasn’t allowed to eat—absolute torture!), and then it was back to work.

“Should I be insulted that you guys need to work this long and this hard on my face and hair?” I asked as Chloe curled my eyelashes while Penny braided my hair.
             

“Be quiet!” they snapped at the same time.

I would have rolled my eyes, but Chloe probably would have stabbed me with the curler and I really didn’t want to go to the dance looking like a pirate.

Finally, they deemed me perfect, and I carefully
stepped into my beautiful navy-colored dress. The empire waist was beaded with crystals that sparkled like prisms when they caught the light, but the rest of the dress was plain, flowing to just above my knees in loose waves. Black high-heels (yes, the dreaded heels were back), a couple of bracelets, and a small heart-shaped locket (borrowed from Chloe for the night) completed the look. Penny had braided and twisted my hair into an elaborate bun, and Chloe had done my makeup tastefully. “I look hot,” I said, grinning at my reflection.

“So hot,” Penny agreed, squeezing my shoulders. “Wait until Rafe sees you. This is even better than the flapper dress.”

“Try not to have him spill punch on you this time,” Chloe added with a roll of her eyes. “I don’t know why you’re always getting dirty around him.”

I punched Penny before she could say anything. “Shut up, pervert.”

She laughed anyway.

6 pm
arrived, and the four of us sat in the front room, waiting for Rafe. I hated that a crowd had gathered, but there was no way Chloe and Penny were leaving without seeing the two of us dressed up together. And forget Dad. He was sitting with his camera in his lap, his finger over the button, as he waited to take a billion and one pictures of us. Because the ones he had taken of us on Halloween weren’t enough, right?

I tapped my high heels impatiently against the floor. Where was he? Didn’t he know how much I suffered before our dates, having Chloe and Dad (and now Penny!) stare at me like I was some animal at the zoo? Okay, maybe me going on a date was something unusual, but I’d been with Rafe for almost three months and it should have lost some of its strangeness by now. “Isn’t there a show you guys would rather be watching?”

They all laughed at me.
Laughed at me!
Grr, I was two seconds from getting up and waiting for Rafe outside on the porch. I really would do that, too, if it wasn’t, you know, fifty-two billion degrees below zero.

“He’s only a couple of minutes late, Gabs. It’s not the end of the world,” Penny said, correctly interpreting my mood as usual. She glanced at the clock. “Just call him, if you’re so worried.”

“Fine.” I reached into my bag and pulled out my phone, only to discover the thing was dead. “NO!” I wailed, smashing my fingers against the screen (because that’ll make it work).

“What’s wrong?” Dad asked, rising from his seat.

“I forgot to charge my phone!”

“Oh my god, just call him on mine,” Chloe said, throwing her phone at me. I barely managed to catch it before it smashed me in the face.

I opened her contacts list and scrolled through the names, frowning. “He’s not in here.”

“Duh, of course he’s not, I’ve never had to call him from my phone before.” She rolled her eyes. “I mean, why would I even want to?” Her tone was blasé, but she wasn’t fooling me. Chloe didn’t want to call Rafe because she didn’t want to speak to him in case Evan was around. “Just punch it in, Gabi. God, do I have to tell you how to do everything?”

“Chloe,” my dad warned her.

“Um.” I stared at the phone, as if it could reach into my brain and suck out the information I had suddenly forgotten. “Um, guys, I don’t know his number.”

“WHAT?” Penny screeched so loudly that Dad dropped his camera. “What kind of girlfriend are you?”

My stomach clenched. “Gee, thanks for making me feel so good, Pen.”

“I’m sure the boy knows everything, including, like, all of your passwords—”

“Of course he doesn’t know those!” I glanced at Dad, who, after picking up his camera from the floor and checking to see if it still worked, looked like he was moments away from telling me to go upstairs and change every single one of my passwords before Rafe got there. “God, Pen, do you know Harrison’s phone number?”

She fixed me with a deadly look. “I can’t believe you just asked me that. And here,” she held out her phone. “I have his number in mine.”

At that moment, the
doorbell rang, saving me from having to call Rafe. But even as Chloe rushed to open the door, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of awfulness. Maybe I wasn’t doing this girlfriend thing right. I should know his number, shouldn’t I? If I failed at something as simple as that, then what else was I doing wrong?

As Rafe came into the room, I squeezed my eyes shut—

BAM! I jolted awake with a startled gasp. Next to me, Philip let out a string of curses as his father stormed into the room,
his face dark with anger.

“
This
is where she’s been the whole time? In your
bed
, Philip?” he demanded.

“Shit, Dad, what the hell is wrong with you?” Philip muttered, scrubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Is HQ on fire? Is there a h
orde of demons running around Eighteenth Street?”

“What the hell is wrong with me?” Charles echoed. “I’ve just spent the last half hour searching for the Soul Healer after Nina came to my office to tell me she wasn’t in her room!” Behind him, Nina peeked around the doorway, ducking back when she caught me staring.

“Aww, did you miss me, Mister Director?” I asked sarcastically, annoyed that he had interrupted my sleep. But really,
another
dream about Rafe? Was my subconscious trying to kill me? Maybe that’s why I kept goading Charles, barely even paying attention to what I was saying. “Or are you just pissed about finding me in your son’s bed?”

He took a step
toward me—no, not a step, more like a lunge, but then he checked himself, faltering at the last moment. That didn’t stop Philip from propelling himself off the bed and landing between the two of us. I swallowed a gasp, my heart racing as I realized how close I had come to being pummeled.

“Dad. Stop.” Philip held out a hand, palm out,
toward his father. His body was tense, like he expected Charles to attack him. “Calm down, all right?”

Charles let out a long, slow breath. Staring at me over his son’s shoulder, he said, “Bring her to my office in twenty minutes. Not a minute later, Philip.” He turned on his heel and stormed out.

I exchanged a look with Philip. “Your dad is seriously deranged. No offense.” I hid my shaking fingers under the covers. I didn’t want Philip to see how freaked out I was.

“You didn’t need to add that
‘no offense’ part,” he replied dryly. “Believe me, I know.”

“Um?” We both turned to see Nina still lingering in the hallway. “Gabi…
ella?”

“Just Gabi,” I said, wondering what she wanted. Why hadn’t she followed Charles like the obedient little puppy she was?

Okay, maybe that was a little too harsh.

She smiled, looking more like the girl I had fir
st met, the one who had shouted “YAY!” a billion times as she skipped down the hallway. “Come back to your room; I got you some new clothes, and breakfast, too!”

My stomach gurgled at the mention of food. “Cake?”

“Huh?” She wrinkled her nose. “For breakfast?”

Oh boy. This girl needed to learn the proper way to live life, and it was up to me to show her. Sliding off the bed, I hooked arms with her. “Nina, any time is cake time.”

Chapter Eighteen

Twenty minutes later (okay, no, it was more like a half hour because I wasn’t rushing for stupid Director Jerkface) I had showered, eaten (cereal and juice—where was my coffee!), and dressed in the new clothes Nina had bought for me (another comfy sweater and jeans), and was now on my way to meet Charles in his office.

“Don’t be nervous,” Nina said as we rode the elevator to the second floor. “I know he seems harsh, but Director Adler is actually nice.”

I couldn’t stop myself from snorting. Loudly.

“No, he really is,” Nina said. “He’s just impatient for you to bring back his wife. That’s why he’s been yelling and stuff.” She fiddled with one of the bracelets on her wrist. “But after you bring her back, then he’ll be super nice, you’ll see. You’ll like him, too.”

I stared at her. How could someone be so delusional? “Nina, he kidnapped me. Brainwashed my family. Threatened me. Treated me like crap. I will never like him. And I don’t know why you like him, either. Why any of you do. I could tell from the moment I met him that he sucks.”

Her big eyes filled with tears. “That’s not true!”

“He stabbed Jonathan!” I exclaimed. “How is that nice?”

She mumbled something under her breath. I was fairly certain it was, “He deserved it.”

Whoa. So Nina did have a dark side to her, under all of that pink. Interesting…