Winter (Four Seasons #1) (20 page)

“
Please don’t.
This is bad enough already. No, Morgan, don’t!” But she isn’t
listening. She gets up and rifles through the bag she had at the
hospital until she finds her cell phone. She plugs it into the
power outlet and switches it on. Before she can dial in Noah’s
number, alerts start chiming in her hand. I lose count after
five.

“
What is it?”
I ask, holding my breath. Morgan frowns as she scrolls through the
messages on her phone, her expression growing angrier and angrier
as the seconds stretch out. “Morgan!”

“
It’s…” She
closes her eyes and shakes her head. “It’s the girls from Upsilon.
They want to know if it’s true. Apparently there are posters up all
over campus, and a couple of girls were handing out flyers on the
street.”

People were
handing out flyers? My heart starts pounding in my chest.
People were handing out flyers.
They’d done that at high school before the
teachers put a stop to it, but the damage was already done. And now
it’s happening here, too. I stagger to my feet and race across the
room to bend over Morgan’s trashcan before I start throwing up. I
don’t stop for what feels like forever.

“
I’m going to
find out who those bitches are and destroy them,” Morgan growls as
she rubs her hand up and down my back. “Hang in there, chica. This
will all get sorted out. Melissa, hey, where are these
girls?”

I groan and
rock back onto my heels. Morgan is nodding her head while pulling
on her shoes. This—a confrontation—is unlikely to score her any
points with the administration after her recent absence. “Morgan,
don’t make a scene.”

“
It’s about
time someone made a fucking scene. This isn’t your fault. They
don’t have the right to do this to you, Avery. This is five years
past due.” She storms out of the apartment and leaves me there
bowed over the trashcan, shaking so violently I can hardly keep
myself upright. My phone starts ringing while she’s gone but I
ignore it. Morgan comes back twenty minutes later shaking out her
hand. She’s too furious to speak at first, but eventually her rage
dissipates.

“
They were in
our building. They were in our fucking building! They’ve been
kicked out now, don’t worry. I can’t believe they’d go to all this
effort just to make your life miserable.”

I can totally
believe it. “What did they look like?” My voice is monotone,
betraying how hollow I feel.

“
Both prissy,
stuck up bitches. One of them was called Casey. I didn’t catch the
other one’s name. She had short blonde hair.”

“
Maggie,” I
say. “Maggie Bright. Her father was one of the men who…”
my dad killed.
God, I
can’t bring myself to say it. Maggie was the person responsible for
my nickname back in Breakwater; it can only be her. She’s a hundred
different kinds of vindictive, so storming the building where I now
live totally fits her M.O. But Casey? Why the hell has she gotten
involved? “I know them both. The blonde went to my high school, and
Casey is Luke’s ex. I ran into her outside his apartment the other
week. He called me Avery. That must be how she figured out I was
here.”

Morgan raises
her eyebrows. “The one with the black hair is Luke’s ex? She was a
super bitch. Should have seen her face when I knocked her on her
ass.”

“
You knocked
her…ugh, Morgan, hand me my phone.”

She passes it
to me and I prop myself up against the wall. It takes ten seconds
to dial Luke’s cell, but he doesn’t pick up. He isn’t at work. He
said on Friday he has three days off. My mind instantly goes blank.
I’d had one natural reaction as soon as I read Noah’s text, and
that was to run. And the only person I feel comfortable running to
isn’t picking up his phone. I slip it back into my pocket and look
up at Morgan.

“
Can I borrow
the Jeep? I have to get out of here.”

“
Where are you
going?”

“
I don’t know,
I just…I have to get away.”

A troubled
frown pushes Morgan’s brows together. “There’s quite a crowd out
there, Ave. It’s probably not a good idea. I could go and get the
car and drive around. You wouldn’t have to walk through them all
that way.”

I nod my head
and get to my feet. “I’ll need some stuff from my place. I can’t
stay here tonight.”

“
Forget that,
babe. I’ll come back and grab some stuff for you later. Let’s just
get you someplace else first.” She snatches up her keys and dodges
out of the apartment, and I hover by the window, trying to work out
if the gathering on the street has anything to do with me. The
people, hunched over against the cold, all wrapped in hats and
scarves, beeline for Morgan as soon as she appears, answering that
question for me. Of course they’re there because of me. They’re
either there to demand answers or hurl abuse, and from past
experience I’m leaning towards abuse. It takes a while for Morgan
to collect the Jeep from the parking garage. I see her turn onto
the street and decide it’s time to make a run for it.

No people in
the hallways. That’s a blessed relief, but when I get to the bottom
of the stairs, my heart hammering in my chest, I realize they
aren’t loitering inside like usual because everyone is outside on
the street. And Casey and Maggie are waiting there for me.
Everyone’s gaze follows the Jeep as Morgan pulls up out front, but
not Casey. Oh no, she spots me as soon as I step foot out of the
security door. Her cheeks are flushed from the cold and her eyes
are bright, excited. It takes me a second to figure out why her
lips are so red, but then I see that the bottom one is split and
swollen. Morgan’s handiwork. I jog forward just as she starts
walking over, twenty other people hot on her heels.

“
Iris! Hey,
Iris!” she calls, her arms pumping back and forth as she hurries to
reach me before I can climb in the passenger seat of the Jeep.
“They say schizophrenia’s hereditary, y’know. Your dad had to have
been out of his mind to butcher those girls the way he did.” She
gets to the car before me and steps in front of the door. The rest
of the crowd isn’t far behind her. They circle around me so I have
nowhere to go.

“
Just let me
by, Casey.”

She sneers in
a way that makes her instantly hideous. “No way. The people here
have a right to know who’s living amongst them.”

“
She’s right.”
Maggie appears at Casey’s side. When I left Breakwater, I’d tricked
myself into believing I’d never have to tolerate her hate-filled
expression burning into me again. I was wrong. The pure aggression
on her face is practically breathtaking.

“
Good to see
you again, Breslin. Tell me, have you started hearing the voices
yet? How long will it be before you follow in Daddy’s footsteps?
How long before you start killing people?”

A rumble of
murmured chatter ripples around the people standing behind me.
They’re listening to her—Maggie Bright is insinuating that I’m
going to become a murderer and they’re
believing
her.

Morgan revs
the Jeep’s engine and people scatter from in front of the car. A
string of cars are forming behind Morgan’s parked vehicle, all
leaning on their horns, growing angrier and angrier by the second.
I step forward and Maggie mirrors me, blocking my way. “You’re
sick, you know that? You’d have to be with a father who’d kill
indiscriminately like your dad did.
My
dad was about to get married
again. He was happy for the first time since I could remember, and
your dad killed him. Just shot him in the back of the
head.”

“
Let me by,
Maggie.”

She steps
forward and shoves me by the shoulders, making me stumble back away
from the car. “No! I won’t let you by. I’m going to be there
whenever you try and build something good for yourself. I’m going
to be there to tear it all down and make sure people know who you
really are.”

“
I’m not my
father,” I mutter, trying to dodge around her. Her hand whips out
and slaps me, hard. I stagger back and clutch both hands to my
cheek, not quite believing that she’s struck me in front of
everyone. This is hardly the first time Maggie has raised her hand
to hurt me, but we were always alone when she did it in high
school. I gasp in a shocked breath and focus, just in time to see
Morgan flying around the car.

“
You
did
not
just slap
my friend!” she yells.

“
Back off,
psycho. This has nothing to do with you.”

It’s not until
Maggie’s on the ground that I realize what has happened. Morgan
kicks out at the back of Maggie’s legs, causing her to crumple, and
then she proceeds to pound her fist into the blonde girl’s
face.

“
Morgan, stop!
It’s not worth it!”

Casey starts
yelling and launches herself at Morgan, and then the next thing I
know I have my arm locked around her throat, pulling her backwards.
I’ve never fought back before. Some sick part of me always felt
like I deserved everything I had gotten back at Breakwater, but
this is different. There’s no way I’m going to let anyone hurt
Morgan.

A scandalized
cheer goes up from the people gathered around watching, passers by
all stopping to rubberneck the throw down on an Upper Manhattan
street. I tumble backwards onto the dirty concrete, dragging Casey
with me. Her legs flail as she thrusts back with her elbows trying
to dig me in the ribs. A winded rasp rattles out of me when she
finally contacts, forcing the air from my lungs. My grip around her
neck slackens and gives her time to wriggle free, but not before
lashing backwards one more time. Pain explodes in my head. I grasp
my hands to my face, not sure if my right eye or my nose hurts
more. The bright red color pouring between my fingers clues me into
the fact that she’s broken my nose.

Morgan lets
out an enraged shriek and starts swearing like a banshee, and I
hear Casey start crying. She sounds pitiful, completely different
to the vitriol that was fueling her two seconds ago. “Oh, thank god
you’re here. She just went mad. She’s an animal, Luke.”

Luke?

My eyes fly
open to see him standing between me and Casey. He’s actually there
in his uniform, the muscles in his neck working overtime. He shoots
me a hard look where I’m laying on the concrete and steps towards
Casey, and for a second I think he’s going to take her into his
arms.

“
I saw what
happened, Case. Don’t even think about lying. And you…” He thrusts
a finger in Maggie’s face, causing her to shrink back. “You’ve
earned yourself the pleasure of a ride back to the station. In
fact, both of you have. Come on.” Maggie’s jaw falls open, but her
shocked expression has nothing on Casey’s look of
horror.

“
You can’t be
serious?” she whispers.

“
As a heart
attack.” Luke narrows his eyes and grabs hold of her arm. She’s too
dazed to protest as he efficiently cuffs her and reads her the
Miranda rights. A tall Indian officer I haven’t seen before deals
with Maggie, making sure she responds when he asks her if she
understands the script he rattles off to her. She’s glowering at
me, bleeding from her temple as she spits out a hard yes. Both the
girls are ushered into the back of the cruiser blocking Morgan’s
Jeep in, and then Luke is in front of me.

“
Need some
help?” he asks quietly. I stare at the gloved hand he’s offering me
and shake my head, pushing off the floor to get to my
feet.

“
I can
manage.” I dust the snow off my butt, feeling humiliated and
pathetic as I say, “Why are you working? ”

“
I got called
in this morning. You need to go to the hospital. Do you want me to
come?”

“
No.” I wince
when he reaches out and carefully touches the bridge of my
nose.

“
I’ll go with
her,” Morgan says, threading her arm through mine. She’s drenched
down one side from scrabbling in the rotten snow with Maggie, and a
deep gash marks her forehead. The sight of her blood makes me feel
terrible. She’s hurt because of me.

Luke purses
his lips and lifts my face with his hand. “Here.” He produces
something from his pocket and presses it into my hands. “You’ll
need to come down to the station to give a statement, but I’ll
schedule that for another day. I’ll be finished in two hours. Don’t
go anywhere. I want to talk to you.”

I look down at
the keys to his apartment and slip them into my coat pocket, not
even bothering to argue with him. “I tried calling you,” I
whisper.

“
I know. I was
already on my way.” He casts a disgusted glance at the back seat of
his cruiser, where Casey’s pale face stares out of the window. She
looks wild. “She texted me and told me she was coming here. I knew
there’d be trouble.” He carefully reaches out and tucks a piece of
my hair behind my ear. “I’m always gonna come running, Beautiful.
Whenever you need me. Don’t doubt it.”

The traffic
build up has reached epic proportions, people in taxis and sedans
leaning out of their windows to scream obscenities down the road.
The Indian officer accompanying Luke gives a low whistle. “Hey man,
we should go.”