“So, where do you wanna do this thing, kiddo?” he asked.
Patti was busy with the drinks, but I knew she’d heard by the way her colors went haywire. I shrugged. I didn’t want to do “this thing” in front of Patti. She brought the glasses of tea over and set them on the table.
“You know,” she said, “I’m real tired, and I got a new book from the library yesterday, so I’ll just be in my room this afternoon. Why don’t y’all stay here, and I’ll be nearby if you need me. I can come out and make dinner later when you’re ready to take a break.”
I nodded my agreement. As long as she stayed back there, I could do it. Patti leaned down to kiss my cheek, and then headed back to her room.
“Stuff’s in the car.” He hitched a thumb toward the door.
I went out with him to help, even though he insisted he could get it himself. My eyeballs popped when I saw the layout in the backseat. All sorts of snack foods, along with bags and bags of bottles: beer, wine, liquor, juices, sodas, condiments like cherries and limes and olives. We hefted everything up the stairs.
I can’t believe I’m about to drink with my father. This was wrong on so many levels.
The drinks and ingredients that needed to be chilled were put in the fridge, and the rest were set out on the counters. I rubbed my arms, feeling jumpy inside. At least it wasn’t a buffet of drugs, because I would be a harried, frantic mess by now.
“Nothing wrong with having a drink, Anna.” He set out two shot glasses and I sat down in front of one while he poured something clear. I looked at the bottle. Rum. “We’re never told not to drink. Just warned against drunkenness. There’s a fine line between the two, and all we’re doing is trying to find yours. You’ll be drinking a lot of water and eating as we go. Should help you some.” He pushed my shot glass forward. Mine was not as full as his.
“I’ll need to see your colors to help me gauge your intoxication.”
I assumed it would be a relief to let down my mental guard, but I felt exposed and didn’t like the way my dad’s eyes squinched up when he saw my colors. I’d been trying not to think about Kaidan, but that only made me think of him more. My dad pinched the bridge of his nose. I was guessing he didn’t think dark pink passionate love had any business being in his little girl’s wardrobe of emotions. But he didn’t say anything about it—only let out a jagged sigh and began.
“Note the time. You’ll need to pay close attention to the time when you drink. You got a watch?” I shook my head, and he took his off, tossing it at me. “Use this one tonight, but get yourself one right away. It’s three twenty-five. Pick it up.” We both lifted our tiny glasses. “Drink the whole thing at once. Don’t try to sip it or take multiple swallows. And don’t you dare spit it out.”
Got it. No problem. I could do this. The liquid was clear, like water. A bubble of giddiness rose up inside me as I followed his lead, bringing it to my lips and tilting back my head.
Gah!
My entire face, mouth, and throat lit on fire as the gulp made its way down. I coughed and sputtered and smacked the table. My father laughed and clapped me on the back. I let out a sputtering breath and could not wipe the disgust from my face.
“Good job not spitting it out,” he said.
“That was terrible! Why would anyone purposely drink that?”
And then the warmth hit. It started in my chest, went down into my belly, and bloomed throughout my limbs.
“Oh.”
“Nice, huh?” he asked, but he wasn’t smiling anymore. He was studying me as I ran my eyes over the bottle of rum, then up to the counter where the other bottles stood in line, waiting for me.
“By the end of the night, you won’t flinch anymore. You’re gonna get mad at me at some point when I tell you no more, but I need you to learn to recognize that moment in yourself when one more drink will put you over the edge. Only you can control yourself, baby girl. For tonight I’m gonna whistle when you need to slow down and rein it in. Got it?”
“Got it. But I was wondering. Um, are we going to train with drugs, too?”
“You’re not gonna do drugs, Anna, ever.” Deadly conviction was in his voice. “There won’t be any buzz with drugs when it comes to you—you’ll pass Go and head straight to the equivalent of drunkenness. Only worse. I don’t plan for you to work at all, but you need to have some basic knowledge in case of some unforeseen circumstance. Now, are you ready to drink?”
I nodded my head and he frowned. It would appear I’d nodded with too much enthusiasm.
Nine hours, two pizzas, one fight, three instances of vomiting, a million whistles, tons of snacks, and countless drinks later, we learned that I could have one drink every eighteen minutes, or three in one hour. Absolutely no more. Even with my body’s ability to burn the alcohol, I was what my father deemed a “lightweight” or “cheap date.” If I were to drink on a regular basis my tolerance would increase, but for now we’d be conservative with our estimates.
I’d learned the recipes for the most popular cocktails. I knew I hated straight shots of anything except tequila. I was definitely a tequila girl. Wine soured my stomach. Beer was my safest bet.
There’d been another little scuffle between Patti and John Gray when she came out to make dinner. She’d been upset when he insisted we order pizza rather than making her cook. The kitchen was a disaster. But pizza was a luxury we never splurged on. When he pointed out that she was being proud, she crossed her arms and pouted, telling him to go ahead and order the “stinkin’ pizza” then.
I had a good buzz going at that point, but when I started giggling at their silly spat, Patti’s narrowed glare cleared my head pretty fast.
Throughout the night my dad asked a lot of questions about my life. He wanted to know every detail about Jay and the four Neph I’d met. He was especially interested in Kopano’s story.
“I never would’ve guessed Alocer had a soft spot. Makes you wonder...”
“Kind of funny, huh?” I’d said in a slur. “Most people try to hide bad stuff they do, but the Dukes have to try to hide good stuff.”
During my last bathroom break of the night, he brought in a purple-and-black book bag from the trunk of the rental car. It still had the tags on it.
“For you girls.” He set the bag on the couch between Patti and me. “Please take it with no arguing. And listen up. Anna, you need a watch, and you need to change your look. I expect you to get on that right away.”
I nodded, barely able to keep my eyes open.
“One last thing. I don’t think you gals should go to church anymore.”
I’d never thought about that. There was so much about my normal, daily life that reeked of nondemon.
“We can just do our own little thing here together,” Patti assured me, rubbing my back. The whole night had been an eye-opener for the two of us. We needed to make changes in order to keep up my facade and fly under the demons’ radar.
“Open it.” He crossed his arms and assumed the bouncer pose, nodding down to the book bag.
I unzipped it and Patti and I bonked heads trying to see what was inside. Then we stared up at each other, our faces inches apart. It was filled with stacks of cash. I knew Patti’s thoughts when her aura grayed. This was drug money. Dirty money. Blood money. My father knew our thoughts, too.
“Regardless of where it came from, that money’s in your possession now, and all you can do is be good stewards with what you’ve been given. For starters, I recommend getting a fireproof safe. You’ll find a new cell phone in the side pouch. It’s got my number in it. Call me if you need me. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer, but if I don’t, and it’s an emergency, just text me A-nine-one-one. It means ‘Anna emergency.’ Don’t leave a voice message or any detailed texts.”
I stood up and hugged his solid body, resting my cheek on the soft leather of his jacket. He ran his hand down my hair like he had the night before.
“When will I see you again?” I asked.
“I don’
t know. I’ll be on the go. Do me another favor?”
I pulled away and looked up at him.
“Check out the other side pouch of your bag,” he said.
I dug my hand into the small spot and pulled out a key attached to a big black key chain with buttons for locking and unlocking doors. My head jerked up to see his serious expression. Patti covered her mouth, saying nothing.
“No more boys taking you on trips, you hear?” His voice was gravelly. “You can take your own self from now on. Last thing you need is some boy distracting you and making this whole situation even more complicated. Promise me you’ll stay away from that son of Pharzuph.”
I opened my mouth but the words stuck in my dry throat. Hot sweat beaded up on my forehead.
“I tried that once, John,” Patti warned him. “It didn’t work out so well for me.”
“Have you seen the way he looks at her?” He focused on Patti, but pointed at me.
“Yes, and I’ve seen the way she looks at him. Truthfully, I think they need each other.”
“Those two need each other like a bullet needs a target. Trust me. I’ve seen Nephilim kids killed for falling in love and letting it get in the way of their work.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry, because we’re not in love,” I chimed in. “He doesn’t like me like that.”
Dad puffed out a breath of air. “Well, he must feel something, ’cause he sure doesn’t want that other kid near you.”
“Is there someone else you’re interested in?” Patti asked.
I rolled my colors back up, tucked them inside, and yanked the barrier back into place. Then I entertained the image of Kopano’s sweet dimple for a brief second before pushing it away.
“I’m not ready to think about that,” I answered.
My father tilted his head up to the ceiling and pressed his giant hands to his face, muffling his speech. “I’m way too old for this.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
BACK TO SCHOOL
When school started a week later, I knew it was going to be bad. Jay warned me that there’d been a lot of speculation and gossip over the summer about what happened between Scott and me at the party. But I had expected everyone to whisper behind my back at school. Not so much.
I wasn’t comfortable with the attention. It didn’t help that I’d donated fourteen inches of hair to Locks of Love, gotten platinum blond highlights, and had my eyebrows waxed.
Bobby Donaldson, varsity baseball pitcher and player extraordinaire, who’d never said a word to me in my life, approached me at my locker with one heck of a lusty red aura before school started.
“Hey, girl. How you doin’?”
“Um, fine?”
“I’m Bobby. Where you from?”
Annoyed, I closed my locker, swung the purple-and-black bag over my shoulder, and attempted to stuff long bangs behind my ear.
“I’m not new. You know me. Anna Whitt?”
His eyes ran across the features of my face.
“Hot daaay-um, for real?”
I forced my eyes not to roll back, and walked past him. He ran to catch up.
“So you hooked up with Scott?” he hollered over the din of excited first-day voices.
“No, I didn’t.”
I sped up, dodging other hall walkers, but Bobby stayed on my heels.
“’Cause it’s cool if you did. Hey, you wanna go out sometime?”
I stopped so abruptly he ran into a girl passing us.
“It’s just me, Bobby. I’m the same weird, prudish girl that you’ve been in youth group and science class with for the past three years and never talked to. All I did was go to a party and get a haircut.”
“I heard you aren’t such a prude anymore.”
And before I could give a lame comeback about how he’d heard wrong, he tweaked my cheek with his knuckle and headed for his own class. I swallowed down the bile in my throat and blinked back moisture building in my eyes. I was not going to cry because of Bobby. It didn’t matter what he thought. I went to first period.
By lunch it was clear that I hadn’t taken Jay’s warnings seriously enough. The rumors were out of control. I could ignore the stares and whispers, but I couldn’t pretend people weren’t cornering me for information. What happened with you and Scott? He says you’re making it up about the drugs. Did you really hook up with some guy in a band? I’m having a party this weekend; wanna come?
I told each one of them I didn’t want to talk about it.
I had one class with Scott, Spanish again. He sat on the other side of the room and never looked my way. Even Veronica avoided me, maybe too embarrassed about the BFF stuff. They were the only two people in school not interested in talking to me.
I thought I was unsociable in years past, but for the first few weeks of this year I was a recluse. I kept my eyes down and went straight home after school. No football games. No hanging at Jay’s house. And definitely no parties or clubs.
But despite how hard I tried to be invisible, all eyes were on me. Only one person was able to shake me into clarity.
Lena was a shy girl who worked hard and didn’t go out of her way to impress others—traits I appreciated. She usually hid her face behind a headful of shiny black curls and kept to herself.
Lena came into the bathroom after me between classes one morning. Afterward I realized she had followed me. Lena shuffled next to me, leaning into the mirror to check out her creamy skin, catching my eye. We both messed with our hair, and then she bent down to see whether there were any feet in the stalls before speaking.
“I...” She bit down as if mustering courage. “I heard about what Scott McCallister did to you.”
“Oh?” I continued to dig around for some pretend object, surprised she would stoop low enough to care about such gossip, and hoping she would drop it. I almost missed her next words, spoken softly.
“He did it to me, too.”
I tensed and looked up at her. “He did?”
“Well, kind of.” She shuffled her stance, eyeing the cracked wall tiles. “Last year at a party over Christmas break.”
So Kaidan was right. It hadn’t been a solitary incident. Lena’s light gray nervousness darkened with apprehension when I didn’t respond right away.
“I believe you, Lena.”
With that reassurance, her gray worries cleared into the sky blue of relief.
“Did he—” She stopped herself, but I knew what she wanted to ask.
“No,” I told her. “We were interrupted.”
She continued avoiding my eyes, adjusting the book-bag strap on her shoulder. “That’s good. Unfortunately we weren’t. He didn’t drug me. I mean, he talked me into taking it, but afterward he told me I came on too strong, and he didn’t like me that way. He was just trying to be nice.”
“Oh, my gosh, Lena. That’s...” I didn’t know what to say. She looked at me now.
“You’re the only person I’ve ever told. I just wanted you to know you’re not alone.”
“Thank you,” I said.
She nodded and rushed out the door. I stood there thinking for two minutes and received my first tardy ever.
Jay was shaking when he sat down next to me at the lunch table. Band and drama kids sat at the other end.
“Where’s your lunch?” I asked.
“I’m not eating.” His knee bounced as he glared around the cafeteria.
“What happened?” I pushed my tray away.
“Nothing.”
I moved closer, stomach turning. “No, tell me.”
“I have a feeling I’m gonna get suspended.”
“Why? What did you do?” I asked.
“Nothing yet.”
“Is it Scott?”
Jay nodded, mouth tightening at the mention of that name. “You should hear what he’s saying.”
“I don’t want to,” I told him. “He’s not worth getting into trouble over, Jay.”
“I don’t know about that. It might be worth it to
shut his mouth.”
I followed Jay’s hateful stare to where Scott stood next to a table of wrestlers, reenacting someone tripping and falling. The guys rewarded him with hearty laughs. I wondered how many girls he’d taken advantage of.
I couldn’t let him get away with it, even though I loathed the idea of confrontation.
“You should tell your scary-ass dad about Scott,” Jay muttered.
“He’d kill him,” I said.
“Exactly.”
I put a hand on his arm. “Listen to me, ’kay? I’m going to say something to Scott, but I need you to promise me you won’t interfere. Just stay over here or go somewhere else.”
Jay was quiet for a moment, rubbing his hands together.
“Jay.”
“Fine. I’ll stay here, but I’m watching.”
I stood up and dumped my tray, then set it on the cart. Scott had moved on to the next table and was sitting across from Veronica and Kristin Miller. I took a deep breath and approached him on unsteady legs.
“Can I talk to you?” I asked quietly, trying not to gain everyone’s attention. Blood thumped in my temples and throat. He eyeballed me up and down over his shoulder as if I’d been rolling around in a pigsty.
“Talk to me about what?” He stood and faced me, using his bulk to make me step back. “About how you’re sorry you lied about me to everyone when all I did was try to be nice to you?”
I took a breath before answering. “Please, Scott, let’s just go in the hall and talk alone.”
“I got nothin’ to hide!” He threw his arms out to the sides.
I had intended to speak with him privately, but if he wanted to make a public spectacle out of us, then so be it. I balled my fists.
“I’m not sorry, because I haven’t lied about anything and you know it,” I said. “I’m not the one spreading rumors.”
“As if I would have needed to drug you,” he said. The whole table was watching and listening now. “You were, like, desperate, hanging all over me.”
I tried not to let his ugliness seep into me. I had to keep my mind sharp. I angled myself away from the spectators, but it had gone silent around us as I responded.