INK: Vanishing Point (Book 2) (27 page)

“You’re kidding me.” I
jump from my chair.

“No, get over there now. She’s
asleep.”

“On my way.”

“Hey, Eli.” He stops me from
hanging up the phone.

“Yeah?”

“Be easy with her. She’s in
rough shape.”

“I will. I’ll call you when
I get her home.” I hang up and contemplate whether to tell them
where I’m going, but I see the smile on Carl’s face.

“Tell him on the way,” I say
to Carl as I head out the door.

Shay

Finally feeling rested, I have no idea
how long I’ve been asleep. I pick up the clock on the
nightstand. “Eight forty-five.” I gauge the light in the
room.
Okay, AM.

My muscles and body ache, and I’m
reminded of the beating I took with every move I make. I wince and
look down at my patch job. A little blood is coming through the
bandages. Nothing I can’t handle; well, maybe. Gingerly, I put
my feet on the floor, and the door creaks open. It startles me at
first, until the smell of fresh baked biscuits and scrambled eggs
fills my senses.

“Knock knock, Miss Shay.”
Angela has her back to me as she pushes through the door.

“It’s okay, Angela.” I
sit back down, and she brings the tray to me on the bed.

“You should eat,” she says,
unfolding a napkin.

“No worries there. Thank you.”
I’m so hungry I could’ve eaten the bed. But I know I need
to take it easy. Gravy, scrambled eggs with cheese, and yes, fresh
biscuits. “How did you know I was here?”

“I came in to dust and saw you in
the bed. I’ve taken your clothes. I was going to wash them, but
they really were not able to be saved.” She is looking at me
curiously. “When did you get here?”

“I don’t really know; most
of the last few days have been a mystery to me.” I’ve
always felt pretty close to Angela, she’s been around ever
since Aiden’s mom took off. I dip a biscuit in the gravy and
immediately am in heaven. “Oh God, Angela this is so good.”

“I’m glad you like it, Miss
Shay.” She smiles. “If you need anything, please let me
know.”

“Actually, yes I do need
something. Is Rodney here?” Rodney is my ticket home.

“Yes, would you like him to
prepare a car for you?” she asks.

“If he can just give me a ride to
my dad’s, then I can get my spare key and my car.”

“You know we still have the car
that Mr. Oliver wanted you to have. Mr. Bryce has left instructions
that it is yours whenever you want it.” She raises her
eyebrows.

Oliver wanted me to have it. I was
always so proud, never accepting any help from him when offered.
Never was anyone going to ever say I wanted to be with Aiden for his
money, I wouldn’t allow it. Angela told me after the funeral
how it broke his heart that I would never take his help. But now that
Aiden is gone, Oliver is gone and I’m still here. It is
technically my car, gifted to me after I graduated high school. In
this instant, I make up my mind. “Please have Rodney pull it
out of the garage. Oh, and please tell Uncle Bryce thank you.”
I’ll have to remember to send him a note.

“I will, Miss Shay.” She
smiles. “Will you be staying with us?”

The thought hadn’t occurred to me.
“You mean stay here?”

“Yes. You don’t think we
keep this house open just for Mr. Bryce. He’s here less than
Aiden is. We have instructions that if you or Eli ever have need of a
place to stay, you may stay here indefinitely.”

“Thanks Angela, but I could get
used to this, and that’s not a good idea.”

“The offer always stands;
remember, Oliver always thought of you as a daughter.” She
smiles as she backs out of the room.

Breakfast has given me a new lease on
life. What to do next? I need to get some clothes, I can’t very
well run around in Aiden’s forever, and I need to go into the
office and figure out where I’m going to stay. I could stay
here.

The thought rolls around in my head, but
honestly, it’s just a little too comfortable here. There’s
no way I can get past Aiden’s death if I’m constantly
breathing him in and surrounded by all of his memories. I’m
going to have to suck it up and go to my dad’s until my house
is livable again. That reminds me, I need to call the insurance
company and get that in motion.

Look at me. I’m a real grown-up
thinking about insurance companies and going to work. I suck in a
deep breath, only to be reminded of how sore my ribs are.

After I shower and put on a fresh set of
Aiden’s clothes, I’m ready to go. As though I’m
leaving here for the last time, I take a look around the room. There
are several pictures of Eli, Aiden and me in various states of
growing up. There’s a picture of just Aiden and me. A pain
drags through me, but it’s good. I’m feeling, and this is
real. My eyes fill with tears.

“I love you, Aiden.” I run
my fingers along a photo of us kissing while out on the boat.

The door opens, and Eli runs to me and
picks me up. “Shay!”

“Hey, whoa. Put me down.” I
push him away because of the soreness. Carl and McNab are close
behind.

“Oh, sorry.” Eli puts me
down. “Thank God you are okay.” He holds me at arm’s
length, inspecting me.

“I’m fine.” I back out
of his hold.

“You okay, kid?” McNab asks
with a head nod.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” I
return his silly nod and try hard to smile.

Carl stands stoically behind McNab with
an unreadable expression.

“How did you get here?” Eli
rapid-fires questions at me. “Why didn’t you call? What
the hell happened? Where were you?”

“Hold on. You need to slow down.”
I put my hands up in surrender.

“Give her a minute there, flyboy.”
McNab maneuvers around Eli to stand in front of me. “So, ah,
you wanna talk about it?” he asks.

“No, I don’t,” I say
simply, wishing I had a purse to sling over my shoulder. I’m
not ready to go into everything.

“I’d like to know where
you’re going.” McNab gives me this stern fatherly voice
laced with warning.

“McNab, this doesn’t suit
you,” I say and move around him.

“Shay, where are you going?”
Eli grabs my elbow and I see Carl shake his head subtly.

“Eli, let me go. I have some
things to take care of, like my life.” I pull free from him.

“We were really worried about you.
We still aren’t sure what happened. I didn’t know where
you were, and I was afraid…” Eli is a mess, but I just
can’t care about that right now. It could be a manipulation or
it could be sincere. Either way, it’s irrelevant to my plans.

“It’s sincere,” Carl
says quietly.

“Thanks, but I can handle this on
my own.” I give Carl a look of warning.
Get
the hell out of my head.

“I’m just trying to help.”
He looks down at his shoes.

“That’s all any of us are
trying to do is help.” McNab takes a step toward me. It looks
like he desperately wants to grab on to me to keep me from leaving.

“Shay, why don’t you just
come home with me for a while. Get some rest, and we can talk about
what happened,” Eli pleads.

“I’ve gotten all the rest I
need.” I resist the urge to wrap my arm around the pain in my
belly. “I have things to do.”

“Where are you so hell-bent on
going, kid?” McNab lays on the charm that so does
not
work on me. “Can’t it wait just one day?”

“No, it can’t. I’ve
been waiting my whole life based on someone else. Today is mine.”
I turn on my heel and walk out the door with the three stooges
following behind. Okay, Carl isn’t hot on my heels, but he’s
close behind McNab and Eli.

“Shay, I don’t think it’s
a good idea for you to be alone, and we have some things we really
need to discuss.” McNab is trying to convey some other message
to me, but the only message I’m sending is a simple one.

“No.”

“Angela, thank you so much for the
wonderful breakfast, it was exactly what the doctor ordered.” I
kiss her cheek on the way out the door. “I’d love to have
you read my tea leaves when I bring the car back.”

“We miss you; please come back.
But you should keep the car; that’s what Mr. Oliver wanted.”
She clasps my hands in hers.

“I didn’t say I was bringing
it
right
back.” I wink and head for the door.

Rodney is outside standing by the car.
“Hey, Shay.” He smiles. “Here it is. All you need
to do is contact Jason Eddins and he’ll get all of the
paperwork transferred over.”

“Whoa, I forgot how pretty it
was.” My eyes widen, and I feel a stream of power run through
me even though I haven’t even started the engine.

“Mr. Roth always listened.”
Rodney opens the door to the shiny black nineteen sixty-eight Camaro
Z/28. I think I just achieved an orgasm looking at it. I let out a
breathy moan.

“Yes he did, didn’t he?”
I slide into the driver’s seat of my dream car. There on the
dash are some big black sunglasses. I put them on.

“So you wouldn’t rather have
the Saab?” He smiles as I crank the engine.

“Please.” The sarcasm drips
off my tongue. “Thanks, Rodney.”

“Shay, I really have to insist
that we talk about this.” Eli leans down to the window. McNab
has already given up and is standing several paces behind Eli. “Shay,
you shouldn’t be alone right now. You need me.”

“Oh fuck no, you didn’t.”
I look up at him over my sunglasses. “I don’t need you, I
don’t need him.” I point to McNab, who returns an injured
look. “I don’t need anyone but little ol’ me.
There’s a new sheriff in town babe; get used to it.”

“What’s gotten into you?”
I’m a little affected by the hurt look in his eyes. God those
gorgeous blue orbs get me every time. But not this time, I resist.

“Call you later.” I pop up
quick and lick his nose, push the gear shift into first and let the
engine do the rest. I watch in the rearview as they all stand stunned
in the driveway. I throw my head back in laughter as I pull out onto
A1A and drive along the ocean.

***

Eli

“What the fuck was that?” I
can’t believe that just happened. I glare at Rodney, who’s
working to contain a laugh. He and Shay were buddies; he used to let
her help with Oliver’s project cars.

Carl is leaning against one of the
columns in front of the house disgusted, and McNab is just as shocked
as I am.

“I think that went well,”
Carl belts out, adjusting his sunglasses.

Rodney turns and heads back toward the
garage. “I’ve been telling you boys for years, that’s
one wildcat you’ll never really tame.”

“Thanks, Rodney.” Damn that
old man.

“Look, Eli. We knew there would be
a chance she was going to be…different.” McNab
hesitates. “And, well it could have been worse, don’t you
think?”

“But she’s not safe,”
I plead. They can’t be serious that they think this is okay.

“No she isn’t, but we can’t
help her if she doesn’t let us near her.” McNab walks
toward my car with Carl in tow. “We have to be careful how we
approach her. She’s going to need to talk about this soon. We
need to give her time.”

“Bullshit. What she did in there,
what she’s doing now, that isn’t her.” I slam my
fist on the roof of my car.

“Eli, this is the girl you never
got to know,” Rodney calls out. “Maybe it’s time
one of you boys smartened up and got to know her.” He continues
to mumble something, but I can’t hear him the further away he
gets.

“Interesting,” Carl remarks,
getting into the car.

“What’s interesting?”

“That you’ve known her the
longest and you’re the only one surprised at how she’s
behaving.” Carl raises his eyebrows.

“Thanks for the nugget of wisdom
Carl, but I’m worried about her.” I get in the car and
start the engine, contemplating whether I should try to catch up to
her.

“Not a good idea, man, She’s
got a lot of power beneath her. Let’s not give her a reason to
rabbit,” Carl warns.

“Carl’s right, Eli. Let’s
head back to your place and figure out what our next steps are.”
McNab states the obvious since we have no other choices.

Shay

Holy shit leaving them in the dust felt
amazing, and the car’s 427- V8 engine rumbles beneath me. This
car is so powerful, just like me. I am on a power high right now.
Having control of my life again feels good. I wonder if I can beat
Eli to his house and get my shit before he gets there. Ha! Of course
I can. I floor it on the green light and go straight to Eli’s.

Getting in is a snap; it’s not
like I don’t have the keycode to the garage door. No key
required. When I walk into the house, the first thing I notice is the
smell. It smells like the haunted forest, where Aiden was. It shakes
me up, but I push through it. I go to the bedroom to get my pack and
cell phone, and I’m met with a couple of guys that I’ve
never met and a freaky-ass mess of a disaster in here.

Both guys startle and get up from their
seats, moving away from me.

“Hey.” I smile and wave. I
don’t get what has them so spooked.

“Hey.” The taller of the two
waves back.

“I’m Shay.” This
little exchange is taking too long. “I wanted to grab my
backpack; have you seen it?”

“Eli’s office,” the
smaller one replies.

“Thanks.” I turn back toward
the door. “Hey, who are you guys?”

“I’m Pitch and this is
Quag.”

“Ah, so you are McNab’s
guys. What the hell happened in here?”

“You did.”

“Huh, really?” I look around
again before leaving the room for my stuff. “Catch you later.”

“God I hope not,” one of
them says. I can’t help but smile.
Ha,
I’m so harmless, but they don’t know that
.

In Eli’s office, my backpack is
sitting on the credenza with my phone next to it. Even better! Lucky
day! I head for the foyer and notice drawings on the coffee table.
The imagery is horrific. These look like my art style, and even look
like I did them, they aren’t mine. I know my own hand well
enough. Each image is more terrible than the last. I want to study
them all, specifically the one where I’m holding a sword, but I
know I don’t have time. I shove them in my bag and head out the
front door.