Keep You From Harm (30 page)

Lucas stands and reaches down to help me up. Things are different between us now. I’ve never felt this close to another human being. It’s overwhelming, how strong my feelings are for him.

“I need to take off,” he says once we reach the main door. “If we’re going to leave tomorrow, I have some things to handle.”

“Do you think they’ll still let us graduate?” I ask.

“I just have one paper left to turn in. What about you?”

“I have my chemistry final next week,” I answer, feeling my shoulders slump. Lucas can still turn in his paper, but I’m not sure what missing a final will mean.

“Talk to your teacher,” he says. “See what you can do.”

I nod. I have no other choice.

The heavy school door swings open, nearly hitting me. Chad pushes his way out, smacking a cigarette pack against the palm of his hand.

“Watch it, asshole,” Lucas scowls at him.

Chad stops and turns to him. “What did you say?” he asks, narrowing his eyes.

“You heard me,” Lucas replies aggressively, looking too pleased at this unexpected opportunity to challenge Chad.

Then Chad notices me standing there. His gaze shifts between Lucas and me before something occurs to him. “Hey,” he says to both of us. “You didn’t get into it with Rob again, did you?”

Lucas and I glance at each other. “No, why?” I ask.

“Because the little shit disappeared. He didn’t show up for practice this week. He isn’t answering his phone. We’ve got a gig on Saturday and he fucking fell into a hole or something.”

My muscles fill with tension as I hear Lucas answer. “We haven’t seen him.”

Chad withdraws a cigarette and lights it. “I’m gonna kick his ass when he turns up.” Then he moves past us muttering angrily, his annoyance with Lucas forgotten.

“He ran,” Lucas says once Chad is out of earshot.

“Maybe.” I pull out my phone. “I’m calling the police to see if they have him.”

I scroll through my list of recent calls, find Detective Brady’s number, and dial while walking around to the side of the building for privacy. I feel Lucas move beside me as I lean back against the warm concrete. When his line rings for the fourth time, Brady abruptly picks up and gruffly says his name, startling me with his tone.

“Um, hi. This is Raielle Blackwood.” I glance at Lucas. His eyes are intent on me.

“Oh, Raielle,” Brady says. “What can I do for you?”

“I just heard one of Rob Jarvis’s friends say that he’s disappeared. I was wondering if you’ve arrested him.”

He sighs into the phone. “We got a match on some DNA found in your apartment. We can put him there now. We could make an arrest, but we’re having trouble finding him.”

I close my eyes. “So, he did run.” I feel the weight of Lucas’s hand on my shoulder.

“Looks that way. We had some uniforms watching him. So, I’m not sure how he did it. But we’ll get him.”

I open my eyes and squint against the brightness of the sun. “What if you can’t find him?”

“We will,” he replies. His voice is tight and clipped, filled with the confidence of authority. “In the meantime, we’re going to have to talk to your brother. We need to know more about his father’s relationship with your mother.”

I shoot a worried glance at Lucas. “I told you. Kyle doesn’t know anything. He wasn’t involved.”

“We have to talk to everyone, Raielle,” Detective Brady says.

I push off the wall, wondering if Kyle would ever tell the police about my healing power, and if he did tell them, would they believe it? Maybe I’ve been fooling myself thinking the police would be able to get justice for my mother. They’ll either have no motive if everyone keeps my secret or they’ll have a motive that’s simply ludicrous to them.

Brady tells me goodbye and ends the call. But I still stand there, holding the phone to my ear.

“This doesn’t change anything for us,” Lucas says, squeezing my shoulder to draw my attention. “We still need to leave now.”

I put the silent phone away, thinking about Kyle and Penelope, and imagining the police arriving at the house. Then I picture the foundation of their happy home crumbling beneath them. “Maybe we could wait a day or two?” I suggest, barely finishing the sentence before his jaw sets stubbornly.

“No.”

“This feels like running away now,” I protest.

He brings his face close to mine. “This is running to something, Ray. This is fighting for your future. You seem to think your life isn’t as important as everyone else’s.”

I look into his stormy eyes, and I’m afraid he’s right. When nobody gives a shit about you for most of your life, you begin to believe the hype, or lack of it. But that’s not the case anymore. I know I need to fight. I owe it to both Lucas and myself. I want a future with him more than anything. “Get the tickets,” I tell him.

My answer seems to satisfy him. “You go talk to your chemistry teacher. I’ll come by your house later after school, and we’ll figure out what we’re going to tell our families about our trip.”

Then he pulls me into his arms and gives me a scorching kiss. It takes me by surprise. It’s overwhelming, the way his mouth is suddenly devouring mine. This kiss is filled with desperation and laced with promise. He won’t say that he’s afraid of losing me, but his kiss is telling me it’s true. When he finally breaks away, we’re both breathless.

He takes my hand and releases it slowly as he turns away and walks toward the parking lot.

I
walk out of school with a heavy heart. I waited until Gwen left the classroom. Then I told my chemistry teacher I had to go back to California to deal with some family issues. He told me he’d be happy to accommodate me with a make-up test or even a take home exam after speaking with my parents. But I don’t yet know what I’m going to tell Kyle about my leaving. So, that may not be a viable option.

It’s early afternoon, and I beat everyone home. I head downstairs to begin organizing my things. I can’t believe that after all these years of making school my number one priority, I’m going to miss the last couple of weeks and possibly not graduate. My UCLA acceptance is dependent upon my obtaining my high school diploma.

I can feel my pulse speeding up, and I close my eyes, putting a stop to my panic, deciding to handle one crisis at a time. Trying to get well needs to be my priority now. If I can’t manage that, nothing else is going to matter.

I sit down on my bed and rub my hand. It feels so strange, like it doesn’t belong to the rest of my arm. I use it to carefully pick up my copy of
Jane Eyre
, which sits on my night stand, and I place it beside the other items I’ve gathered.

When the doorbell rings, my heart flutters figuring it must be Lucas. I’m dismayed as the exhaustion that’s my constant companion forces me to trudge slowly up the stairs. I pull open the front door and stand frozen in place. I’m stunned by who I see there.

“Aren’t you gonna let me in?” Apollo asks.

He shaved his goatee, and his hair is longer, but he’s still skinny as a rail in his too-tight jeans and black button down shirt.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, wide-eyed when he steps past me into the house.

I stare up at his six foot six frame. He glances around, checking the place out, before turning back to me again. “Sorry about your mom,” he says.

His comment throws me, sending me back to that terrible moment. “Your door was open. Were you there that day?”

“No. I wasn’t around,” he offers dismissively, liked he missed the bus instead of my mother’s murder. “Congratulations on UCLA by the way.” He smiles without any humor, and his fleshless face reminds me of a grinning Halloween skeleton.

“Thanks,” I reply hesitantly, remembering his prickly personality and how carefully I used to tread around it. “Thank you for sending it to me.”

He shrugs like it was nothing. Then he places his large hands on his narrow hips. “Your father sent me to get you.”

I blink in surprise. “What?”

“You heard me. He knows you’ve been looking for him. He knows,” Apollo pauses, “you’re not well. He wants to try to help you.”

“How do you know my father?”

One side of his mouth lifts. “Me and him. We go way back.”

I stare at him confused, my mind reeling. “What do you mean? Did you know him when we lived above you?”

He tilts his head at me and raises skeptical eyebrows, indicating how stupid he thinks my question is.

My blood runs cold. Does this mean my father was keeping tabs on us?

Apollo can see my questions building up. “Look, I know you’re on your way to find him, and he’s saving you the trouble. We don’t have time for chit-chat. I’ll answer all your questions later. Now go pack a bag. The woman and her kid will be back in less than half an hour. We need to be gone by then.” He stands staring at me, and his booted toe begins to tap.

I don’t understand any of this. I cross my arms and stare down my nose at him. “I’m not going to just leave with you.”

Apollo remains silent.

“I need to talk to my boyfriend before I agree to anything,” I insist, hating that I’m using that word for the first time with Apollo of all people.

He only blinks at me.

His calm is fueling my anger. “Apollo!” I scream in frustration.

He takes two long strides toward me and bends down so that his nose is only inches from mine. “Your boyfriend. That’s the kid whose been phoning all over LA looking for Rainard Blackwood.” He chuckles. “That was never really your daddy’s name. That’s why he let your mother keep it. You need to forget about him. And we need to get moving. You have ten minutes to pack or you’ll have to leave with nothing.”

His words slowly sink in. We didn’t even have the right name. We were never going to find him on our own, but I still don’t move. “I’m not going to forget about him, and I’m not leaving without him.”

He squints at me and shakes his head. “What? You think you love him?”

“I do love him.”

“Well, that’s too bad,” he frowns.

“Why is that?”

“Because he can’t come with us.”

“Then I can’t come with you.”

His cool doesn’t melt at all. “What happened to you, Raielle? The girl I knew wouldn’t let herself get attached to a goddamned puppy dog, never mind some high school boy. You’ve changed, kid.”

He’s right, and I know why. “I’ve found my family, Apollo.” And I’m including Lucas in that category.

He nods. “Yeah. You’ve found some of them. But your daddy is your family, too. If you want to be cured of this thing you’ve given yourself, he’s the only family that counts right now. His condition for helping you is that you disappear quietly. You can’t tell anyone, and you can’t bring anyone with you. Now, you can come with me or not. It’s up to you. But we both know your chances aren’t real good without his help. In fact, I’d say they’re pretty fucking dismal.”

I clench my jaw in frustration. “Why is my father doing this? He’s never bothered with me before. Does he even care if I live or die?”

Apollo lowers his dark gaze to mine. “He’s does care. That’s why I’m here. He’s been staying away to protect you. To keep you out of his life so you could try to have a normal one. There are people out there who would come after you if they knew you were his daughter. Dangerous people, Raielle. I’m the only way you’re going to get to him.”

I don’t know what to think. Am I supposed to believe everything Apollo is telling me and just go with him? “How long would we be gone?” I ask.

He hesitates before answering. “I don’t know.”

I balk at that.

He shakes his head at my reaction. “You need to trust me. Have I ever lied to you?”

“No,” I concede. “But you sure left a lot of shit out, didn’t you?”

He seems amused by my comment. But he soon grows serious again. “Do you think your brother or your boyfriend would want you to pass up a chance to be cured?”

We both know how I’ll answer that question. So, I don’t bother. I tilt my head at him instead. “Let’s say I do go with you, and my father cures me. How will he do it? Will he transfer this disease into someone else? If that’s the best he can do, I’m not interested anyway,” I toss out at him with more bravado than I feel.

He chuckles at my statement, like my sudden spunk is amusing to him. “To be honest, I’ve got no clue how that shit works. I’ve never wanted anything to do with it. The only way to know that is to come with me.”

I study him, but I’m not sure if he’s telling the truth or not. “If I don’t like what I see when I get there, then what? I’m free to go? I can come back here?”

Apollo’s dark eyes watch me. “No, probably not,” he says bluntly. “Once I bring you to him, people will eventually figure out who you are. After that, you’ll need stay to close. You’ll be under his protection. Coming back here would be putting yourself and anyone you care about at risk.”

“Under his protection?” I laugh. “Who does he think he is the mafia or something? What does that even mean? Will he lock me away somewhere? Why on earth would I agree to that?”

A small smile curves his lips. “No, that’s not what it means. You’ve always been under his protection. Do you think you’ve stayed safe all these years because you’re lucky? You’ve lived with drunks and abusers. You’ve been surrounded by thieves and junkies. How many times have you walked home alone at night through some pretty dicey neighborhoods? Yet, not a hair on your head has ever been harmed. You must think you’re the luckiest damn girl in the world.”

As I stare at him, I nearly forget to breathe. My chest feels tight as my gaze lands on the floor. The truth of what he’s saying is too obvious to doubt. I did think I was lucky. But he’s right. No one is that lucky. My father has been protecting me all along.

“This was going to happen eventually,” he says. “Your daddy’s been hoping to meet you for a long time. If he can cure you, what you do after that isn’t up to me. I can’t make you any promises about what comes next. I can only tell you that if you don’t come with me, you have no future with your boyfriend or anyone else. If this boyfriend really cares about you, I’m sure he wouldn’t want that.”

Apollo’s point is too sharp to dismiss, and I actually start to consider leaving with him. But if I do, Lucas won’t understand. He’s going to despise me for disappearing like this without a word. He’s never been confident of my feelings for him, and I know that’s my fault. But if I stay here and risk my life for more time with him, he’ll blame himself for my fate. I know he won’t be able to live with that, and I could never put that burden on him.

I look up at Apollo, finally understanding what’s happening, and it feels like all the air has been sucked out of the room. If I don’t want this disease to kill me, I have to go with him. If I choose to go with him, I have to walk away from Lucas without saying goodbye and without explaining anything. I don’t know how long it will be before I can see him. If my father can’t cure me, I may never feel his arms around me again. Only a few months ago, I didn’t even know Lucas, and now I feel like he’s a part of me. He thinks I’m his ray of sunshine, but somehow, without my even acknowledging it until this moment, he’s become my center. All my strength is sourced from the love he gives me. I hold my hands up to my mouth as the reality of my situation barrels into me, flaying me to the bone.