Spiral (Spiral Series) (9 page)

“Why would he be going?” I asked dangerously, glaring at Jar.

My friend held up his hands in mock surrender. “Hey man, don’t shoot the messenger.”

I scowled. “Sorry, but that’s ridiculous. He’s friends with your sister.” I tried not to spit out the words, but Gretchen just provoked rage in me.

“I’m friends with my sister, too,” Jar pointed out.

“No,” I argued as I started to pick up the mess I had just made. “You’re related to her. Nothing to be done about it. That’s different. Stop avoiding my question. WHY is Eric going?”

“He’s going,” said Jar, “because you just said you’ll need all the help you can get. He’s experienced and he can blend in with humans. He’ll take care of things while you do the whole pretending to be a student bit. He’s necessary. You need a Watchful, too. Sometimes you forget how important you are to the Silves.”

“I’ve never forgotten,” I said bitterly. “I just don’t care.”

I was seething. “He’s going to mess everything up. He’s never been in favor of our protecting Natalie. He’s just going to cause trouble.”

“I don’t need to be in favor of it to do a good job,” said a light male voice from behind Jar. A tall man with bright red hair, freckles, and gray eyes stepped into the room. He looked to be about forty.

“I’m going to pretend to be your uncle,” Eric explained. “We live together and I take care of things while you go to school. It will be almost like it is now, except that you’ll actually have to listen to me. Someone has to try and control you. You’ve been allowed to run wild for years.”

“No chance,” I said. “That will never happen and it’s not your place to speak of how I was raised.” As my Watchful he wasn’t in charge of me, he was hired to protect me. But Eric didn’t understand the difference.

Eric’s face soured, even though he had surely been expecting a response like that.

“Look, I don’t like this any more than you do,” he said, “but we might as well make the best of it and try to keep her safe. Isn’t that what everyone wants?”

“Since when is that what you want?” I demanded. Jar had moved into the room and was lounging on a chair. Jar could have been a professional lounger if there had been such a thing.

Eric’s eyes got colder and he straightened his shoulders. “I will do and have always been prepared to do whatever it takes to keep the Silves safe. Do not question my loyalty to the unicorns,” he snapped. Before I could reply, he spun on his heel and disappeared down the hallway, calling over his shoulder, “I expect to see you at the car in five minutes.”

Jar slid further into the chair, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head.

I grinned at my friend, shaking my head in amusement, then took a deep breath and finished packing. Jar knew that the moment Eric had disappeared from view I had forgotten about him, because I didn’t really care in the first place.

Jar shrugged. “There’s a mountain of things that could go wrong. I hope none do, but it’s nearly impossible to think that none of them will.”

I looked at my friend and shrugged. He knew there was nothing I could do. He sighed wearily. “This is going to be an interesting spring, that’s for sure.”

I had just invited Andrew to dinner with three girls. Under normal circumstances I would have thought it made total sense that a hot guy would want to go out to dinner with three girls, but these three girls happened to be his stepsister and her super-sarcastic friends. I just hoped Jill didn’t say anything awful, but then again, Jill wasn’t happy unless she was saying something shocking.

I did as my dad suggested and spent the day unpacking. Not only was I tired of the clutter of boxes around the house, but the work was relaxing. While I cleaned I blasted classic rock, daydreaming of beach days with Jackson. As I worked, the tension in my shoulders and back slowly slipped away. When my dad and Olivia finally came home I was all ready for dinner, so I barely had time to say hi to them before heading out. Andrew had come back to shower and change before the two of us headed out for the evening, and he was ready too.

“It’s probably good that our parents get some alone time,” Andrew commented as we walked to his truck. “Between how busy they’ve been since the wedding and the fact that you and I are on break, they’ve hardly had any time to themselves.”

I realized that the biggest thing Andrew and I had in common was wanting our parents to be happy, that Olivia’s being happy was just as important to Andrew as my dad’s being happy was to me. I told him I couldn’t agree more.

“So, where are we going?” Andrew asked as we pulled down the driveway. He drove like he did everything else, smoothly and without effort. I found myself wondering if anything ever came hard to him. Had he ever been teased for looking weird, or acting weird? I bet not.

“Pizza place,” I said. There was only one and I knew Andrew went there all the time.

“Awesome,” said Andrew. He rubbed his stomach. “I love pizza.”

When we got there, Jill and Maxie were already waiting. When I saw them I remembered that I hadn’t warned them that Andrew was coming. Jill wore a jean dress and combat boots, her I-don’t-give-a-shit-what-you-think-of-me look, while Maxie couldn’t have looked more different. She had pigtails with pink highlights in them and a floral-patterned dress that barely came down past mid-hip. To complete the effect, rainbow-rimmed glasses that she didn’t actually need framed her brown eyes.

Maxie gave a pleasant wave, flashing her bright purple nail polish for everyone to see, while Jill sort of raised her hand and then let it drop in a half-hearted salute. I grinned and hopped out of the truck.

“What’s he doing here?” Jill muttered as I approached. “How are we going to talk about the incredibly hot guy at the romance slam with a guy here?” Jill’s black hair framed bright green eyes and a sprinkling of freckles across her nose. She was naturally pale and seemed even more so because she always refused to go out in the sun. If she had to be outside, she made sure to wear a cover-up and a mountain of sunscreen.

“I invited him,” I muttered back. I had known Jill would be difficult. She hated small talk and being friendly. She had once said that being mean was easier, because if you were mean the person left you alone and you only had to deal with them once.

Jill eyed Andrew suspiciously, as if he was some alien invader.

“You know he hangs out in the popular crowd?” she asked, like this should have been all I needed to know. “Casey and them. . . ?”

“He’s nice,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Give him a chance. Just because he plays sports doesn’t mean he’s a bad person.”

“You’re right. I’m sure we’ll find plenty of other reasons why he’s a bad person,” Jill grumbled.

“Nah,” said Maxie, beaming. “He’s always been really nice for an athlete.”

“Thank you, Maxie. And Jill, you might like him,” I argued, unwilling to make Andrew leave.

“I might be the Queen of England too,” said Jill. “I hide the crown under my dress.”

“I can tell everyone’s happy to see me,” said Andrew. I was relieved to see that he was grinning. Jill snorted and Maxie grinned.

“I’m happy to see you,” Maxie said, skipping forward. “We could use some new blood in our little group.”

“New male blood apparently,” Jill said.

“Glad you noticed,” said Andrew, grinning back.

“Are you glad?” she asked dryly.

“You have no idea,” said Andrew, beaming. His easy banter must have disarmed Jill, because she shut up for a few minutes. We headed into the restaurant, and since it was early we got seats right away. By the end of the night this place was usually packed.

“She grows on you,” I said to Andrew, glaring at Jill.

“Like fungus,” said Maxie.

Before Jill could punch her in the arm Maxie skipped ahead of us. “Why do you have to skip everywhere?” Jill asked, eyeing our friend.

“It elongates my legs, shows them to my best advantage. Duh,” said Maxie over her shoulder.

Once we were at a table Maxie started in immediately. “So, I’ve waited long enough. It’s time to talk about Pierce.” She had obviously been bursting to talk about him all day, and even having Andrew there wasn’t going to stop her. “Talk about gorgeous.”

“Who’s Pierce?” asked Andrew once he had finished ordering a whole pizza for himself. Maxie and I agreed to split a cheese pizza and Jill got a soup and salad.

“The guy in love with Natalie,” said Maxie proudly.

Andrew raised his eyebrows at me and I blushed. “Not me,” I muttered. “She doesn’t mean me.”

“I can see how someone would fall in love with you,” he said. “You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met.”

Jill guffawed. “You clearly need to spend more time with her.”

“I was sort of hoping to spend more time with all of you,” said Andrew. For the second time that night Jill was rendered speechless.

Returning to what was important, Maxie said, “I bet Pierce is in love with you. He couldn’t take his eyes off you all night.”

“Yeah, he was definitely looking at you more than at anyone else,” Jill confirmed. She had ended up sitting next to Andrew, but had scooted as far from him as possible. Andrew was acting like he hadn’t noticed.

“But who is he?” Andrew insisted, still not getting an explanation from any of the banter.

“Maxie doesn’t care as long as he’s hot,” said Jill, smirking.

Maxie took a deep breath, as if she was about to answer a question in class, and started to answer Andrew, ignoring Jill’s jab. “We went to that romance slam last night that Mrs. Tiger helped put on, and he was there and he told his story. It was SO sad. I’m pretty sure Nat and Jill were the only two hard-hearted ones in the house who didn’t cry,” she explained. “And the short version is that he’s in love with this girl named Natalie and he wants her back. He loved her when they were little and now he wants to find her and make sure she’s okay. Isn’t that the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard?”

“Yeah, it’s up there with I can’t live without you,” said Andrew.

“We should have asked him if you were his Natalie,” said Jill. “Missed opportunity there.”

I took a long sip of water, trying to compose myself. This conversation was so embarrassing in front of Andrew. “He was probably just making the whole thing up. Like, that doesn’t happen to people. And it sounded shady. What did he mean when he talked about the family business? What happened to Nat’s mother that he never said? It was all just weird and a bit far-fetched. I bet he was in one of those acting classes where people go out on assignment to see how well the students do in real life situations.”

“You,” said Maxie dramatically, “are not romantic.”

I grinned at her. “Sorry, but the simplest explanation is usually the right one. And Pierce’s story makes zero sense unless it’s made up.”

“Well,” said Maxie, tossing her hair, “I believe it.”

“So do I,” said Andrew, thanking the waitress who brought the food. Jill glared at him, but he ignored her and started to eat.

“Why do you believe it?” Jill demanded, annoyed into talking to him.

“Because guys are romantic and can care about a girl. Just because girls are too cynical to see it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” He raised his eyebrows at Jill, the picture of innocence.

When she didn’t respond he turned to me and said, “What are you going to do if you see him again?”

I stared at him. I had honestly not even thought about it. “I think I’d say hi,” said Maxie decisively. “That makes the most sense to me.”