Shaking it off, I shifted my car into reverse and glanced out the rear-window, attention catching on what was sitting in Bailey’s car seat.
A rose.
Not just any rose.
One of the one’s from my garden.
A lavender rose.
Terror raced, a drum in my heart that made it difficult to see. Difficult to breathe.
I rammed on the brakes and threw it back into park, hands shaking like crazy as I reached back and grabbed it, the little slip of paper that had been left under it.
Time’s running out. I want it, and I want it now. For your sake, I hope you’re smarter than him.
Thirteen
Faith
Sixteen Years Old
A rowdy clatter of voices lifted in the cafeteria. It was always about fifteen decibels too loud in the big, open room. The linoleum floors like a loudspeaker set to high, tossing the noise higher and higher, as if each one had to climb on top of the other to be heard.
In the middle of it, Faith was trembling her way through the line, filling her tray to the brim and looking over her shoulder as if she were on some sort of covert mission.
She paid for the food and sucked in a breath, her feet quaking in her shoes as she looked for the courage to take the long way to the table where she always sat with her friends.
Dropping her head as if it might conceal her, she hugged the wall at the far end of the room. Slowly, she cut between two long tables, her heart rate spiking with each step she took.
She was sure her approach was louder than the din that blasted her ears. Sure that everyone was watching.
She felt like an intruder as she slinked down to the farthest end where students sat sporadically.
A few alone.
A few together.
The nerds and the outcasts, the troublemakers and the friendless, which was just sad in itself.
She was shaking like a leaf.
Heart hammering.
Throat dry.
She edged up behind the boys. This time, four were in their group.
Mack, who’d lived in the area for all of forever, and the three new students the town had been going on about.
Only now she knew their names.
Ian.
Joseph.
And Jace.
Jace.
That terrifyingly beautiful boy who was tucked against the long table, acting as if he were too cool for the tray that he’d pushed off to the side.
He’d edged it toward his brother. His brother who was again shoveling food into his mouth as if he didn’t know when he’d get the chance to eat again, their cousin doing the same.
Faith sucked for air. She swore the only thing she did was breathe in his anger and hostility.
But she continued, determined, the little bit of courage and hope she felt was the only thing that allowed her to be able to grab the extra sandwich and milk she’d purchased.
She slowed just enough to discreetly set them on the table beside him as she passed.
Her arm brushed his shoulder.
His spine stiffened.
Her knees turned to goo.
Oh goodness.
She faltered a step and squeezed her eyes closed against that same sensation she’d experienced for the first time yesterday in the office.
Though this time, it almost felt like a welcome memory. As if she were aching to feel it again. She inhaled it. Kept it.
Her feet were barely able to keep her standing, but she knew she had to keep moving. That she couldn’t stop to wait and see what he would say.
She made it to the end of the table and beelined it for hers, panting from nearly sprinting the rest of the way over as she slid into her spot.
Her tray clattered to the table in front of her.
Courtney, who was sitting directly across from her, looked at Faith as if she’d gone crazy. “Did you get lost or something?”
Faith widened her eyes at her, telling her to mind her own business. “Just tellin’ a friend hi, is all.”
Courtney’s gaze flew the direction Faith had been.
Crap.
That’d been the wrong thing to say.
Even though she wasn’t looking that way, Faith could feel hard, hard eyes glaring back. She swore that they held the power to shoot fire. Heat seared across her flesh.
She shifted in her seat.
Courtney kept looking between her and the direction Faith had just come from.
“Stop it,” Faith hissed, angling her head at Courtney.
Courtney looked back at her, worry on her face. “What are you up to, Faith Avery?”
“I’m not up to anything.”
“Sure looks like you’re up to something to me.”
“Stop it, you’re bein’ ridiculous.”
Courtney frowned but was quick to get distracted by Keegan, who sat next to her.
Faith tried to eat her lunch, but she found she could only pick at her food, still too off balance because of the stare she could feel burning into her back from across the room.
Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore.
“I have some studying I need to do for my math test seventh period. I’m gonna head to the library.”