Duality: Vol 1, Melancholia (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (27 page)

“No.  It’s not.”

The car pulled up next to us and the window rolled down.  “Hey, guys.  What are you doing out here standing on the side of the road?”

Before I could answer, Rae walked up to his window.  “Hi, Derek.  We were just leaving that party, running away so we didn’t get busted.”

“Oh man.  You guys were there?  I was too, but I didn’t see you.  I just dropped Brody off.  Want a lift?”

“Yes,” said Rae without hesitation.

“Uh, no.  That’s okay,” I said.  “We have Kootch coming.”

“I can take you right now,” said Derek, his attention on Rae.  “Do your parents know you’re out?”

“No, they don’t.”  She walked over to the passenger side of the car.  “Can you take me home?  I’m not sure how far it is.”

“Sure, get in.  Just tell me where to go and I’ll find it.”

“Highlands,” she said, getting in.

“I know it.  It’ll take us ten minutes max.  Just put your seatbelt on.”

Rae got in his car and leaned over towards Derek, looking out his window at me.  “Are you coming with us?”

I froze for a second, everything about this feeling wrong.  “Uh … no. I’m going to wait for Kootch.  He’s already on his way.”  Letting her go without me was making me physically ill.  “Why don’t you wait for Kootch to show up?  I got him out of bed.”

Derek put the car in Drive and took the liberty of answering for Rae.  “He could take forever in that crap car.  She’s got to get home if her parents don’t know she’s out.  What if they check her room?”

“I need to go, Malcolm,” said Rae, sounding apologetic.  “Tell Kootch thanks for me, would you?  I’ll see you on Monday.”

I lifted my hand to say goodbye as they drove off, words not coming to my brain or my lips.  She was leaving.  She was eager to get away from me.  This was better.

Derek’s taillights went up the street.  The right one was broken.  The left one got smaller and dimmer as the distance between us grew.

I didn’t even know Kootch had arrived until he pulled even with me and honked the horn.  I nearly jumped out of my skin, my heart beating like a runaway train.

“Shit, Kootch.  What the hell?”

I looked back at Derek’s car.  He was just turning the corner.

“Get in, loser.  I’m tired.”

“Hey, lover boy!” came Jasmine’s voice from the passenger seat.  “Where’s your date?”

“She just took off.”  I opened the back door and got in.

“Took off?  What do you mean, took off?” asked Jasmine, angry now.  “Did you let her run away or something?”

I scowled as I put on my seatbelt.  “Hell no, I didn’t let her run away.  She got in Derek’s car and left.  Just now.  You just missed her.”

“Derek’s car?” asked Kootch.  “What’s Derek doing out here?  Did she call him?”

“No, of course not.  She doesn’t even know the guy.”

“Then what’d she get in his car for?” asked Jasmine, turning around to glare at me.  Then she stared at Kootch.  “I don’t like this.”

“He wouldn’t do anything.  He’s a douche, but he ain’t no rapist,” said Kootch, slamming the gear into first and moving the car forward.

“Which way did they go?” asked Jasmine.  “You said they just left.  Let’s catch up to them, make sure he brings her home.”

“Oh, come on!” yelled Kootch.  “Geneva’s tired. 
I’m
tired!”

“Shut up, you big whiner baby.  Just drive.  Which way, Malcolm?”  She was staring me down again.

I didn’t know what to say.  I didn’t want to be a stalker.  Rae already worried about people doing that for whatever reason.  But her getting into Derek’s car had literally made me sick with apprehension. Following her without her knowing couldn’t hurt anyone.

“Turn right up there.”

Kootch sighed loudly, but did as Jasmine asked.  We turned the corner, and way up ahead there was a single tail light glowing weakly in the darkness.

“Step on it, pokey, we need to catch up to them before we lose them.”  Jasmine was looking out the windshield, pointing to the car that was turning left.  “Hurry up!  They’re going to take a couple turns and we’ll never find them!”

Kootch sped up, but he didn’t stop complaining.  “But they’re going to the Highlands!  I know how to get there, woman!”

“You assume that’s where they’re going.  Let’s hope that’s where they’re going.  But until they
go
there, we don’t know, now do we?  Now stop back-talking me and drive.”

“Bossy cow,” he muttered under his breath, but he did press on the gas pedal a little harder.  Geneva’s engine whined loudly, moving us closer and closer to the turn we needed to take.

“So what the heck was going on back there at the party with you guys, huh, Malcolm?” asked Jasmine, her tone going all sneaky.  “I’m pretty sure I caught you giving her mouth-to-mouth.  Was she not breathing or something?”

“Shut up.”  The memory of it burned.  My stomach ached with regret.

“Seriously, Butts, shut up,” agreed Kootch, taking the turn.  He was getting crankier by the second.

I shouldn’t be in this car with him.  The darkness being enclosed in this small space was going to overwhelm him too quickly.  Jasmine didn’t seem bothered by it, but I could tell Kootch was.  I rolled down my window, hoping some of it would escape.  I wasn’t even sure it worked like that, but anything was worth trying.  The poor guy was doing me a favor, and here I was bringing him back down into his depression.

And the guilt piled on.

The car ahead of us turned right.  We were just two blocks behind it now.

“Hey.  What the hell?” asked Kootch, speeding up and leaning closer toward the windshield.

“What’s wrong?” asked Jasmine, fear in her voice.

“He’s going the wrong way.”  Kootch down-shifted as he got to the stop sign.  “Highlands is that way.”  He pointed to the left and then looked at the back of Derek’s car.  “So why is he going
that
way?”

We all watched the red light getting smaller in the distance.

Jasmine punched Kootch in the arm.  “Don’t just sit there!  Go after her!”

“What if it’s not her?!” he yelled back.

“It is,” I said in a hurry, the panic rising up to choke me. “Broken tail light on the right side.  Go!”  I shoved the back of his seat, forcing him forward a little.

“Stop pushing on my seat!  I’m going!”  He revved the engine and popped the clutch, stalling the car.  We all jerked forward and then back.

“Jesus, Kootch, can’t you drive?!” screamed Jasmine, her hands on the dash.

“Shut up, you’re making me nervous, Butts!”  He cranked the engine and shoved the shifter into first.  Slamming down on the accelerator, he turned the corner at a high rate of speed, swerving out into the other lane.  Thankfully, no one else was on the road, so he had time to straighten out and get back in the right lane without killing us.  He ran through all four gears quickly, going fifty miles an hour through the residential area so we could catch up.  We lost the tail light as Derek took another right turn.

“Maybe he’s just taking another route,” I said, leaning forward and holding onto Kootch’s seat.

“Well that’d mean he’s taking the seriously long way, since he’s now headed in the opposite direction of where he should be,” said Kootch.

“I don’t like this at all,” said Jasmine.  “Hurry, Kootch.  I’m not bossing you around, I’m just scared.”

I was too.  But this made no sense.  “Why would Derek take her away from her house?”

“To rape her!” yelled Jasmine.  “Why else do guys do stuff like that?  Maybe murder her, too!”

“Rape and murder?!” yelled Kootch, looking from her to the windshield and back again.  “Are you completely nuts?  He’s not a criminal.  He’s a douche, but he’s not a murderer!  Butts, you are totally crazy, you know that?  You and your parents … conspiracy nuts.”

“It sounds crazy,” I agreed, “but tonight has been nothing but crazy.  Frigging Holder tried to take her away too.  Back at the party.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Jasmine, her eyes wide in her face.  “He wasn’t at the party.  Is this the beer now?  Is that whose in the driver’s seat, with your brain riding shotgun?”

“I’m not drunk.  I was buzzing before, but after all the running I did tonight, I’m not anymore.”  I stared at the broken tail light as I explained.  “After the accident this afternoon in Brody’s car, Holder tried to give us a ride home.  He got all weird, so we decided to get out.  But when we tried to leave the car, he started to take off while Rae was still in it.  Then tonight when the cops were questioning Rae, he showed up and tried to take her away.”  It sounded stranger being said out loud than it had in my head.

“You’re lying,” said Jasmine.

“No, I swear on this Gremlin I’m not.”  I was desperate for them to believe me.  If they thought I was lying maybe they’d stop following Rae and then she’d be lost.

“Hey!  Watch it!” yelled Kootch, turning left to follow Derek.  We were only one block behind him now.  “No one swears on Geneva, no one.”

“Tell us everything,” said Jasmine.  “All the details, like a girl would tell the story.”

“He just showed up at the party after everyone left.  The cops were questioning Rae on the front porch, and he kept saying he was there to take responsibility for her.  And when he tried to break through the cops to get to us, they tazed his ass.  The last time I saw him, he was having seizures on some guy’s porch.”

“That is the weirdest fucking thing you’ve ever said, dude,” said Kootch.  “You musta taken some X or something.”

“X doesn’t do this,” said Jasmine.  “This is either the truth or extreme paranoia.  Did you smoke anything?”

I was disgusted with the fact that I was telling a totally true story and all they could think about was me doing drugs.  “I’m not messing around and I’m not messed up, okay?!  That’s exactly what happened!  That’s the gist of it, anyway.”  I couldn’t tell the story like a girl, like Jasmine wanted me to.  Too many unnecessary details and we didn’t have time.

“Uh.  Yeah.  So.  Ah-hem…”  Kootch sounded very nervous all of a sudden.

“What, Kootch.  Spit it out,” ordered Jasmine.

“Not that I totally believe that ridiculously stupid story, but … you know … Derek
is
the SA for Holder.  That’s kind of weird, right?  Like a weird coincidence?  That they’d both be there and trying to take Rae home?”

“Oh, shit.  He
is,”
said Jasmine.  “When student aid spots came open, Holder requested him.  I was there.  I totally remember thinking that’s how Derek’s grade went from a D to an A in one semester, like maybe he bribed Holder or something.”

I threw myself back against the seat, my hands splayed out on the bench-seat next to me.  “What the hell?  What the
hell
does that mean?”

“Probably nothing,” said Kootch, speeding up even more to put us about three car lengths behind Rae.  “She’s hot and they want to date her, maybe.  But just in case, I’m going to stay close and make sure he brings her home and doesn’t rape and murder her in the meantime.”

I ran my fingers through my hair, all kinds of crazy shit zipping around in my head. 
Rape?  Murder?  Kidnapping?  What the hell kind of bullshit is this? 
It might be something innocent like wanting to date her, but I found that highly unlikely.  Mr. Holder wasn’t the student dating type.  He was too old, too gross, and too … weird.

“This is nowhere near Highlands, is it?” asked Jasmine, her voice full of concern.  “Where are we going, can you tell?”

“Highlands is east of here.  He’s going northwest.  No way is he taking her home,” said Kootch.

“What are they doing?” I asked.  We were on a main road now, and Derek’s turn signal had come on.  They were turning into a gas station.

“Getting gas or something,” said Kootch.  “Should I go in?”

“No drive by, drive by!” squeaked Jasmine.  “Park nextdoor behind that other car there.”  She was pointing to a big sedan left overnight in a tire shop’s parking lot.

Kootch passed the gas station, and I stared out the window as we went by, trying to see what was going on.  “Derek’s not at the pumps,” I said.  He’d parked off to the side of the building and a little in front, not using a parking space.  The clerk in the store wouldn’t see him there, making me wonder if that was intentional.

Jasmine had spun around, trying to see what was happening too.  “She’s getting out.  Hurry up, Kootch.”

“I am!  Stop bossing me around!”  He pulled into the nearby parking lot.

“She’s going inside,” said Jasmine, unbuckling her seatbelt.  “I’m going in too.”

I reached through the front seats and touched her shoulder.  “Wait.  What if Derek’s just getting gas or letting her take a pit stop before bringing her home?”

“Yeah,” agreed Kootch.  “We could be making a big deal out of nothing.”

“Look at her face,” said Jasmine.  “Does she look happy?”

All of us stared out the window, barely able to see the gas station around the car we’d just pulled in next to.

“She looks miserable.  I’m going.”  Jasmine opened her door.

“Wait,” I whispered.  “Get back in. Let’s get a plan together.”

“Plan?  You’re not James Bond, dude, just go walk up to her and say we came to take you home.  Simple,” said Kootch.

“He’s right,” said Jasmine, referring to me.  “We need a plan. If Derek is doing something wrong, he’s not going to just let her go.”

“He’s a linebacker on the varsity football team,” said Kootch.  “If he wants to take her, I doubt we’ll have much say in the matter.”

“So we sneak her away,” I said.  “Jasmine, you go in the store.  Derek’s hanging in his car.  Maybe he won’t notice you.  I’ll hang back with Kootch, and if we see him getting out to follow you, we’ll stall him.”

“Awesome.  I’ll bring her here by going through a back door.  Don’t let Derek see you if you don’t need to.”

“We won’t,” I assured her.

Maybe Derek was just taking her home the only way he knew how.  And maybe she needed to go to the bathroom, so he stopped for her because he’s a nice guy.  We could be acting like total freaks following them and rescuing her from nothing, but I decided that I’d rather be safe than sorry.  And if anything bad happened to Rae, I knew I’d be sorry for the rest of my life.