Evanescent (27 page)

It staggers to its feet. It bucks and seizes
like its about to explode before tipping forward.

“Coop!” Laken screams, dragging him out of
the bullseye just as the beast flops down to earth.

“Good job,” I whisper, limping my way over
to where she’s cradling Coop’s head in her lap. She’s rocking him,
touching her hand to his forehead, telling him everything is going
to be all right. And despite all the drama, the hostile aggression,
a small shallow part of me still boils with jealousy.

Laken helps Coop to his feet and slings his
arm around her shoulder. He’s banged up as hell but still manages a
painful smile.

Coop lets out a breath. “You okay, man?” He
gives me a once over while fresh blood tunnels down from his
temple.

“I’m fine.” Just hurts like hell to breathe
or move. “Let’s get you to the hospital and get you checked out.” I
make my way over and try to lift his arm over my shoulder, but
Laken moves him just out of reach.

“I’ve got him, Wes,” she hisses. Laken
needles me with a look that could saw my body in half with its
laser precision.

The two of them hobble on ahead as I try to
keep up.

Laken knows I hesitated.

The only thing worse than watching Cooper
Flanders almost get killed was wanting it to happen on some level,
waiting
. And that’s exactly what I did.

I doubt Laken will ever forgive me.

I watch as they carefully walk around the
minefield of tree roots, Laken with her arm around his waist.

She saved him.

And now they’re closer than ever.

By seven in the evening the entire school is
overrun with every local authority, including two different news
crews.

Laken and I huddle under a blanket while
sitting on the steps in the foyer of Austen House. An ambulance
took Coop away. You’d think Laken were going to self-destruct the
way she insisted on going with him, but they wouldn’t let her leave
school grounds without a permission slip from her parents. Of
course Jen called her uncle and he insisted on driving down.

“Jones should be here any minute.” Jen
shifts from one foot to another. “I don’t like this.” She shivers,
warming her arms with her hands. “First Casper, now Flynn?” Her
forehead wrinkles as she takes in the explosion of red and blue
lights flashing outside the window.

“I’m sure he’ll turn up,” I offer weakly.
Freaking Flynn.

“Wesley?” Kres bounds through the door in
her tennis garb with a pink band in her hair twisted to the side.
“Oh my God, I ran all the way here.” She lunges at me, wrapping her
arms around my neck.

Instinctively, I hold my breath until she
lets go. My entire right side throbs with pain from the unwanted
encounter.

“What happened?” Kres snaps while searing
her hatred over Laken.

“Flynn happened,” I say, trying to breathe
in small increments.

“Flynn got lost in the forest.” Laken’s eyes
glaze over as she glances out the window. She looks
miserable—afraid, as if she were seeing wickedness spread over the
forest like a plague. “He’ll be back. They’ve just got to find
him.”

Kres postures herself in defiance. A crowd
gathers as the girls pepper each other with questions concerning
the ruckus brewing outside.

Kres scoffs into Laken. “Don’t you think
it’s strange that as soon as you set foot on campus all sorts of
weird shit starts to happen?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Laken hangs her head in frustration as if maybe she does.

“Well, for one, you stole Wes.”

Laken gags as she tries to get the words out
to somehow refute this.

“Nobody stole anybody,” I say it curt and
expend all of my breathing capacity in the process.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all that you’d
make this about you.” Laken closes her eyes a moment.

Kres scoffs. “No sooner do you room with
Casper, and she takes off—now her brother’s done the same?” She
ticks her head back a notch while Grayson and Fallon come in on
either side of her like a pair of bitter bookends.

Laken springs to her feet. I try to snatch
her back, but my ribs suspend the effort. She stands toe to toe
with Kres, and already I know this isn’t going to end well.

“First, you are so naïve to think I stole
Wes from you.” She jabs her finger in Kresley’s chest. “Get it
straight. He walked away, bitch.”

Shit. I give a little laugh. Laken’s feisty
side makes me love her that much more.

“Second”—Laken continues, backing Kres
slowly toward the exit—“I’m the only one around here who truly
cares that Casper is missing, and I knew her all of five minutes.
I’m guessing the same is true for Flynn.”

“You make me want to vomit.” Kres spits hard
in her face, and Laken recoils pushing her hand in her eye.

It takes all of my strength to pull myself
up by the railing.

“You think you’re so innocent.” Kres mocks.
“I heard you’re doing Coop on the side. You hear that, Wes?” Kres
twists to look past her shoulder at me.

But I’m not interested in anything Kresley
has to say. What I am interested in is the fact Laken is eying a
cobalt vase that sits tall and heavy on the entry table.

She reaches over, and in one swift move
hurls it at Kres.

Kres ducks like a ninja, and for once I’m
thrilled to fucking pieces regarding her athletic abilities. That
vase had
felony assault
written all over it.

The vase slams against the wall and shatters
into a million blue shards just as the door opens to a rather
surprised, and notably shaken, Jones.

Perfect.

I believe the last words I shared with him
were,
Laken is feeling much better now
—followed up with,
I’ve got everything under control
.

There’s no way I’m letting him in on the
fact she’s siphoning off Cooper Flanders’ neck. And there’s no way
I’m telling him she singlehandedly slaughtered a Fem the size of a
Mack truck while on the lookout for yet another one of her missing
friends.

Nope.

Jones inspects the mess on the floor then
shifts his focus to his niece.

I’m not going to have to lie and tell him
that Laken is functioning at an optimal prime—not one memory out of
place, not one emotional outburst.

I think he’s seen enough evidence for
himself.

Jen calls housekeeping to clean what she
deemed the “glass apocalypse” and ushered all the girls into the
common room to watch a movie, so no one gets a sliver lodged in
their foot.

Jones follows Laken and me into the kitchen,
away from the anxious bevy of girls, while Jen tries to subdue the
masses.

“What keeps happening at this damn school?”
Jones hisses at me as if I were personally responsible. His
shoulders expand wide as a gate as he pants from the trauma of
seeing the place lit up like a crime scene.

“We think our friend, Flynn, is lost,” Laken
offers.

His chest pumps dramatically. Jones wraps
his arms around Laken and pulls her in, pecking the top of her head
with a quiet kiss.

“Let’s hope that’s all it is.” His deep
voice rumbles over her. “You didn’t go into those woods did
you?”

Laken glances over at me. “Only a little. We
tried to look for him. Then we came out and called the police.”

“Damn it, Wes,” he snaps. “How many times do
I have to make it clear, you’re to make sure she doesn’t get
anywhere near that damn forest.”

Laken goes rigid in his arms. She frees
herself and pants as if she were about to have a breakdown.

“Did you make Wes my keeper?” She breathes
the words out as if the idea were reprehensible. “Did you tell him
to watch over me like I’m some three-year-old?”

“No.” He steps forward. “Laken, I only have
your best interests at heart. I would never want you to get hurt.
And your head—” His eyes widen as he takes in a gash I hadn’t
noticed myself until now. “You have a cut just above your brow.” He
turns to me, trying to mitigate his anger before it erupts all over
the damn place.

“I’m fine.” Laken takes a step back. “My
head doesn’t hurt at all. I just scraped it against a branch.” She
touches her forehead and looks into the black glass of the oven to
inspect the damage. “If you don’t mind, I’d really like a hot
shower.” She tenderly hugs her uncle goodbye.

Odd. Last time Jones was here, she expressed
how repulsed she was having him show affection when she could
hardly remember him. And now here she is wrapping her arms around
him voluntarily, touching her cheek to his chest.

Jones closes his eyes a moment as if he were
savoring it.

“I don’t mind one bit. I’ll touch base with
you tomorrow and see how you’re doing.” He gently picks up her chin
with his index finger. “Remember, I’m just a phone call away.
Nothing can keep me away from my children.”

Children? I guess it’s true in a way. He’s
been there for Laken, Fletch, and Jen, more than their parents
have.

“Got it.” She hikes up on the balls of her
feet and kisses him on the cheek before breezing out of the room.
Laken doesn’t bother with a wave or nod in my direction—just
disappears from sight. Probably still ticked about the fact I
almost escorted Flanders to the pearly gates myself.

I really fucked up good this time.

The whole room drains of its energy when
Laken takes off.

“What do you have to say for yourself?”
Jones does his best to zero his skyrocketing hostility on yours
truly.

“She does what she wants. She didn’t get
hurt. The cut must of come from a branch like she said.”

Jones knots up my T-shirt and drives me back
toward the fridge. I wince as he knocks me against the stainless
steel surface—with my body already on fire.

“I told you once before—watch her like she
was your wife. You don’t let her out of your sight.” He bears his
weight over me as his breathing grows erratic. “The only reason I
brought her here was because I knew you would lay your life down if
she were in danger—and you let her go after that thing?” He slams
me against the metal so hard, my head vibrates like a cymbal.

“Shit,” I whisper as the walls blur around
me.

“We had an arrangement. One more misstep and
both you and your father are going to pay a visit to the Justice
Alliance.” He drops me to the floor like a sack of shit on fire as
he storms out the room. “You’re losing her, Wes. Do whatever it
takes to win her back. You owe it to me, kid. You owe it to Laken.
I rearranged the world so you could be together.”

What the heck is he talking about? I haven’t
talked to my father in months. And why the hell is he threatening
us with the Justice Alliance?

He’s fucking on something.

I find his words far more disturbing than
the odd wrestling moves he chose to employ.

I rearranged the world so you could be
together
.

It echoes through my mind like a
gunshot.

Laken