AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glanced out the window as I put away the last plate from the supper dishes, and when I realized what I was looking for, or rather who I’d been seeking, I quickly tore my attention away from the window.
Shit.
This was about Hayden. A little, hopeful place inside me had wanted him to stop by after his meeting with the detective and update me with his day, tell me how his big departmental presentations had gone, let me know what had happened during his conference at the police station, and hell, just be there to irritate me with his very presence.
Since he hadn’t picked me up from work, his absence had been so freaking noticeable it’d left a big gaping hole in everything.
How the hell was that possible, though? I hadn’t known him that long. We weren’t even—you know—together, or anything like that. How had he become so integral, something that belonged, that fit and felt missing when he wasn’t there?
I restlessly chewed on my thumbnail, tempted to call him, just to hear his voice. All I had to do was listen to some pretentious, asshole comment he had to deliver and I’d be cured of this stupid craving I was having.
Yeah. I didn’t miss him. There was no possible way. He just hadn’t pissed me off recently enough. That was it.
Except the jittery yearning spiking through my bloodstream said I was a liar.
I fled the kitchen, because that room was no help. It just reminded me of Hayden helping Miguel with his homework at the table, or all of us sitting around, eating scones and laughing over stories Papá had told us about some of the crazy woodcutters he’d worked with.
In the living room, however, my bed was taken over by my brother and father sitting on the couch together and watching something on the television.
Thinking a show might help distract me, I plopped down next to Miguel and reached for some of the popcorn he had sitting in a bowl on his lap.
“What’re you guys watching?”
“Some show Papá found,” Miguel answered, stuffing his own handful of popcorn into his mouth.
“Hmm.” I nodded and chewed. “What’s it about?”
“This bookstore manager guy who starts stalking a pretty girl. He just killed her best friend because she was in his way.”
“What?” I shrieked, leaning forward to gape past him toward my father. “Papá, you’re actually letting him watch this?”
Miguel lifted a hand and rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry so much, Gabby. They didn’t show anything, not like they did after he killed the girl’s boyfriend, anyway. Now that was gross. The corpse turned a dark, gray color and—”
“Papá!” I shouted, springing up to find the remote control. “He’s only ten years old. He can’t watch this kind of crap.”
“Nonsense,” Papá snorted, waving aside my concerns. “The boy knows it’s a story and not real. It won’t corrupt him.”
“Yeah, Gabs. Chill out,” Miguel added with a worldly roll of his eyes. “I’m fine.”
I sighed and sat back down to gape at the two males incredulously. They really saw nothing wrong with the situation.
After throwing up my hands in defeat, because I certainly wasn’t Miguel’s legal guardian—I’d just been his one and only mother figure since he was three months old—I crossed my arms over my chest and fell back into the seat beside my brother, muttering, “Just so you know, there’s no room on the couch out here for you too if you wake up from a nightmare and want to crawl into bed with someone else for comfort.”
“Bah,” Papá shot back with a laugh. “Miguel will be okay.”
I sent him a dry glare, unimpressed. He could say that only because I’d been the one Miguel had always come to in the middle of the night when he was scared.
On the screen, some blonde had just crawled onto a bathroom vanity sink and was reaching up to shift a ceiling tile aside. Squinting at the screen, I watched her feel around until she brought down a small wooden box. Inside, she found—surprise, surprise—some underwear (probably hers), photos, a book, a couple phones and—eww—was that a jar full of teeth?
On the screen, the blonde screamed and reared back, dropping the jar on the bathroom floor and shattering it.
“What the hell?” I said, unable to look away as the girl rushed to clean her mess. I reached for another handful of popcorn. “Are those teeth?”
“Yeah,” Miguel seemed eager to share. “They’re Benji’s, Beck’s ex-boyfriend. And that’s his phone and Peach’s phone. Oh wow, look at her. She finally knows Joe’s the bad guy.”
“Let me guess,” I said dryly. “She’s in Joe’s bathroom and that’s him who just came home.”
“Yep,” Miguel answered. “He’s so going to kill her now.”
