“You really shouldn’t fall asleep in the bathtub honey, especially if you’re going to lock the door. You know how dangerous that is?”
I nodded. “Sorry mom, I didn’t even know that I was tired. I must’ve relaxed a little too much.”
“Your friends tried calling you a couple times. I told them I would have you get back to them as soon as you were done.”
“Who was it?”
“Gretchen and, oh let me remember for a second, it started with an R. Ro…”
“Robbie?”
“Yes, him.”
I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t going to be calling him back anytime soon. I tucked my towel a little tighter around me and scurried past my mom to my bedroom to get some clothes on. As soon as the door shut behind me, my cell phone began twinkling on the nightstand with an incoming call. Gretchen was persistent.
“Hey Gretch, sorry I was in the bath when you called earlier.”
“It’s okay Adde, I tried calling your cell a couple of times, then decided to try the house line which obviously didn’t work either. You will never guess who called me as soon as we got to Sarah’s?”
I was clueless and wasn’t in the mood for guessing games, so I hummed an “I don’t know” sound to her.
“Andy!” she laughed. “He was begging me to give him another chance and let him take me to the Fall Harvest Dance tonight. I actually think he sounded like he was going to cry when I first told him no!”
“When you first told him no? What did you tell him after that?”
I hoped she still planned on going with Sully tonight. “I told him yes! Well, I actually said I’ll think about it, and maybe meet him there, but that meant yes.”
My stomach sank. “Wha…what about Sully?”
“I dunno, he has been acting really strange lately, and today he just completely blew off all of my phone calls. He barely even told me goodbye after school.”
“So, go on a date with Andy before finding out why he’s blowing you off? Maybe he’s just got some other things going on, that hardly calls for breaking it off with him.”
“Adelay, he’s not my boyfriend. He clarified that a long time ago. I thought you knew that.”
“I guess there are a lot of things I didn’t know about.” I had meant to think that comment, not say it.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking out loud. I wish Davin would hurry and come home.”
“Oh, he’ll be home soon Adelay, and until then you have us to hang out with.” She hushed her voice. “And to keep you safe.”
I smiled, knowing that even though she was no heavier than a wet noodle she was still loyal until the end, and would try her hardest to fend off whatever she could. Another thought came to mind.
“Gretch, you do know that no matter what happens between you, Sully, and Andy, that you don’t mention one word about what the Ashford’s are, and what you’ve witnessed, right?”
“Of course I do. Trust me, Sully has been very clear about what the outcome would be if I said one word.”
Hopefully gossip didn’t get the better of her in the future. “So, if you’re going with Andy to the dance, who is taking us there?”
“Well, I offered for me and Sarah to pick you up on the way there. But Sully insisted he needs to be the one that takes you, so that he can have you under his watchful eye at all times. He said Davin would kill him if he let you do otherwise.”
I let out a sigh that was quiet enough for Gretchen to miss. Being stuck with Sully alone again was not sitting in my stomach well.
When eight o’ clock finally came, I needed to remind myself that what had happened earlier in the bathroom was nothing more than a dream. I was worked up from the car ride still, and subconsciously my brain channeled into that when I fell asleep. Sully and Davin were the good guys. That was the only explanation I was going to let myself affirm. My mind received visions from Davin, not from Sully. He was nothing more to me than Davin’s next of kin, despite what he felt, or how the kiss made me feel.
I was dressed in a strapless black silk baby doll dress that rested above my knees, bowing out slightly at the bottom, paired with black peep-toe platform heels with a cute bow detail on the toe. I was dressed to kill tonight, even if I was the one to be killed. A swipe of cherry red lipstick finished off my dark Barbie look. Wasn’t the old saying: Die young and make a good-looking corpse?
Having Davin so far from me made me feel completely alone. Sully was powerful, as was Eli. But Davin just had that special something about him that I trusted with all my heart. When he said he wouldn’t let anything happen to me, I believed it. I knew I wouldn’t get an answer, but for the hell of it I tried Davin’s cell phone before Sully arrived.
“Hello, love. Is everything okay?”
I hadn’t expected to hear his voice on the other end and fumbled with my words.
“Yes, uh everything is fine. I didn’t think you were going to answer.”
“Then, why did you call if you thought that?”
“I don’t really know, maybe because I had hopes that you would. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that
