Parking the car in my usual spot, I spied Monica standing near the main entrance, her gaze fixed on me, taking in who I had arrived with. Her lips flattened into a thin line but her face remained impassive, and she turned on her heel and disappeared into the halls. She hadn't spoken to me in a while, and whilst it was a welcome reprieve for me, I worried about what it meant for Ella, especially since she was noticeably hanging out with me more.
"See you here later?" Ella asked, shutting the passenger door across from me. I turned to her, watching her hair - now longer, prettier - I felt my bowels turn remembering the snip, snip of the scissors in my hand as I had massacred her hair that night - I watched as it glowed in the sunlight, her skin looking soft and pink. I wondered what it would feel like under my touch. She looked healthier than the first time I met her, and I knew without a doubt Susan's meals were working their magic on her.
“Sure. We can swing by that coffee place if you like.” She grinned then turned with a wave.
"Damn, how did I miss that?"
I turned to see Hunter look at me with a sneer, and an ugly feeling formed in the pit of my stomach. "What are you talking about?" I asked, schooling my features into a mask of indifference. Go and be a nuisance somewhere else, Hunter.
"Man, you totally just confirmed it! You like her! Damn. No wonder you don't want anyone else near her." The smile that he now sported made my skin crawl. Hunter went through girls faster than Sean and Hans combined, which was saying something.
"I don't know what you're talking about, man." I pushed past him to head towards class, wondering why he and I were friends in the first place. After a short while I realized that he was Hans' friend first - they had first met at some high school party they crashed way back when we were still in eighth grade.
"Listen. I won't touch her, if you tell me you don't want me to. But does Hans know, man?"
My head snapped towards him so quickly it hurt. "Listen, there's nothing going on between me and Ella, okay? So back off."
It was only when he flashed me that too-white smile of his that I realized he had wanted me to say that, that I had fallen into his trap. "Well, that's good to know. That makes her fair game for the rest of us, doesn't it?" I watched as he disappeared into one of the classrooms, the late bell ringing incessantly into my ear.
Chapter 23
Ella
I smiled as I caught sight of Cole waiting by the side of the Audi. "The car's got a flat," he said, kicking one of the tires. He gestured towards the Range Rover. "Hunter sent me back home to get this one."
I looked uneasily towards the car. "Hans won't mind?"
He shrugged. "What he doesn't know won't kill him." He flashed a white smile and gestured for me to enter.
The smell of leather and something else I couldn't place overwhelmed me. It was foreign, and I barely suppressed a shudder. "I hope he's on the mend there," I said quietly.
Cole turned and gave me a half-smile. "Do you?"
"Yeah - yeah of course."
We drove in silence, and I watched as the line of trees slowly turned into the withered greens of the grass flanking the highway. "So, how'd your History test go?"
A wolfish grin lit up his face. "Just fine."
***
Cole
I glanced at my watch, wondering where Ella was. She hadn't texted me, and I hadn't been able to tell her I was going to be late. But it was almost twenty minutes past our usual meet up time, and she hadn't replied to my message to her earlier. I sent her another one, and when that too went unanswered, I decided to call her. Hmm. No ringtone. Phone died? It hadn't happened before, but perhaps she had forgotten to charge her phone overnight.
Sighing, I leaned back against the Audi, then turned and reached for the car door to wait inside.
"Hey man. I thought you'd left."
I turned to see Brad, one of the guys in Biology. He was a decent enough guy, although we rarely hung out together.
"No - got caught up with a few things after class."
His eyebrows knitted together. "Oh. Okay. Well, none of my business, but that girl - Ella? - already left in the Range Rover earlier. I thought it was you."
My vision turned dark before an alarm sounded in my head. Hans. I entered the car and revved the engine so quickly Brad stepped back from it. "Thanks," I said through clenched teeth, even as my heart began pounding erratically and I could hear the blood swooshing in my veins as adrenaline ran through me. Hans took Ella.
He had at least a good twenty minutes head start. I quickly called home, wanting to believe he hadn't done anything to her, wanting to believe the best of him. "Susan? Is Ella home?"
"No, she's not back yet. Isn't she with you?" I could hear the faint whizzing sound of the mixer in the background. "I'm making you both some cheesecake..."
"That's fine. Thanks, Susan. We'll be there."
I hope the panic in my voice hadn't filtered through. Come on, come on. I tried to think of where he would have taken her. Once I got off the highway, I drove in the direction of our neighborhood, trying to see if he had gone that way. No signs of the car. I drove back home, just in case they were there without Susan's knowledge - but the car wasn't anywhere on the grounds either - not in the garage, or in the back where we used to play as kids. I cursed, and tried calling her again, to
