I don’t have to tell you a damn thing, Eden. Her voice dripped with venom. You need to leave this quest to figure out who your father is alone! Your paternity is a mystery for a reason! You're gonna ruin everything.
“So you aren’t going to tell me then! Fine, I'll ask dad where Porter’s Field is then.” My threat elicited no response from Echo. She remained dead silent. I sat there in the still, quiet night air, and a thought occurred to me. “Echo,” I asked cautiously. “Do you think that the box is still under the floor in the closet?”
I felt her fear boil to the surface and swallow her whole. Without her saying a single word, I knew I was onto something. A sound had me slowly sitting forward in my chair and looking over toward Dad and Drew’s suite. A moment later, Drew walked out onto his balcony, but he didn’t see me. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, and I could see the screen’s light reflecting on his face. He jabbed at it a few times and then brought it to his ear. I realized he was making a call.
“Hey Aiden, I got your text, what did you find out,” he asked into the phone.
My stomach rolled with nausea as I remembered Aiden slamming me against the concrete wall under the bleachers, the strong scent of alcohol and weed surrounding him. I couldn’t see myself forgiving him for his part in my bullying, even if he was Drew’s best friend. I listened to the chatter coming from Drew’s phone and wondered how he wasn’t deaf. If I could hear it from that far away, it must have been louder than hell in his ear.
“Seventeen, that’s a rather big list to narrow down, don’t you think,” he asked pointedly. “Yeah, I know we are friends, but dude, you’re the computer genius, which is why I’m paying you to do the research, not to mention you owe me for not ratting your ass out when you were beating on Eden last year. Don’t make me regret making that judgment call.”
“What the hell is he searching for?” I whispered to myself quietly, but it wasn’t low enough because Drew swung around and spotted me hunkered down in my chair. “Shit!”
“Hold on a minute, man,” he said as he pocketed his phone and crossed to his balcony’s edge. There was probably a two or three-foot gap separating our balcony rails, so when he climbed up on his and made the jump to mine, I sprang from my chair, wanting to kill him.
“Are you out of your damn mind? You could have fallen! I’m no psychic, but I’m pretty sure even you couldn’t survive a seven-story drop,” I said, letting my pissed mood filter into my voice.
He ran a hand through his hair, sighed, and held up his index finger as he pulled his phone out and resumed his conversation. “Okay, sorry Aiden I’m back. Have you tried narrowing that list by finding out if any of them lived in or near our town within that time frame?”
I heard more chatter from his phone, this time with an undertone of irritation, and rolled my eyes. Aiden, being the arrogant, overconfident ass he was, wasn't exactly on my list of favorite people.
“Well, try that and call me back when you find out. Thanks, man,” Drew said and hung up.
With both hands on my hips, I glared up at him, and he started chuckling.
“Shhh,” I whispered, “You’re gonna wake up your mom!”
He laughed again, not trying to be quiet at all. “Nah, she won’t wake up, she’s a heavy sleeper. The fire alarm right outside her bedroom door went off once and blared for over an hour before I figured out how to make it stop. She slept right through it. Why are you up so late?” He checked his watch, “It’s like midnight thirty.”
“I could ask you the same thing, and what is Aiden trying to figure out for you?”
He ran a hand through his hair again. I was starting to learn that was a nervous tick for him, and so I pressed further, “Well?”
“I’m trying to help you figure out who your father is with what little information you gave me.”
He whooshed out a nervous breath and shuffled his feet as he shoved his hand through his hair yet again. It was obvious he thought I was going to be mad at him. I wasn’t upset in the least, but I felt Echo’s anger rising. She was smoldering over what Drew had said, yet she still refused to say a word. The silent treatment seemed to be her thing as of late.
“Does he know why he’s looking,” I asked.
A mischievous smile crept across Drew’s lips, “As a matter of fact, he doesn’t. I didn’t think it was any of his business.”
“So did I hear it right? He’s narrowed it down to seventeen possibilities.” He answered me, but I couldn’t hear a word he said over Echo screaming.
He has no damn right! How dare him, this is none of HIS business! You tell him to stop right now! Don’t you think that if your father had wanted you, he would have come to you by now?
I didn’t even know I’d started crying until Drew gently took hold of my hand. I focused on his face, and it was clear that he was not only worried but confused.
“That was probably the meanest thing you’ve ever said to me, Echo,” I said not bothering to keep my thoughts confined to my head.
Realization lit Drew’s eyes. He sat down in the nearest chair and pulled me down with him, sitting me in his lap. I rested my head
