Page 75 of Soul of a Psycho

Cade tenses at the mention of a skull, and I hold my breath, waiting for him to spill my secret. He’s been oddly okay with not going to the authorities about the guy who chased me, considering how protective he is, but hearing this guy was in my room might set him off. Slowly, I look up and find his gaze searing down at me. His jaw is clenched, the vein in his neck bulging, but he holds my eyes in silent communication.

Did you tell them?His eyes ask.

No.I will him my answer.

Thankfully, he squeezes my hand in understanding and keeps his lips sealed, turning a narrowed gaze back to the sheriff. For a second, I think Hammond might have noticed our exchange, but then Ruby scoffs.

“Did he…” She cocks her head sardonically at the headmistress. “Just call me ‘little miss’?”

The headmistress grips her temples and sighs. “We have a strict no boys in the girls’ dorm after seven p.m..”

“I’m sure you do, but that doesn’t mean kids won’t find a way.”

“Ew. God.” Ruby gags.

“Look,” Hammond huffs. “There’s not much I can do.”

“Wait, so someone breaks into our room, and there’snot much you can do?” Ruby mocks him.

He gives her a weary grimace, and then pointedly turns to the headmistress. “Truthfully, this seems like an internal incident. I can give you the number to a private security guy if it will make your students feel better.”

“Gee, by the looks of you, I thoughtyouwere the security guy.” Ruby crosses her arms over her chest.

“Ruby Pelling!” the headmistress snaps. “Up to your roomnow!”

“Fine by me.” Ruby narrows her eyes at the sheriff, giving him a tight-lipped smile. “Nothing was being done here, anyway.”

She turns on her heel and whips by.

I frown at her outburst, realizing how scared she must be. I know she can be harsh sometimes, but never when faced with authority. She talks a lot of talk, but she’s as tender-hearted as they come. I wouldn’t be surprised if she breaks down in tears when she gets back to our room.

Luckily, the sheriff doesn’t seem to give her disrespect another thought, and tips an invisible hat at the headmistress.

“Let me know if you need that number,” he says and makes his way down the steps.

The headmistress thanks him, and then turns to Cade and me. The silence is deafening and awkward as I realize Cade has me mushed into the alcove of his body and arm, the other braced across me like he’s trying to shield me. I squirm, not sure how much PDA is allowed, and wondering if the headmistress makes a habit of relaying the relationships she spots to parents.

But Cade doesn’t let me budge an inch, and I realize that she’s admiring us. She has her head tilted to the side, a slight smile on her lips, and she almost seems… proud? The scrutiny has me looking at the ground, unsure what to do with such a look.

“So you two…” She makes a soft twirl with her hand. “You two are…?”

Chapter Fifty

Cade

Before coming to Hillcrest, my mom always made dinner for us. Whole roast chickens with all the sides. Taco nights with every topping you can think of. There were homemade cookies as dessert almost every week, and a never ending supply of snacks in the cabinet. There was always so much food. And it showed. It showed in the way my friends would eye my mother appreciatively. In the way her cheeks plumped when she smiled. In the healthy glow of her skin. She never ‘watched her weight’ and never batted an eye at the haul of junk food I would set up in front of the TV. She would gorge with me while my father slept nearby, his head lulled on the back of the couch.

He was a contractor, not the kind that delegated, but the kind that actually put on a hard hat, and frequently came home tired, and with new calluses. It was decent money, but we were not wealthy, not like the students of Hillcrest. With my parent’s combined income—my mother was the vice principal of the high school I was supposed to attend—we barely managed a mortgage. I was unaware of this—jarringly unaware. But I couldn’t see it. Not with the state of our home. It rivaled my friend’s even though theirs were in nicer neighborhoods. My father put so much work into it, work that I helped him with,that I didn’t appreciate at the time, that by the time I did, it was too late.

When he died, his income died with him.

And my mother had to sell the house.

It was the summer before I was supposed to start high school, and not only was my father gone, my home was gone. It sucked, but I was dealing with it. I was even looking forward to coming to Hillcrest. Stupidly, I thought it would help the state my mother had fallen into. That with the change and a new job with a shiny salary, that she would pull herself up from the couch cushions. It pulled her up from grief alright, just in a direction that ripped away the mother I knew.

The Hillcrest pay stub came with room and board and a place for me as well. It meant stability, a stability that we desperately needed. But it also came with expectations. Ones that I would rather die than uphold. Ones that I thought my mother could never succumb to. But I didn’t know who she was without my father. I didn’t know she was weak. Malleable. Insecure. Susceptible to manipulation and easily influenced into unsustainable standards.

When she got involved with Rykes, it was only a year since my father had died. It was too soon and toowrong.And no, it wasn’t because I was the kid that couldn’t cope with his mother dating. I wanted to be happy for her. The dinners had started back up, the baked goods too. She was smiling and laughing. But with Rykes at the table instead of my father, my mother suddenly didn’t have an appetite. The small comments he made took root somewhere fragile in her mind.

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