Page 56 of Her Brother's Keeper

“Will there be anything else, Nox?” the Vice Principal asked standing with me, buttoning his suit jacket. I was hit with a flash of sudden inspiration.

“Yeah, when you catch me breaking into Maren’s car on Valentine’s Day,” I opened the door, “do me a favor and don’t call the cops.”

I shut the door on his perplexed expression and gave a nod to the secretary on the way out. “Ms. Cox.”

She looked startled as if she hadn’t expected the nicety, and she probably hadn’t which is exactly why I’d done it. I really was out to make my girl’s life easier, not harder, but on some things it looked like we were in this struggle together. Dammit.

Chapter 20

Maren

“Wake up, Angel.”

I shifted slightly and winced, feeling as if I’d somehow rusted overnight. Nox brushed my hair away from my face and I cracked open my eyes.

“What time is it?” I asked, and even my voice sounded rusty with disuse.Jesus, what had I taken?

Nox chuckled lightly and said, “It’s eight-thirty,” and I bolted upright.

“Oh my god, I’m late!”

“Easy, Angel, you aren’t late, you aren’t going anywhere.” I stared at him in disbelief as he lightly gripped my shoulders and eased me back into the pillows.

“I’ve already dropped Sage off at school, he’s taking the bus home. Plus, I’ve already been to your school and turned your work in. While I was at it,” he lightly plucked my manila homework folder off my nightstand, “I picked up your next round of homework, you can do it today while you take a rest and reset.”

I stared at him, speechless. “Why would you do all that?” I asked when I could finally find my voice.

“Because you’re at the end of your rope and need to regroup, so I bought you some time to do it.” He stood up, “Now as much as I hate to say it, I’ve got to go.I’mgoing to be late if I don’t.”

He bent down to place his lips against my forehead but I jerked my chin up at the last moment, so they landed on mine. Nox made a slightly surprised noise but it quickly gave way to a guttural moan of approval. I twined my fingers in his dark hair and kissed him soundly, and he returned the favor, breaking it at the last possible second.

“Angel, I’ve got to go,” he murmured and I let him go.

“Sorry,” I said breathlessly and he straightened.

“Don’t be,” he said seriously and left out my bedroom door.

I stared for a long time at the empty space where he’d been, my heart thundering against the inside of my ribs with the impression of his kiss, his body, pressed against mine.

***

A little under two weeks or so later, I was back to struggling again, not with Lucas, but with his now ex-girlfriend, Chelsea Day. She and her little group of girlfriends were back to tormenting me again because Lucas had dumped her ass for not leaving me alone. He was still treating me like I had a case of the plague, punctuated here and there with bizarre but pleasant behavior such as holding doors for me. Which given the way he’d treated me up until now, I was still fine with either of those things. Still, I just wanted to be left alone byall of them.

They still didn’t know about Nox, which was fine by me; still, the remarks about being alone on Valentine’s Day and no one caring was still cutting a little close for comfort. Especially because I had sent a ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ text to mymucholder boyfriend that morning, and hadn’t received anything back.

Speaking of much older boyfriends… my first day back to school had been somewhat of an adventure. Mr. Hunter had pulled me aside likefirst thingto have a little chat about Nox and whether I felt safe and if Nox had done anything inappropriate. I’d had to sigh and endure this talking to like I was Mr. Hunter’s own daughter for a good forty-five minutes and it’d left me with some seriously mixed feelings.

I didn’t know whether to be grateful, thatanyonewould look out for me in such a way or if I should feel annoyed at the fact thatno oneseemed to think I could handle myself anymore. I think I fell somewhat on the side of the latter and it was a turning point of sorts. I pulled myself up a little more by the bootstraps and went to my doctor. She prescribed me a low-grade mood stabilizer, not just an anti-depressant but also an anti-anxiety, for as long as I needed it.

It helped, surprisingly so, and I felt like I probably should have gone in for it a little sooner.

The bell rang, and I heaved a sigh of relief. I was seriously bored in my last class of the day, being leaps and bounds ahead of the curriculum. English had always been my strong suit and while we weresupposed to beon chapter ten of the required reading, I had finished it my first night. So, I spent most of my time, while my English teacher droned on about it, working on my homework so I could get a head start on it. Except it’d been a light homework day so I’d finished it in the first twenty minutes of the class.

I just wanted to go home, but nope, I had to work tonight. Too bad Valentine’s Day wasn’t considered a holiday. Time and a half, even at minimum wage, sounded really good right about now.

“Have fun spending the night alone!” Chelsea quipped as I shut my locker and I smiled sweetly at her.

“You too!”

---