Page 27 of Happenstance
I was with Harper at her house, so, “One hundred percent.”
“I see.” He rested his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers. “How long ago was this?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Time can have an effect on your mind. For example, if you stubbed your toe last year, and then again today, which memory do you think would be clearer?”
That made sense, but this wasn’t last year. “It’s only been about a month.”
“So earlier in February, when Parker was at football camp.”
I froze. How did I forget about that? Sean wasn’t even in town that week. He couldn’t have done anything. So Iwascrazy. That was oddly relieving. The breath I let out felt like it’d been sitting in the back of my throat for over a month.
“Was it something I said?”
Mr. Kessler was now leaning back in his chair, looking like the cat who caught the canary. I really needed to get out of here.
“I should go.” I spun around and opened the door. “I’ve missed enough school.”
“Very well,” he said. “I’m here if you ever need to talk, my dear.”
Unease settled in my stomach as I hurried my way out of the hospital. For some reason, it felt like I’d just handed the enemy the keys to the kingdom.
Chapter 9
Parker
Lou called. I guess Lana felt the need to go to the free clinic. Why did she go to that skeezy cesspool of second rate doctors; who fucking knows? Lou sure as hell didn’t. As far as he could tell, there was nothing wrong with her, or the baby. Physically, anyways. All he could tell me was that she was asking all these weird questions. Some shit about thinking something happened, when it didn’t. Which got me thinking.
Lana hadn’t been herself lately. No sparkly bracelets or pretty hair clips I could steal for my collection. She walked around the halls quiet as a mouse, which in itself was wrong. My Angel couldn’t shut her mouth if her life depended on it. And she was avoiding her friends. I could understand Riley, that girl had serious anger issues. I could even understand Shelby. But Harper?
There were three things I could count on every day. That Logan, Mason, or both, would say something that’d make me want to punch them. That some groupie floozy bitch would be trying to suck my dick–football chicks were the worst–and that if I saw Harper, Lana wouldn’t be far behind. I’d lost count how many times I’d smacked Mason because Lana got caught in his Harper vendetta crossfire. Because of this, he was probably the only one of my friends who knew how I actually felt about the girl. Until I knocked her up, that is.
We had a quiet understanding. I didn’t give him shit about fucking countless chicks to rid his mind of the one pussy he really wanted. And he didn’t say shit about Lana. It worked. We could both watch them walk around every day without the other saying shit about it. If he hadn’t had to do a stint in rehab, maybe he would’ve noticed my Angel’s odd behaviour. I should’ve fucking noticed it, but I was too busy trying to push her away from me. It was kind of fun, though. I liked seeing her nose scrunch up when she got all mad. It was cute as fuck. But my head wasn’t in the sand anymore, and something was up with my Angel.
“Something on your mind, baby brother?” Preston leaned back against the kitchen counter and rolled his eyes my way.
I fucking hated when he called me that. Prick knew it, too. “Nothing that concerns you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He popped a cigarette in his mouth and flipped open the zippo I gave him last year for his birthday. “What kind of brother would I be if I didn’t help you out?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He lifted his chin and exhaled a stream of smoke. “Let’s just say your girlfriend should be much more compliant.”
“What the fuck did you do?” If he hurt Lana…
“Relax,” he sighed, “I didn’t touch her. Just added to the nightmare she was having.”
What? Lana had a nightmare?
“Did she say anything?”
“Nothing useful,” Preston shook his head. “But if I were you, I’d talk to Callaghan. She got pretty jumpy when I mentioned his name.”
My mind went back to the other day, when Lana came rushing out of that room she’d been in with Sean. She wasn’t pissed off; she was afraid. I didn’t know why she’d be afraid of a guy who was her brother in every way but blood, but I intended to find out. The trick was beating the King of Kings to the information. He was already sniffing around, and Louis Kessler had his nose so far up everyone’s ass, he could taste what they’d had for breakfast.
He was even in my brother’s shit. A place that no one on this planet wanted to be. Preston didn’t take too kindly to people getting in his shit. I used to follow my brother around. Know what that got me? A broken arm, and a dead fucking dog. But somehow, the King of Kings eluded my brother’s repercussions. Despite knowing what Preston really was. Then again, my brother didn’t give a shit. I, however, did, and had so far avoided the illustrious Dr. Kessler diagnosis. As far as he was concerned, I was the good one. Fuck sakes, I once heard him tell Mase he should be more like me. If only he knew.
