Page 54 of The Boy With The Sharp Teeth
"Didhe hurt you?" Elijah asked, bringing her attention back to him, and hepointed to where she had been holding her arm unknowingly.
Thearea did pulse with a bit of lingering pain, and she was sure there was abruise there, but Sana shook her head. "No, I'm fine."
Approachingthem, Adam stopped in front of her and placed his hands lightly on hershoulders, and gave her a worried look. "Are you ok?"
Sanaopened her mouth but stopped. "I…" She wanted to reply in her usualI'mfine, but she was anything but fine. She felt like she was shaking allover, and with every second that passed, it became worse and more visible. Shefelt cold and displaced as the man's words buffeted against the weakeningdefenses of her mind. Shaking her head, she answered honestly. "No."
Alarmpassed over Adam's dark honey-gold eyes as he looked her over. "Did hehurt you?"
Lookingto Elijah, both man and teenager began speaking in their native language.Elijah pointed to her arm. Sana wanted to scowl at him for ratting her out asAdam immediately reached for her sleeve and began to peel back the fabric for abetter look. Sana waited with held breath as Adam revealed her red arm. Thecollective of men around her made sounds of dismay and cursed under theirbreaths, and she could swear she heard an unmistakable growl from someone."Sana darling," Adam groaned and pulled her into a gentle hug thatonly made her want to cry. "I'm so sorry. Do you want me to take you toDr. Huang?"
Shakingher head, she pulled herself back reluctantly from his warm fatherly embraceand shouldered her shirt back into place properly as she shook her head andgave them all a forced smile. "No, I'm fine, really. I just…I think I'mgoing to go home early for today. The field engineer should be here tomorrow toget everything properly set up…" Her words trailed off as she looked tothe vehicles, desperate to escape and be alone with the thoughts that crept atthe edges of her mind like an encroaching storm.
"Ok…"Adam paused, and she could see that he wanted to argue but stopped himself."I will take you home. And while I don't think Samons is dumb enough totry to go to your house, not with five Waateses living in your neighborhood andZach being your neighbor, I am going to have Daniel and maybe Kevin when he getsback go watch her house until Zach comes back from Antor." Adam didn'tgive her any chance to argue with his plans. Turning her around, he guided herlike a lost child to his big truck. "Come on, sweetheart, let me take youhome."
Itwas probably a good thing he was taking charge, she thought, looking down ather hands. They were shaking too badly to do much of anything.
Pullingthe car onto the main road, Adam looked over at her, and she could feel hiseyes on her profile as she stared ahead. "What did he say to you?"
Sanajust shook her head. She wasn't ready to talk about it.
Atfirst, Adam didn't say anything, seemingly taking her silence as an answerbefore finally, he spoke. "It was about that day, wasn't it?"
Horrified,she looked at the man. How could he know about that? Her mind reeled as theunwanted memories that plagued the edges of her mind came rushing in.Desperately, she combed through them, whirling past the trauma and tangledflashes of scenes, trying her best to see how he could possibly know about thatday. Glancing from the road, Adam gave her a sad, knowing smile that told herhe knew. But how?! It was impossible. No one knew what happened that night, noone except her.
Findingher voice, Sana looked away from him, grateful to see her house approaching inthe distance as they drove down the narrow lane past Zach's house. "Idon't want to talk about it, please. I'm sorry."
"Youdon't need to apologize," Adam said solemnly, and she could see his wideshoulder slope a little as he exhaled heavily. "Hell, it feels like Ishould be the one apologizing."
Sanadidn't understand the meaning of his words, but frankly, she didn't care. Theyhad pulled to a stop in front of her house, and all she wanted to do was goinside and shut the door to all of this.
"AsI said before, I will have one of the boys come watch the house for you, justin case," Adam told her as he got out of the car. Walking around the frontof the car, he walked with her up the porch and held out a silent hand for herkeys. Unlocking the door, he stepped inside and stopped. Standing perfectlystill, Adam scanned the front hall and living room. It felt as if his eyes wereseeing through the walls and the ceiling examining every inch of the house.Satisfied, he turned to her and handed her back her keys, and gave her a gentlesmile. "Would you like Sandra to come up here or maybe Lana to come-"
"No,please," she held up a hand. "I'm fine, really. Thank you foreverything."
Nodding,Adam turned and walked out the door and down to his truck. She watched him ashe gave one last look at her house before climbing into the large pickup truckand turning it around in the drive.
Watchingthe truck disappear into the distance, Sana let out a shaky breath. A breaththat seemed to have been holding her together like cheap glue. Looking down,she stared at her shaking hands before clenching them together in a fist. Sheneeded to sit down, to think things through in a quiet space, and allow theassault of memories that were now at her mind's inner sanctum banging down herdoor. Looking up the stairs, she thought of the big clawfoot tub in her masterbathroom. She could take a soak and bring the world’s largest glass of winewith her. No, that was no good. Looking at her watch, she winced at the time.In an hour or maybe less, depending on when Darrius or Adam called him, Zachwould come back from Antor Falls like a bat out of hell—more like a hound ofhell, she corrected with a wry smile that did not reach her eyes. No, she couldnot face Zach just yet. She needed time to herself, time to gather the ghostfrom the past that threatened to break her.
Turningslowly on her heel, her eyes scanned the serene living room unseeingly as shetried to think, and then she stopped. Settling her gaze out of one of the largewindows, she saw the forest beyond and remembered how Zach used to meet her atthe forest's edge just beyond sight, pulling her into his strong arms beforetaking her to the quarry.
That'swhere she would go.
Openingthe door cautiously, Sana peered around the front of her house and saw no one.There was no Waatese bodyguard assigned as of yet. Trading out her thinraincoat with a thicker sheepskin coat she had hanging off the hook, Sanapocketed her phone and keys and dashed down the porch steps and across thelarge lawn. The path to the quarry was wider than she remembered, and Sana wasgrateful for that. She imagined random Tarki citizens or most likely, animalswalking the path continuously and widening it over the years. She couldn't helpbut wonder if her wolf had used this path.
Distractedto the details of the forest, unlike her usual self, Sana found herself at therocky structure far faster than she ever had in the past. Shafts of brightearly morning sun speared the stone and water, illuminating them bothbrilliantly. Around her, birds chirped happily in the trees as a breeze sweptthrough and shook at their branches. Standing below the large flat rock thatbacked the quarry, Sana was surprised to find it not as intimidating of aformation as she did when she was younger. Back then, the rocky edifice seemedtowering and daunting when Zach would climb it and invariably pull her up alongwith him. Now it seemed quite easy as she grabbed a few spots and heavedherself up onto the flat rock. Looking down into the icy greenish-blue watersbelow, the smile of success faded from her lips as the ghosts of the past toredown her last defense, pushing her unwillingly back to the past.
~*~
Sevenyears ago
Runningdown the sidewalk of downtown Tarki, Sana ignored the puzzled looks of peopleshe passed. She knew what she must have looked like to them with tearsstreaming down her face. Could they see the heartbreak and the betrayal gleamingback in her watery eyes? Could anyone see the pain of her heart being rippedapart reflected in her face? She doubted it. They would just see the quietdaughter of Fatima and Rajesh Bhatt crying on the side of the street,struggling to breathe. Needing to get away from any possible prying eyes beforesomeone phoned her parents, Sana slipped into a narrow alley between twobuildings. With her back to the street, she wiped at her face even as her facescrunched up again at the pain. How could she have been so stupid?
Beautiful,confident, and obviously far more in touch with her sexual side, that girl wasfar more suited for someone like Zach. Together the two of them just looked abetter match than Sana could ever dream of standing next to Zach. How could hehave said all of those beautiful things to her that night if he didn’t trulymean them? How could he have looked her in the eye with such earnestness andlied like that?
Theknot in her stomach turned painfully, and Sana leaned her shoulder against thecement wall. It hurt more than she could bear to stand. She had told him sheloved him, and like a fool, she didn't realize until this moment he never saidit back.
Shewanted to throw up, to scream, to yell, to do anything but stand here and hurtlike this. Wiping her face again, she blinked a few times as she heard thescreeching sound of a metal door closing somewhere ahead of her. Walking intothe opening of the alley, a figure stopped and stared at her.
