Midnight Hour (Shadow Falls: After Dark #4)(58)

“You don’t know what he can do,” his father said. “If he wanted to.”

Perry didn’t know what he fought off the hardest, his need to prove his dad right, or the need to deny his father was actually standing up for

him.

“Sorry,” Caleb said. “I haven’t seen it ol’ man.”

His father reached for one of the drinks. “I get a feeling that one of these days he’s gonna show you how wrong you are.” He pushed the

other drink to Perry. “Right, son?”

“One of these days,” Perry repeated his dad’s words. Problem was he planned to show everyone at the table, even the one defending him, how

wrong they were.

Caleb pulled a chair over between his mom and dad. “Aren’t you looking hot tonight, Sophie.”

“Thank you.” She ran her tongue over her bottom lip.

His father’s eyes grew brighter. Was that why his father didn’t like Caleb? Did his dad not care that the man was an all-around bastard?

“How did you get the shiner, boy?” Caleb asked, now focusing on Perry’s face instead of his mom’s lips.

“He ran into someone’s fist.” Mark chuckled.

“How did the other guy look?” Caleb asked.

“About the same,” Perry said.

Caleb made a belittling laugh and looked at Perry’s dad. “And you say he’s all-powerful. If someone did that to my face, they wouldn’t be

breathing.” Smirking, he pushed the glass Perry’s dad had brought over to Perry. “Drink up, kid. Or are you a wuss? You need me to order you

a Shirley Temple?”

A low growl hung in his throat. Even his fingernails ached to turn. After the breathing trick didn’t work, he conjured up an image of Miranda.

That was always his last resort.

“Drink!” Caleb bullied.

Somehow knowing the man wouldn’t let this go, he picked up the drink and downed it. The amber liquid burned going down his throat. Burned when

it hit his stomach. The need to cough clawed at his throat. He swallowed that need.

He never flinched. Never blinked.

Dropping the glass back on the table with a clank, he leaned back in his chair, hoping he didn’t have anything else to prove.





Chapter Sixteen

Miranda watched Burnett leave then she turned to go inside. When she saw both Della and Kylie sitting at the kitchen table with three diet

sodas, waiting for their round table meetup, Miranda’s chest swelled with warm gooey emotion.

“You waited up,” she said, biting down on her lip.

“Duh, you thought we wouldn’t? We’re just wondering what took you so long,” Della said. “Can I open my drink now?”

“Yes.” Miranda moved in. She dropped in her chair and opened her own soda. The two cats, Socks and Chester, came running up, both doing

figure eights around her ankles.

“What did your parents say?” Kylie asked.

“What didn’t they say?” she said, unsure she could talk about this without crying again.

Kylie continued. “I went there, but I heard your parents arguing. I texted Holiday. She said you two had spoken and you were … hanging in

there.”

“By a thin thread.” Miranda listened to her soda fizzing. She looked up at her two friends. “Do you two know anything about what’s

happening that I don’t?”

“What did Burnett tell you?” Della asked.

Miranda repeated everything she knew. About them suspecting that Anthony and her sister had participated in the attack. About how they now

suspected Anthony was somehow involved with a robbery.

Both Della and Kylie said that’s all they had. But then Della glanced briefly at Kylie, almost as if they knew something they couldn’t share.

“What?” Miranda asked.

“Nothing,” Kylie insisted.

Della spoke up this time. “Burnett is putting a shadow on the girl who worked at the jewelry store and the wife of the owner. I did an earlier

shift and I’ve got to be there at four in the morning.”

Miranda thought they were still holding back, but maybe she was just being paranoid. She took a big sip of Diet Coke, finding solace in the

bubbly tingle sliding down her throat. “When did everything in my life go bat-shit crazy?”

“Probably when the drug house exploded.” Della snickered.

When the fizzy soda hit Miranda’s empty stomach she remembered she hadn’t eaten. “I’m starved.”

“I’ve got some blood I’ll share,” Della said.

Miranda frowned.

“Just joking. Why don’t you zap us some pizza?” Della asked.

Miranda collapsed back in her chair. “Too tired to zap.” And after uncontrollably zapping her parents and Mary Esther mute, Miranda worried

something might go wonky if she wasn’t in tip-top shape.

The vamp jumped up at super speed and opened the fridge. She looked over her shoulder. “Cheese and semi-stale cold Oreos. What’s your poison?

”

“Both.” Miranda stood.

“No,” Kylie said. “You just relax.”