ENEMIES(32)

The pressure was building.

Building.

BUILDING!

BUILDING—I was hyperventilating.

My dad.

Gail.

They were gone.

And I had no car.

And Jared was no longer my brother.

I told Stone that Apollo’s parents could adopt him.

What was I doing?

Where was I?

I had no parents.

I had no one.

I was alone.

Totally.

They were gone.

I couldn’t breathe.

I heard someone saying my name, but it was from a distance, down a tunnel it sounded.

What was I doing?

I mumbled something to that someone, but I wasn’t sure who it was.

Then I dropped something.

I was falling.

Yeah. That was a good idea.

I could sit.

Sit here. Not think.

Everything would be okay.

I just needed to sit a bit.





Chapter Sixteen





There was a pounding somewhere.

I was waking up slowly.

Ouch.

My head was hurting.

What happened?

Everything was dark. Flashes of red and yellow were lighting up the walls. What the hell was going on?

More pounding.

A doorbell was ringing.

Whoever was there—it came back to me.

Shit.

I’d had a panic attack, and then I fell asleep.

Someone was yelling for me. Siobhan.

She’d been on the phone with me. She must’ve called an ambulance, but how had they known where to come?

Standing, wincing because everything was hurting, I tried to find the front door. Stone hadn’t shown me this way, so I followed the sound of the doorbell ringing. Then, standing on the other side of it, I swept open the curtain and two paramedics were there, along with a cop.

“OPEN THE DOOR!” The cop motioned for the door.

I unlocked the door and opened it and—

ALARM! SIREN! ALARM! SIREN!

A strange, almost robotic voice filled the house, “YOU HAVE VIOLATED A PROTECTED AREA. LEAVE IMMEDIATELY. THE POLICE HAVE BEEN CALLED. YOU HAVE VIOLATED A PROTECTED AREA…”

I groaned.

The cop came in, looking around. “You have a way to turn that off?”

I shook my head. “It’s not my house.”

“According to records, Stone Reeves lives here?” I didn’t know why he put that as a question. Ohhh, understanding flooded me.

I straightened upright. “I know Stone. I’m just staying here.” I guess.

A phone started ringing. It was the house one, and I answered it. A woman’s voice came over, “Are you in need of assistance?”

“No,” I sighed. A panic attack, then I fell asleep. I didn’t think I could explain all this away, though.

“Do you have the code?”

Fuck. Double fuck.

The woman didn’t even hesitate. “Thank you, ma’am.” A dial tone hit me next.

Pretty sure that wasn’t good, but I turned back toward the door. The cop and paramedics had come in. All three were regarding me with suspicion.

I heard more ringing, but this one, I recognized. I had left my phone up in the guest area and I started to go for it, but the cop took my arm. “Let me grab it.”

I gestured, feeling a sense of impending doom and the general wish that an entire mountain would drop on me. “It’s probably Stone wondering what the hell is going on.”

He nodded. “I’ll get your phone.”

He went in search of the electronic perpetrator and the female paramedic approached. “Ma’am? My name is Jill. We had a call that someone might need assistance?”

“Yeah.”

The paramedic touched my arm. “Was that you, Miss? Are you in need of help?” Her hand slid down to my wrist, and she was taking my pulse.

I turned to her. “How’d you know where I was?”

The cop was returning, talking on my phone.

She was counting, but her partner stepped forward. He went to grab a chair, and brought it up behind me. “If you could have a seat?”

I did. My knees were about to give out anyway.

The male paramedic knelt beside me, unpacking his bag. “We had a call from a Susan Anderson, your academic advisor. She gave us this address.”

But how’d she know this address? Wait. Stone. He must’ve been in contact with the university, too. Jesus, was there anything he hadn’t already taken care of?

The cop stepped forward and handed my phone over. “He’d like to speak to you.”

I took it but had the foresight to ask the time first.

“It’s eleven-ten.”

Whoa.

When had I called Siobhan? Earlier. Right? Time was slipping away, but this was how it’d been before. I had sat and stared into nothing until somehow my brain told me to stand, to move, to eat, to walk, to wash, to keep going.

It was now after eleven and I had no sense of any one moment over the past couple of hours. I put the phone to my ear. “Did you win?” He had his game. It would’ve been done by now.

Silence. Then, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

I winced, but I couldn’t blame him for being angry.

“I’m sorry, Stone. I—”