Tall, Dark & Lonely (Pyte/Sentinel #1)(16)

“Got it!” Madison held up a pink woman’s wallet. She stumbled over a box while opening it. She found a school ID and a driver’s license hidden behind it. “That bitch,” she muttered.

“Let me see that,” Ephraim said through tight lips. His fangs were dropping. He forced them back with his tongue, but he didn’t want to take a chance that she would see them.

“Here.” She handed it to him without looking at him, completely oblivious that her life was on the line at the moment.

“Well?” Carl asked nervously.

“It’s fake, Carl.”

“Shit.” He started sobbing. “But see I didn’t know that. I really thought she was an adult. Madison, I’m so sorry!”

“Carl, don’t call again,” Madison said.

“I won’t I swear. Tell her to stay away from me.”

“It won’t be too hard, Carl,” she said, ending the phone call.

He tossed the ID onto the bed. “Looks like you need to have a little talk about the birds and the bees with your little sister,” he said a little harsher than he intended. He needed to get the hell out of here

Now.

Cold glimmering brown eyes narrowed on him. She nodded firmly and spoke evenly. “I’m sorry this woke you up. It won’t happen again. Now if you’ll excuse me I have something to do.”

As far as dismissals went this one was good. It had the opposite effect on him of course. He hated authority and hated being told what to do even more. Unfortunately for him his teeth were throbbing in his mouth. If he didn’t leave soon he was going to give himself away. So with a tight nod he turned and left, closing the door firmly behind him. Let the tomboy handle it. He didn’t want the drama and most certainly didn’t want to deal with a fifteen year old who couldn’t keep her legs closed.

Madison traced the pink heart with her finger. This was Jill’s box. She must have grabbed it by accident. She took a steadying breath before she dumped the contents of the box onto the bed.

Her hand shot to her mouth as she gasped. Who knew it only took two weeks to change a person this much? She froze on that thought. Did she change or maybe Madison missed something. She pushed the condoms, cigarettes and nips of alcohol to the side and sat down. She went over in her mind everything she could remember about Jill. There wasn’t that much since Madison had been busy with her new job and looking for a new place for them.

There had to be something she missed. If Jill was really the responsible level headed kid she thought she was then two weeks and Candy wouldn’t have been enough to change her. No, Madison failed. She missed something some time ago and Jill slipped. It took Candy for Jill to feel comfortable with acting out in front of Madison. Until then the behavior was hidden.

“Shit,” she mumbled.

She picked up the packs of condoms and grimaced. Part of her wanted to throw them away, thinking if Jill didn’t have them she wouldn’t have sex. That was stupid since she already knew Jill hated using them. Of course if she didn’t have them available when she was able to sneak away she would go ahead and have sex without them. Then there would be more problems than just a fifteen having sex. She could catch something or get pregnant. Jill was just like Candy now. She shouldn’t have a baby. No, there was no choice, she threw the condoms, clothes and phone back in the box and closed it.

The alcohol and cigarettes were a different story. She gathered those up and went into the bathroom. She emptied the bottles and cigarettes into the toilet and flushed. That took care of that supply. In a week she was going to search Jill’s room once she was settled in. Until then she was going to have to keep a close eye on her. One thing was certain, Candy had to go.

********

“I’m sorry, miss. This car is shot.” Earl, the mechanic of Earl’s Garage, wiped his sweaty dirty face with an equally dirty and greasy cloth.

“Oh no!” Madison pushed her long black hair that everyone said looked like silk back over her shoulder. Up until this point she wasn’t sure if she was having a good day or a bad day. Ten minutes ago she would have said it was fifty-fifty. Now it was easily seventy-five to twenty-five in odds of a bad day.

Her day started off good. She wore her most professional skirt that ended just above the knee and her favorite lavender blouse that somehow survived the trip without wrinkles. There was even hot water after her neighbor finished his half hour shower. She'd spent the entire half hour cursing him.

Jill dressed appropriately after Grandma handled her. Joshua was happy and she was able to eat breakfast despite her nerves. Her car even started on the first try. Then things became a little iffy.

Her new job was in a very nice school. The building was new. She had an excellent parking spot. The head of her department was an old woman who never stopped smiling and her classroom was well ventilated. Her desk was made of oak and completely blocked the view beneath so that no one saw her fidgeting. Everything in her room was brand new. The students were a different story all together.

The males kept staring at her all day. She could feel their eyes running down her backside and down her legs. Every time she talked to one of her male students she had to work to keep their eyes on her face and not her br**sts. She couldn’t understand it. The skirt wasn’t too tight and her blouse didn’t show much cle**age.

Actually compared to the way many of the female students dressed, her clothes should have been considered conservative. Some of the girls in her class reminded her of the half na**d groupies in music videos. Their boobs practically hung out, many of them including Jill to her horror, stuffed. They wore thongs and low cut jeans so that their thongs could be seen. It was a scary sight indeed.