Saint Sloan (Saint Sloan #1)(24)

Before Sloan had a chance to say anything, Darcy stormed off, her hair swaying with every step she forced.

That had gone well.





SLOAN GOT IN HER car and pulled out her phone. She texted Ray the assignment and that she was going home, not to his house. Her eyes felt heavy and, truthfully, all she wanted to do was sleep. Home. Bed. Sleep. Not thinking about anything sounded so good.

She turned on the car and sat there for just a second, waiting for the fuzziness to get out of her eyes. Had she not taken her vitamins or something? It was weird. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so tired. Maybe her hormones were out of whack or maybe she was getting sick.

Whatever the case, she didn’t feel like going to Ray’s. She didn’t care what he found at Boyd’s house, and she didn’t care about his excuse for not coming back to school. It didn’t make sense to her. Any person with half a brain would freak out if someone was stalking them. And she was. In her own way, she was. But she couldn’t force herself to get worked up about it at the moment. Something was definitely wrong with her.

When her hand hit the gearshift, her phone vibrated in the seat next to her. Sure enough, it was Ray.

“Hello?” she said with the phone to her ear. It wasn’t like him to call. Text? Yeah, but not call.

“What do you mean you aren’t feeling well? Are you sick?” Ray said on the other end of the line.

“Hello to you too.” She sounded annoyed, even to herself. Frustrated, she leaned her head on the steering wheel, willing the conversation to go quickly so she could get home. Actually, now that she thought of it, she needed to take the flowers to the dump first before she went home. It wasn’t like she wanted them in her trunk longer than they already had been.

“You didn’t answer me.” Ray was very curt today. “Are you sick? Did something happen at school while I was gone?”

“Why no, Ray. Nothing happened.”

“Good.”

Oh, he’d think “good” in a minute. “Except for the fact that Darcy hates my guts now and I had to basically grovel to get our homework assignment. Then there was a weird little junior scoping me out at lunch, and the new Biology teacher thinks I’m a slacker. So, except for that, yeah, peachy day.”

There was a pause. “So not a good day then.”

What was his first clue? “Look, Ray, I’m sorry. I’m tired. I want to go home and sleep. I think I’m coming down with something, but I just don’t want to go and do homework.”

“When are you going to get it finished?”

How in the world did she know? It wasn’t like she cared. “Someday. Maybe in the morning. I’ll set my alarm for early, okay? I just… I’m just spent.” Not a lie in those sentences.

“Okay. I’m just worried. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you sound so bad, and that’s hard coming from you.”

Oh, Ray and his compliments. She’d get the big head if he kept it up. “Don’t be worried. I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”

“And what if you get two roses tomorrow, Sloan? What then? Then can I worry?” Now it was Ray sounding snippy. They all just needed a vacation.

She didn’t say a word, too exhausted to fight with him. Funny how she really didn’t care about anything at the moment: not homework, not Ray, not Aaron, not even Mr. ICU. Oh, she should care. She knew in her mind that she should, but she just couldn’t. All she cared about was her bed and sleep. Sleep sounded good.

“And it worries me that you don’t seem concerned about this. What happened? You were freaking out this morning and now you just want to go home and sleep?”

“I’m tired.”

“We all are, but we have to figure this out. We need to talk. Work on what we found out. You haven’t even asked where I went today.” He had the nerve to sound hurt? Was he serious?

“I didn’t find out much.” She ignored his attitude. “Darcy knows my combination because she used to be my friend and watched when I opened it. Accidently seeing it over and over, I guess. It burned in her mind. So see, nothing, but she got mad when I asked her about it. Accused me of not trusting her. She was right too.”

“Technically, it’s me who didn’t trust her.”

Ya think? “Yeah, thanks for that. I appreciate it.” It wouldn’t take much for him to get the sarcasm in her voice. It wasn’t like she was trying to hide it.

“Sorry about that, well, not really sorry because now we know it’s not her. Or we think we know.”

“We know.” Sloan hit her forehead hard enough to jolt a little on the steering wheel. “What do you know?” Hurry this along, man.

“I went to see Boyd. I know you told me not to,” he added quickly, as if she’d be mad. She was too tired to be mad. As long as he hurried, he’d be okay.

“It’s fine.” She yawned. “What did you find out?”

“Your enthusiasm is overwhelming.”

She rolled her eyes without saying a word.

He took the hint and kept going. “Boyd’s in a wheelchair alright. If he wasn’t, I’m pretty sure he’d gotten up and beaten me for asking. Talked to his mom too. Wow, she’s nothing like Mr. Lawrence.”

“Did you see him?” Sloan finally interjected. Mr. Lawrence had been her favorite teacher, and she very much missed him in Biology.