Saint Sloan (Saint Sloan #1)(27)

She was shaking. Angry shaking. How dare they accuse of her things when someone was stalking her!

“Whoa!” Her mom threw her hands up in the air. “You have a stalker. Sloan Bridges, why am I just hearing about this now?”

“Great.” She laughed through the tears. “This is exactly how I wanted to tell my mom. Thanks, Aaron. Just thanks.”

She stared at him, hoping he got how furious she was at him. He could have taken her outside and had a private conversation with her. He hadn’t needed to ask her right in front of God and everyone.

“Stalker or not. Roses or not. You’re acting funny, Sloan. Not yourself. I’m worried about you. We all… we care,” Aaron said, looking at her with the same intensity he had all evening.

He could take his intensity and shove it for all she cared.

“You have until three to tell me what’s going on.” Her mother threw her purse down on the empty island, the island that once had the letters ICU on it. Sloan knew they had been there, so where were they now?

“One.” Her mother said.

“They were here,” Sloan told Aaron, not paying any attention to her mother’s countdown. “They were here.” She never took her eyes off Aaron. She hated him at that second, but she had to make him understand. He was the only one she could look at. The only one she could focus all of her attention on. “Rose petals. They were all over the island.”

“Two.”

“Mother, stop!” she yelled. She’d never yelled at her mother, but she couldn’t stop herself. “I’m trying to explain, but you won’t let me.”

“You aren’t explaining,” her mom yelled back at her. They were all screaming apparently. “You’re talking about roses and the island and whatever else. I don’t understand, Sloan. Are you on drugs?”

“No, Mom. I’m not. I swear I’m not. And I’m not crazy. They were right here. The roses. The petals. They were here.”

She looked from her mom to Aaron to Ray. None of them looked like they believed her. Great. Just wonderful. “You know what. Forget it. Just forget it. I’m done.”

Sloan turned and ran out the back door. She stumbled a few times when she got out there and had to catch herself on the car hood. What in the world was happening to her? Boyd had hit her pretty hard in the head back in December. Was she having side effects from Boyd throwing her against the sink and hitting her head on the faucet? Sleepiness? Drowsiness? Insanity?

She shut her eyes and bowed her head while holding on to the hood. She didn’t want to be insane. She’d seen it. She’d seen it. She knew she had. The flowers had been in her car. They had been in her room. They had been in her locker! She hadn’t made them up. Okay, so no one else had seen them, but that didn’t mean she’d made them up.

Pressure on her shoulder made her yell and turn around. Aaron looked down at her, heat filling his eyes. “Freaking out or pouting?”

“Excuse me?” she huffed.

“Are you out here freaking out or pouting? ‘Cause I can leave you alone if you are pouting. It’s your right. If you’re freaking out, I might be able to help.”

“Like I’d want your help,” she bit back. “If you’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“I never said you were crazy. Let’s just get that straight right now.”

He was so close she could hit him if she wanted. So close she could hug him if she needed. “I saw the flowers. I saw them. They were in my car on Sunday, in my locker on Monday, and delivered to my house this morning. I know no one else has seen them, but…”

Aaron took her by the shoulders, firm but gentle. He bent down to look right at her eyes. “I don’t think you’re crazy. I think… I think you need help. I think maybe you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.”

“With the drugs?” she barely said over a whisper. He couldn’t really believe that, could he?

“Just tell me what you’re taking, Sloan. I can help you.”

“Why do you keep thinking I’m taking drugs?” she yelled. This was getting nowhere fast. How could he have jumped to such a wrong conclusion so quickly?

He wiped his mouth with his hand in a sign of frustration. At least that’s how she took it. He could be wiping away crumbs for all she knew. “Your eyes are bloodshot and you have black circles under them like you haven’t slept for days, but you say you sleep a lot. You’re frustrated, upset easily…”

She cut him off. “Anyone would be frustrated and upset easily. You all are jumping to conclusions. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Paranoid.” He kept right on going. “I’ve seen it before, remember? I know how these things look.”

“You think I’m hallucinating. You think none of this is real.”

“I think you think it’s real. I think it’s very real to you, and you convinced Ray it’s real because he went to talk to Boyd and his mother. I’m not a fan of Boyd’s, by any means, but he’s one hundred percent in a wheelchair. He’s not getting out anytime soon. He can’t be stalking you. Didn’t you freak out yesterday and call the police because you thought you saw someone watching you from across the road?”

She nodded, not liking where this was going.