Saint Sloan (Saint Sloan #1)(47)

“Well, just like Boyd. Tall. Blondish hair. Had on a hoodie. But when the police got here, they couldn’t find any trace of him.”

“Hmm…” Mackenzie wrote. “Ray has blond hair too, you know.”

Ray’s head shot up and his eyes were wide. “So do a thousand other people. Doesn’t mean I had anything to do with it. Why would I play Peeping Tom in Sloan’s window at six in the morning?”

“Because you love her,” Aaron said with a low voice.

Sloan’s throat caught. She couldn’t believe he’d actually had the nerve to say it.

Mackenzie’s jaw dropped, and her eyes cut to Sloan.

A sly grin crossed Ray’s lips. “So do you, brother. Does that make you a Peeping Tom?”

“I’m not blond,” Aaron answered quickly.

“Boys!” Sloan’s mother reprimanded. “This is getting us nowhere! No. Where. If you both truly care for Sloan, just shut up and let her talk so we can figure out what’s going on before doomsday.” She threw them some wrapped hamburgers and fries she’d brought home. “Here, use your mouths for something besides talking. Eat. Listen.”

Ray’s cheeks turned red, and Aaron smiled. It had been a while since someone had mothered them. “Yes ma’am.” Aaron said, much to Sloan’s surprise. He took his burger and started chomping down.

“Continue,” her mother said as she threw a hamburger to Sloan.

Sloan opened it and took a bite, not really hungry. “The day went okay. Felt kind of stupid for calling the police for something like that, wasting taxpayer money and all. When I started to leave, I opened my locker and found four roses with another note about the Fall.”

“A countdown.” Mackenzie said, opening her burger wrapper.

“That’s what I figure.”

“And you got three yesterday?”

“Yeah. But that’s a bit controversial.”

Aaron raised his eyes to her, but didn’t stop chewing. He got the message.

“Why is it controversial?” Mackenzie asked as she looked from Aaron to Sloan and back again.

“Because Aaron thinks I made it all up and sent three roses to myself.”

He threw his hamburger down and swallowed the bite he had in his mouth in a big gulp. “I did not say that. I said that the order slip had your name on it.”

“Because it came to her?” Mackenzie said, clearly not getting this.

“Because I ordered it… apparently.” Sloan said as she bit the head off a fry.

Mackenzie shook her head and said the very appropriate, “Huh?”

Aaron wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I just told you the facts, Sloan.”

“The fact that I’m crazy or that I’m a drama queen and have been sending myself these flowers?” Oh she was mad. Shaking mad. Beyond angry mad. In all honesty, she hadn’t known Aaron’s conclusion at school had affected her so much.

For a few seconds no one said anything. The tension built to an uncomfortable level before Aaron scooted out of his chair, walked around the table, and grabbed Sloan by the arm. “We need to settle this.” He pulled her off the chair and toward the back door.

Ray got up and blocked it. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Relax. I’m just talking to her, junior. She needs to know that I don’t think she’s crazy.”

“We need to figure this out.” Ray said, refusing to budge.

“And we will, but we can’t get anything finished with Miss Snarky Britches here. Now move.”

Aaron wouldn’t take no for an answer. Ray looked at Sloan, who finally nodded. It wasn’t like Aaron would hurt her, and maybe they did need to hash this out so they could get on with figuring out who was stalking her. Plus, it wasn’t like Ray had anything to be so high and mighty over. According to Boyd, he hadn’t even gone to see him.

Ray moved out of the way.

“Thanks so much,” Aaron snipped. He pulled the door open and held Sloan’s arm until she walked through.

Once they were outside, he let her go and she stomped to the other side of the concrete porch. The wind had picked up since she’d left Donna’s house. A spring storm was coming.

“We don’t have time for this,” she huffed as she pulled the ponytail holder out of her hair. It was killing her head, which wasn’t hard. Everything killed her head.

“You seem to be making time,” Aaron threw back from about five feet away.

Good. She hoped he stayed that far back.

“All you’ve done is bring it up about the flowers and what I said. How about you let me explain?”

“Oh I’d love for you to.” This should be good. Really. How was he going to talk himself out of this one?

He shut his eyes like he was trying to calm down. She couldn’t tell if it was working or not. “I’ve been worried about you. That’s no secret. With the pills and the whatever, you’ve not been yourself.”

“So you think I’m a druggie and hallucinating all of this?”

“No!” Aaron yelled. “That’s not what I think!” He paced and looked like he was walking back inside.

Abruptly, he seemed to change his mind and made it across the porch to her in three steps. Without giving her time to protest or even think about what in the world he was doing, he crashed his lips into hers so hard they both took a few steps back. By the time her mind registered to her mouth that she was supposed to be mad at him, she was too far gone. She wrapped her fingers in his hair and kissed him harder, enjoying the break from reality.