Saint Sloan (Saint Sloan #1)(56)

“Never.” She smiled as he walked out the door.

Finally, she was alone. Alone wasn’t good. She got up and grabbed some clothes to wear for the day. Since she wasn’t going to school, she decided on some black jogging pants and a long-sleeved eggplant-colored shirt. Sure, it was May, but she was freezing. It wasn’t the coolest May on record, but it felt pretty close.

Sloan locked the door to change clothes, not wanting any unwanted visitors or boyfriends.

Oh glory! Aaron was her boyfriend. Wait. Wasn’t he her boyfriend? Had they decided that last night? They’d decided they liked each other. Did that mean he wanted to go steady, as Donna called it? Did she dare ask or just go with the flow? She should so text Mackenzie.

She grabbed her cell and looked at the time. After eight. Man, she’d slept a long time. And she already had one text from a number she didn’t recognize. She opened it and stared when the picture popped up. A single red rose with the message:

A fake rose until I can give you the real one. Can’t wait till the Fall. I wouldn’t tell Aaron if you truly care about him. He won’t like it if you do. This is between me and you. <3

Sloan stared at the sparkling rose on her phone, not sure what to do. She was lying to her mother, now she needed to lie to Aaron. She couldn’t let anything happen to him, and it would if he knew.

Who knew her cellphone number? She ran to her computer and turned it on, praying it would hurry up before Aaron got back. Finally, it did and she pulled up a search engine. She typed in the number and waited.

“Sloan?” The handle to her door jiggled. “You okay in there?”

“Hold on, Aaron. I’m changing,” she lied as she watched the little circle swirl above the cursor arrow on her screen. Hurry up, she willed it.

“I don’t mind. I can always help.”

“No thanks.” She shook her head. What was she going to do with him? And on a more serious note, how was she going to keep the text from him? With one click, she deleted the message so he wouldn’t find it if he dug.

A list of numbers popped up on the screen. None matched the one she needed. “Prepaid phone,” she whispered. Of course it was. Why did she even waste the time looking?

“Sloan, it doesn’t take that long to throw on a shirt and pants. Come on, let me in.” He banged harder.

Frustrated, she got up and unlocked the door.

“Took you long enough,” he said as he walked by her.

“Patience.” She tried to smile and slid the cellphone in her pants pocket.

Aaron looked around the room and pointed to the computer. “You had time to get online.”

Busted. “Had to check a few things. See if I had any messages.”

“Did you?”

“Didn’t see any,” Sloan lied. She absolutely hated lying, but it was for his own good. Even if something happened to her, at least her mother and Aaron would be okay.

Aaron’s forehead creased, and he walked closer to her. “You sure you’re okay? You’re exceptionally bubbly today.”

Lie and lie fast. “I slept good last night. First time in a long time and I didn’t wake up groggy. That’s a plus.”

“So you’re saying I did you good.” He smirked.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” She hugged him first, settling next to his chest. God, please let me be doing the right thing. Don’t let anything bad happen to him. I couldn’t stand it.

“Speaking of waking up not groggy, did you take any of your headache medicine yesterday?”

She eased up. “You’re bringing that up again? Thought I talked you out of me being a druggie.”

“You did,” he said innocently. “I just wanted to know if you took any headache medicine from the same bottle you have been taking them from.”

That made no sense. “Yeah. I took two before I got in the shower yesterday.”

Ugh, the shower was not a good memory. She fought to not freak out over it. It wouldn’t do any good. She had to stay calm today or Aaron would ask questions. She couldn’t have that because then he’d find out about the text and the fake rose. As much as she wanted to tell him, she couldn’t. She loved him too much.

A broad smile crossed his face. “And you didn’t feel bad or anything afterward? No side effects?”

“Well, I felt like some crazy person came into my bathroom and left a threatening note.”

“Not that, Loopy. Did you feel like you normally do when you take them? Sleepy? Dizzy? Out of it?”

Come to think of it… “No. I didn’t. Hmm… Reckon’ why?”

Aaron’s smile got bigger, if that was even possible. “I had Ray switch the bottles.”

“You did what?”

“Yesterday. He said he asked for a pencil or something from your bag. He switched the bottles.”

That’s why she’d heard the rattling. “Why?”

“Because I had a theory. I think the pills you’ve been taking were planted. I think they were very strong pain pills someone put in your over-the-counter bottle to make you think they were innocent aspirin. The fact that you didn’t have any side effects proves it.”

Pretty sneaky. “But who could do that? My bag is always with me.”

Aaron cocked his head. “This guy can get into your locked car, your locker, your own bathroom, and you wonder how he could get into your backpack?”