Saint Sloan (Saint Sloan #1)(58)

Donna: next door. Safe.

Sarah Blaylock: living in Travis’ house.

Travis, Boyd’s former best friend: Gone. No one knew where.

Darcy: ?

Tanner: Probably in some drugged-out haze.

Her dad: shacking up a few states away with Tiffani.

He hadn’t even called. To be fair, she hadn’t called him either.

Mentally exhausted, she doodled on the paper. This particular movie was pretty boring so she tuned it out. Something about aliens. She didn’t really care. After she’d sketched an entire garden, Aaron’s phone sang. He flipped it open.

“Ray,” he told her. “He wants to know if you need him to come over.” Aaron looked at her expectantly. “Do you want him to come over?”

That was the big question now, wasn’t it? How did she say yes without hurting Aaron’s feelings or possibly leading Ray on? “Tell him whatever he wants to do.” There, put the ball in his court. Genius.

Aaron entered the text. Almost instantly one came back. “He said he’ll see you tomorrow. Early, so you can start on pictures and stuff before the prom. Is that okay?” Aaron pointed to the screen. “He actually asked that. Is that okay?”

It sort of hurt that he didn’t want to come over. They used to hang out all the time, but she understood. She’d been forced to choose, and she hadn’t chosen him. “Yeah. Tell him yeah, that’s fine. Tell him to be here around noon.”

“So early? Prom’s not till, what, six?”

“Five-thirty, but we were going to get some supper first and take lots and lots of pictures.” She glanced at her mom, who grinned.

“Ah.” Aaron keyed in Sloan’s reply. “A full-on date then.”

Her mom nearly choked on her popcorn. “I’m sorry.” She coughed. “I just… I’m sorry.” She went to the kitchen, and Sloan heard water filling a cup.

“This is even too much for her.” Sloan laughed, rubbing her forehead.

Aaron grinned. “I’m kidding, you know? About the date. I know you two are just friends.”

She smiled and cuddled up to him. If only that were true.





CHAPTER TEN


The Fall



SLOAN WOKE UP FRIDAY MORNING ALONE in her bed. It was the day. The day of the prom. The day of her fall.

Aaron spent the night, but, at her mother’s insistence, he stayed on the couch. It was fine with her. She needed time to think. It would probably prove to be a very long day.

Since she didn’t have to go to school, she stared at the ceiling, thinking about the facts she did know. Someone had switched the medicine in her bottle to prescription strength, similar to the ones Darcy took. If her stalker could get in her house and in her car and in her locker without being detected, it wasn’t a stretch to believe he could switch the medicine.

It was like he was a ghost and could walk through her walls without being detected. Like maybe she’d trusted him — or her — at one time. Maybe he or she had even been in her house. ICU had been in her house Wednesday night. In her bathroom while she’d showered. Her body shook thinking about it. She hated the thought that someone had snuck in and had caught her so vulnerable.

The cellphone on her nightstand started singing, and she picked it up, expecting it to be Mackenzie ready to chat about their prom plans. Mackenzie didn’t know about the final flower she’d gotten via text yesterday. No one knew. To protect her family, she had to keep it to herself. If ICU could sneak into her house, he could make good on his promise to hurt the people she loved.

It wasn’t Mackenzie’s name that popped up. Unknown number. Perfect.

Her hands shook as she pressed the open button.

One more rose. A real one this time. Time for the Fall. Are you excited for prom? I am. Scared to show? Don’t be. Someone is falling tonight. You? Mackenzie? The little boyfriend of yours? Your choice. Get pretty for me. And comb your hair. It looks like a rat’s nest. ICU.

Sloan threw her phone on the bed and ran to the window. No one was on the street or around from where she could see. Freaking out, she fell to the floor and propped her back on the door. Pulling her legs up to her chest, she hugged them and sobbed into her knees.

She couldn’t do this. But if she didn’t go, if she refused and locked herself in her room like a hermit, he would hurt the people she cared about. Did she doubt him? No, she didn’t.

For what seemed like eternity, she sat on the floor crying, thinking, praying, needing a way out. With a pounding heart, she did the only thing she knew to do. She crawled over to her bed, grabbed her phone, and sat back down on the floor. Looking through her contacts, she called the one person she didn’t want to dial, but knew she had to. Too much was at stake not to let someone know.

It only took two rings for the person on the other end to answer.

“Good morning. Detective Morgan.”





SLOAN TOOK EXTRA TIME getting ready. She washed her face and splashed cold water under her eyes. It was going to be a long day, and she needed to relax as much as she could. Thankfully, Detective Morgan believed her about the threatening letters and texts. Sloan even forwarded the last one to the detective before deleting it. She couldn’t let Aaron or her mom see it. Detective Morgan hesitated when Sloan insisted they not tell her mother what was going on, but agreed when Sloan explained how Mr. ICU had threatened to hurt her. After a tense conversation, it was decided that an extra officer in an unmarked car would post outside Sloan’s house to protect her mother in case Mr. ICU made good on his threat early.