The Lost Saint(65)

Talbot ditched the drinks on a table and came after me. “Don’t leave, please!” He grabbed my hand as I started up the stairs, and whipped me around toward him. His face creased with concern, but then his eyes narrowed with anger. “That guy who was following you, did he hurt you?”

“Not tonight,” I said. “But he has before. We kind of have a bad history.”

Talbot’s hand shook as he grasped my wrist. “I can go back there and talk to him. Make sure he never bothers you again.”

“No. Don’t. Pete isn’t the kind of guy who will listen.”

“Then we can make him listen. You know we can.”

“Please, don’t. Pete isn’t worth it. That’s why I need to leave.”

Talbot still shook with anger. I didn’t want him to go back and try to start anything with Pete. I slipped my free hand into his and gave it a light squeeze. “Walk me out, okay? I need to go home before it gets too late.”

“Stay,” he said in a low voice.

“I have a midterm test tomorrow, and you can probably stake out the Shadow Kings better without me. If Pete and his friends try to make a scene because I’m here, they might ruin any chance of us being able to follow the SKs. You can follow them tonight, and then maybe we can figure out what to do with whatever information you get tomorrow.”

Talbot sighed. “Fine.”

I let him hold my hand, his fingers intertwined with mine, until we got to my car. I pulled my hand out of his and folded my arms in front of my chest. He opened my door for me.

“We’re friends, right?” I asked.

“Yes. Of course.”

“Good.” I gave Talbot a small smile and climbed into the driver’s seat of the Corolla. I didn’t want to lose Talbot from my life—he’d already helped me so much, changed me—but I also didn’t want him thinking there was something between us that couldn’t exist. “I like it that way.”





LATER




I was worrying what to do about Talbot, and simultaneously hoping he wouldn’t get himself into trouble with the Shadow Kings, when the Corolla sputtered and almost died at the light at Markham and Vine. If I’d been paying attention at all to what I had been doing before now, I never would have come this way—especially this late. Markham was definitely the last place I wanted to be alone at any time of the night. I checked my door locks and prayed that I could get the car all the way home. Sure, I could run back to Rose Crest if I needed to, but how would I ever explain how the car got all the way out to the city without my parents knowing I’d snuck off when I was supposedly in bed?

I definitely needed to have Daniel look at the engine before I took the car on another late-night joyride.

Crap. Daniel.

He was supposed to call me tonight, and I’d left my phone in the car. I felt like a jerk for giving him such a hard time for standing me up—and now he probably thought I was avoiding his calls.

The light turned green, and I cautiously eased my sputtering car into the intersection. I turned right and got as far away from Markham Street as I could before I pulled my cell out of the cup holder between the two front seats. I checked the screen.

No messages.

No missed calls.

I dialed Daniel’s number. He picked up on the fifth ring.

“Hey, what’s up?” he said a little too casually. He sounded like me when I was trying too hard to seem normal.

I could hear faint music and a ticking sound—maybe that cat clock of Maryanne’s in his apartment?—in the background. I also heard what sounded like someone else speaking in a hushed tone.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Home.”

“Is somebody there?”

“No. Just watching TV.” I heard him cough and then the sounds of the music, and the voice died away.

“You didn’t call. You promised you’d call, but you didn’t.” Never mind the fact that I wouldn’t have been there to answer—but still.

“I’m sorry,” he said. No explanation offered.

“So where were you this afternoon? I sat there waiting for you for almost an hour. I thought you wanted to help me with my application.”

“I do, Gracie. But something came up, okay?”

“What? What could possibly come up that you’d forget? You didn’t even call.”


Daniel sighed. He stayed silent for a moment. “Katie called me this morning. She was freaking out because her little brothers got into her room and trashed all the posters we’d made for the fund-raising booths. She came over so we could make all new ones, and it was so much work … I guess I just lost track of time.”

“Wait, you’re telling me that you stood me up because you were with Katie, alone, in your apartment, and you lost track of time? What the hell were you two really doing?”

Daniel swore under his breath. “It’s not like how it sounds. You know me better than that.”

“Do I?” I hated myself for getting so mad. I mean, if I told him what I’d been up to this evening, it would sound just as bad. But what I’d done was all in the name of finding Jude. It had a higher purpose behind it—unlike Daniel, who had just blown me off to paint pictures with another girl. Something that used to be our thing. “You’ve been hanging out in bars, lying to me, running out on dinner, and standing me up. I feel like I barely even know you anymore.”