I looked at Tyler. He was too young to remember the way Mom laughed when Dad tried to dance with her as she washed the dinner dishes. Too young to remember Dad showing him pictures of buildings and explaining how his sons would know how to hammer in a nail correctly before the age of ten.
And Jacob. Old enough to remember, but too young to fully understand everything he lost. He’d never know the pride of walking in with Mom on parent appreciation night. He’d never know the explosion of joy when Dad told him that he was a natural when he used his first power tool.
They’d never know that they lost the two most amazing people on the face of the planet. They’d never know how the loss had torn me up every single day of my life.
I took a deep breath and tried again. “How would you feel about the two of you living here forever and me just coming to visit?”
MRS. COLLINS RAN THE STOP SIGN at the end of Jacob and Tyler’s street. I sat in my car, alone.
Echo.
I had let her walk away and it wasn’t over custody of my brothers. Mrs. Collins was right. Deep down I’d thought loving her was a betrayal of my parents and my brothers.
But I loved Echo. I needed her. And I was going to win her back.
I turned on the car and the engine sputtered to life. Foster care was educational—in a “five to seven years with the possibility of parole” kind of way. The question was what to do with all of the information I’d gathered.
Echo
“He’s where?” I screeched. I turned off Aires’ car and flew out of the seat. The entire world had gone insane. First Ashley went into early labor. Now Noah insisted upon being crazy.
“Dammit, Beth. I told you not to smoke that shit. Noah is going to be pissed.” Isaiah rubbed a hand over his buzzed head. For once, I was glad that Beth was stoned into near-incomprehension and rambling.
“What exactly does he think he’s going to get?” I asked. “He already knows everything about his brothers and he told me that he’s following the letter of the law. Breaking into Mrs. Collins’s office is not following the letter of the law!”
Isaiah clapped his hands together. “Let’s take it for a ride.”
Had Isaiah also lost his mind? “Your best friend … your brother is going to break into school and then break into Mrs. Collins’s office and you want to take the car for a ride?”
Isaiah rubbed his hands together in mock excitement, but frustration marred his eyes. “Yes.”
“No.” I waved my hand in the air. “No. We’ve got to stop him. He cannot be caught or he’ll lose his brothers. Oh, my God, he can be such a stubborn idiot. What could breaking in possibly accomplish?”
“He wants you back,” slurred Beth.
Lightning bolts could have flashed out of the cloudless night and set my tennis shoes on fire, and I would have been less surprised. “Excuse me?”
Beth sat on the concrete and rested her head against the workbench, eyelids fluttering in exhaustion. “He’s in love with you and wants you to be his one and only. And some other bullshit about you not being in second place and proving you wrong.”
Ding, ding. Noah wanted my file and he wanted me back. My heart squeezed in warmth and joy then dropped and became cold. No, he couldn’t risk anything for me—not when it could cost him his brothers. I turned to Isaiah. “We have to stop him. When did he leave?”
“He wanted to wait until it got dark. Noah came home all messed up. I assumed he saw you and you guys had a fight. Babbled on about how he screwed things up with you and was determined to set it right. He asked me to come here, fix the car and then to keep you here until he showed.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?” I dug my keys out of my pocket.
“You don’t stop Noah.”
Guess again.
ISAIAH SLID HIS CAR INTO A spot at the supermarket across the street from the high school and cut the engine. I tried Noah’s cell and for the millionth time it went to voice mail.
“Why don’t you park at the school?” I asked.
Isaiah gave me an are-you-a-moron glance. “Police patrol the school grounds every two hours. They’ll know something is up if there’s a car in the school’s lot.”
Sure enough, Noah too had parked his car at the supermarket. “Done this before?”
“Just for kicks to play ball in the gym, but never to break into an office.”
I squeezed the door handle and eyed Beth, who was passed out in the backseat. “She okay?”
“Yeah, just fucked up.” He pulled at an earring. “I can’t leave her in the car like this and if we wake her up, she’ll make enough noise to raise eyebrows. Odds are Noah would have picked the side entrance nearest to the main office. He’ll place something small in the doorway to keep the door from relocking him in. Make sure you keep that there. Grab him and tell him you two can argue later.”
“Thanks.”
I ran across the street and tried to keep my lungs from exploding. Good God, I was breaking and entering to keep my stupid, stubborn, sweet-as-can-be—boyfriend? Ex-boyfriend? Maybe boyfriend again?—out of jail.
Just like Isaiah said, Noah had left the side door next to the office propped open. I slipped in, making sure I kept the door exactly how I found it. Mrs. Collins would love finding the two of us locked in her office.
I had that eerie horror flick feel as the lights flashed on ahead of me with every step I took. My heart flew up to pound in my throat. I kept looking over my shoulder, waiting for someone to rush up from behind me and suck my blood or drag me off to prison.
At first I skulked against the lockers, then realized what a fool I was. The freaking lights were already on and would turn off once all movement stopped. No more skulking—I ran.
Thank God, the office lights were switch only. I’d had enough of motion sensors. Problem? Mrs. Collins’s office door was closed and no light shined from underneath the door. Had Noah already left?
The hallway went dark, but seconds later the lights flickered back on. Talk about freaking completely out. I grabbed the handle to Mrs. Collins’s door and almost yelped when it came open. As quietly as I could, I closed the door and backed away from it, hoping and praying that whoever entered the office was either Noah or wouldn’t find me.
The urge to scream zapped from my toes to my mouth when something warm and strong came up behind me and jerked me into the coat cabinet. The door of the cabinet shut before my eyes.
Noah hissed in my ear, “What are you doing here?”
I harshly whispered back, “I could ask you the same thing! I’m here to save your butt from going to jail over something stupid and losing your brothers.”
Footsteps echoed from the main office. I clutched Noah’s hand, which was still wrapped around my waist, and he pulled me closer to him. He barely whispered, “Side door?”
I nodded. If the security guard found the side door propped open, they’d know someone entered the building. I reached into my pocket and withdrew my phone, texting Isaiah rapidly: un-prop side door asap!
Seconds later Isaiah texted back: on it.
Noah lowered his head so his nose skimmed the tender area right behind my ear. His warm breath tickled my sensitive skin. I’d missed him and his touch. Why did he have to go and do something so idiotic?
I wasn’t worth losing his brothers. If Noah got caught he’d get arrested. My stomach dropped to my toes. What did I have to lose? I was a two-bit artist roaming the country with her canvases. So I’d have a record (every muscle cringed) and I’d have to stay at least one night in jail (vomit burned the back of my throat). Yeah, it would be great.
Noah’s arms tightened and I could have sworn he kissed my hair. I could do it—for him. I could give myself up and tell Noah to stay hidden. I was reaching out to shove open the door when Noah’s hand smacked it back down and held it to my stomach in a death grip. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he asked in a low voice.
“Taking a peek to see if we’re in the clear?” Crap, I sucked at lying.
“Hell, no, and you’re full of shit. You’re staying here with me.”
“Your brothers …”
“I gave them up.”
I shifted so I could see his face and the pain in his eyes sliced through me. “Not for me.”
His throat moved as he swallowed and he shook his head. “For them.”
My cell vibrated. Isaiah texted back: Bad. Get out thru window now. Car ready.
“Fuck,” whispered Noah. “I must have triggered an alarm. Come on.”
He quietly opened the door to the coat cabinet. In a methodical yet somehow fluid motion, he opened one of the windows. Without headlights, Isaiah’s car moved stealthily into the student parking lot.
Noah picked up one of my feet to help lift me out the window. “Keep running until you can get in Isaiah’s car.”
“What about you?” Pure panic shook my insides. I thought my eyes were going to wheel out of my head.
He gave me his relaxed, wicked grin. “I’ll be right behind you, baby. Did I ever mention you’re uptight?”
As he gave me a boost, I noticed that Mrs. Collins’s desk sat file-free. Oh, well. I rapidly climbed through the window and sprinted across the parking lot toward Isaiah, peeking behind my shoulder to see Noah crouched near the wall. Blood pounded in my veins and the cool night air burned my lungs as I raced to freedom.
The back passenger door flew open and I dove inside, landing on Beth’s feet. I slammed the door behind me. My gut twisted at the sight of Noah running full speed toward the car. Lights in the main office flashed on. Isaiah continued to drive closer to Noah. My eyes darted between Noah and Mrs. Collins’s dark office. Isaiah threw the front passenger door open and took off the second Noah landed in the front seat.
“We’ve got to get out of here.” Isaiah glanced in his rearview mirror.
“Take me to my car then go home.” Noah was watching the dark, closed window of Mrs. Collins’s office. He cackled and hooted when the light turned on the moment we crossed the invisible freedom line of the grocery store parking lot.
Isaiah pulled up next to Noah’s car and the two of us got out. Beth still lay sound asleep in the back. Isaiah called out to us, “Fight someplace else. Don’t stay here.”
Noah offered Isaiah his hand. “Thanks, bro.”
Accepting it, Isaiah answered, “Anytime, man.”
Isaiah drove off as Noah started his car and followed after him. Two blocks from the school, a police car with lights flashing and no siren drove past us going the opposite direction. That had been freaking close.
Noah covered my hand with his. “You okay, baby?”
“Yeah.” But I didn’t feel okay. I felt anything but okay. I waited for my pulse to stop beating my veins like a gang initiation, for the blood to leave my face and for my lungs to not burn as I gasped. We were safe now. We were free, but my body still reacted like the devil was chasing me.
Another cop car drove past and the blue and red flashing lights hurt my eyes. In my temples, a slow, steady throb mimicked the rhythm of the blue light—away and near, away and near.
