Page 284 of Nobody's Girl

Kyle looks up at me. “He was in your room. I can’t believe he was in the house and no one noticed.”

“Eden’s father thinks the best thing to do is to try to bring him out of hiding,” I tell them as I scramble the eggs.

“While that is probably the smartest thing to do, you do have to realize you would be put in danger, Ally,” Kyle tells me.

I nod. “What else can be done?”

“I don’t know, but after what Lyle said about the bird in the drawer, I know this guy is a complete psycho,” Kyle tells me.

“What did Lyle say was in the drawer?” I ask, praying I heard him wrong.

“You know, a black bird with a piece of string wrapped around its neck that he must have used to choke it to death,” Kyle tells me.

The blood goes out of my face. I stumble a little. Kyle jumps up, grabbing me, then taking me to sit in a chair at the dining table. Crap! A black bird he choked to death. Not only does he want to kill me, he knows what I am.

I look up at Kyle and send to him, ‘He knows what I am!’

His arms close around me as I fall and things go black.

CHAPTER 50

Kyle

“Ally, are you going to faint?” I ask as I sit Ally down.

Laura gets a wet towel and holds it to her forehead. “Ally, you okay? You turned so pale,” she says.

‘He knows I’m a bird,’ she sends to me. ‘This is bad! This is really bad. He has to be stopped. He’ll tell people. What are we going to do?’

“Eden didn’t tell you about the bird?” I ask, knowing damn well he didn’t, but I’m trying to talk out loud so Laura doesn’t get confused at how I know certain things that have gone unsaid. “Shit! He’s going to be so mad at me for running my mouth.”

“No, I needed to know that. He would’ve told me anyway. Don’t worry,” Ally says as she looks at me, then Laura.

“I’ll finish making breakfast, Al. Just sit there and chill. Kyle get her a glass of juice, please,” Laura orders.

I bring Ally back a glass of apple juice, then sit down next to her, putting my arm around her shoulders. Her head drops onto my shoulder. My mind is spinning out of control. I have so much to do and Laura’s not knowing about what we are is a pain in the ass.

I know she could handle the secret, but I have to get Eden and Ally to agree.

I kiss the side of her head, like I used to do all the time. “Everything’ll be all right, Ally. You have a lot of people around you who love you. We won’t let this freak get you.”

Her hand takes mine and she holds it in her lap as she sends me, ‘I feel safe with you here.’

My arm tightens around her shoulders and I hug her to my chest. ‘You’re safe with me here, baby,’ I send back.

Laura brings us each a plate, setting them down in front of us, then gets hers and comes to sit on the other side of Ally. “Eat up, Al, you need to keep your strength up,” she tells her with a smile.

Ally grins at her and leans over to kiss her cheek. “I love you, Laura. You’re going to be such a good mother someday.”

Eden comes into the kitchen, sees us all piled in close to each other, and smiles. I’m happy to see he isn’t unhappy with me being so close to Ally. She’s tucked into my side with my arm wrapped around her.

“I see you’re being well taken care of, Alyssa,” he says as he grabs a plate.

Laura jumps up. “Go sit, Eden. I’ve got it,” she commands him as she pushes at him to sit down across from us.

He’s still smiling at Ally. I’m not sure if my close proximity to her is making him uncomfortable or if he’s actually happy I’m watching over her so closely. Laura puts his plate and juice in front of him, then returns to her seat next to Ally.

“The police are watching the surveillance video right now. So we’ll know shortly how he got into the house,” Eden tells us. “Laura, I wanted to thank you for saving my wife’s life last night. If you hadn’t been with her, or if you had decided to come into the house for even a minute, he would’ve had her.”