“I have ambition,” I whisper at last.
His hand closes once more around my wrists, keeping me pinned down. Then I hear the sound of a zipper as he says, “Fine. We’ll go to school tomorrow. Sleep if you want to, cricket, but it’ll be with my cock inside you.”
26
Piper
Present Day
“Now what?”
We’re sitting at the Starbucks bordering Main Street, Josh drinking his latte while I’ve just spent one of Quill’s twenty-dollar bills on a peppermint white chocolate mocha.
It feels kind of silly to have spent so much money on a drink, especially since I’ve decided I won’t be using the Amex card anymore, since it’s probably making it even easier for Quill to stalk me.
That means I have to make do with the pile of bills he left me. Eighty dollars. And I’ve just spent 7.35 dollars of it.
Josh doesn’t know my reputation yet. I don’t want to be poor Piper Day to him. I want to be normal. A normal person with a normal friend who does normal things.
Like hunt for her parents’ murderer.
Okay, maybe that isn’t fully normal, but you wouldn’t know it by the way Josh is currently writing, pencil and notepad in hand, between gulps of his coffee.
“So, the facts we’ve gathered so far are: your parents are dead.” He actually scribbles that sentence down and adds a little bullet point to the left of it. “Someone killed them while you were in the shower. You’re very unpopular in Astley.”
If it were anyone else turning this traumatic event into a Blues Clues investigation, I’d probably punch them in the face. But I know Josh doesn’t mean to be unfeeling. He’s just so excited toactually be trying to solve a mystery that he keeps forgetting it’smymystery. My very painful mystery.
I have no desire to remind him of that right now, because all I want is to detach myself from it all and follow him into Blues Clues land instead.
“What’s wrong?” he asks suddenly.
Uhm. Where do I even start?
But he’s staring at my leg, currently bouncing up and down frantically, my heel pushing up against the chair.
“Oh,” I say, trying to calm my jitters. “I’m not used to caffeine.”
It’s true. I’ve never felt the need to drink coffee or Red Bull or any other drink for energy. I’m already energetic as it is. Sometimes it feels like my mind can barely keep up with my tongue. And my mind itself is already so overactive it’s a wonder I can even sleep at night.
Now, my leg is jumping in a nervous rhythm that has a lot more to do with the mocha in my veins than with everything that’s happening.
Typical Piper to get nervous from coffee instead of, well, whoever’s out to kill me.
And Quill is nowhere to be seen. Shouldn’t he have realized by now I’ve escaped? Shouldn’t he have found me? He knows everything about me. He probably spends his time watching me. So why is he leaving me alone? Is he in trouble with the Devil soldiers? Or has he decided to stop caring about what happens to me?
Okay, maybe my thoughtsarecontributing to my jittery body. But the caffeine is definitely not helping.
Josh raises an eyebrow. “That drink is like, straight sugar. Is there any caffeine in it at all?”
“I guess so. You know, I can’t even have Coke. The beverage kind, I mean. I don’t even want to know how I’d act if I had the other kind.”
My teeth are chattering as I keep blathering on, and Josh suddenly removes his sweater and puts it around me. I’m terribly aware of how unlike Quill’s hoodie it is. Josh is wearing one of those awful wool things that look like something a grandpa would wear, but he’s sweet. Everything about him is sweet and endearing. The truth is, Quill’s right. Those two girls at college weren’t real friends. I haven’t heard from them once since I left for Christmas Break. And I never even thought to tell them about my parents’ death.
Josh is the first person I’ve actually felt was my friend, and I vow to never take him for granted. Even when Quill’s oppressive presence is in the room, making me forget about everything but him.
“It’s got to be eighty degrees in this place,” says Josh, dabbing at his forehead with an exaggerated air, but it’s true that the Starbucks cafe is really hot.
But I’m still cold, my limbs shaking because of the coffee, my stomach twisting because of Quill.
