Page 44 of The Heir

He pulled me to him on the sidewalk as a car zoomed past. “Emma, you are safe. I promise. Please don’t worry about it so much, I will take care of it.” I looked up into his cold blue eyes—they were not comforting.

“How can Inotworry? You are just a kid like me. This is bigger than either of us! We have to go to the police or something. You are so busy all the time; I barely see you, and you are my best friend, and I need my best friend right now.”

“I feel horrible that I wasn’t the one who helped you that night,” Ryker sighed.

I thought back to Shad, and falling apart in his arms, him carrying me off to my bed and watching over me—and my heart fluttered.

“Shad was there. I was fine once he got there.”

He snorted and let me go, walking away. “Look, the intel I have on this guy is really good. I have to get some more people working on it. I am so close, but if he were near here at all, I would know; the intel would know.” He stopped walking, turning around to meet my gaze. “Emma, just trust me. I will never let anything happen to you again.”

I nodded because I didn’t know what else to do. I walked to him, and we were silent for a few minutes as we walked. I couldn’t help but look over at Ryker as he walked beside me, noticing that he was so different from Shad. Ryker’s hair was the color of sunshine; his eyes were a cold ocean blue-gray, and he wore a baseball cap, with jeans and a t-shirt.

Shad was such a stark contrast to him. Shad was there for me when I needed him. Ryker was, too, at the beginning, when I first lost my parents, and I would never forget that. But, I still needed someone, and Shad had been with me, saved me from the horror of my memories. He had asked me if I was okay. I toldhim I would get better with time, and he seemed to understand. He held my hand and touched my shoulder when we were together, as if he knew all I needed was his electric touch, and that with his touch I could survive, I would be okay. Which was true. If Shad never left my side, I would always be okay—forever.

Chapter Fourteen

Aweek passed with no incident. I breathed easier, and the nightmares seemed to stop again. Mary was getting home earlier to be with me, and I felt like, maybe, I had overreacted like Ryker kept telling me. When I told Mary about my theory of this man trying to kill me, she took me to the therapist again. I went a few times, and it made my anxiety lessen so that I could breathe, but I was still worried. Between the therapist and seeing Shad every day at school, I knew I would be okay. Whenever I was around Shad, I forgot about my cares and worries and was swept up in his golden eyes and in the song that I sang in my head, just for him.

I focused on other things, too, to keep my mind free of the horror of my memories. It became easier when the entire homecoming buzz around school was a constant distraction. Everyone wanted to know who was going with whom. Girls in all my classes were gushing about the dresses they picked up at the mall. I wanted to go to the dance, I realized, more than I thought I did. I had a small hope for a little while that Shad might ask me, but nothing was really progressing between us. He still heldmy hand, though, and that had to mean something, right? We had not spent any extra time together after he saved me from that freakout at my house when I didn’t want to introduce him to Mary. I hoped I had not offended him, but what if I had? Perhaps, he was taking things slow because I was such a mess. I would have appreciated that, normally, but I wanted more with Shad.

So much more.

I knew Ryker would be at the homecoming game, and then the dance. He'd told me the year before that it was his duty to attend school functions, something about school pride and spirit and all that. We went together as friends the previous year and had a good time, but I was so ready for something more. I was sixteen, and I was ready to have a real date and a real relationship, and I wanted to dance and get excited about a dress. Just thinking about it took my mind away from my fears.

It was time to make a move to show Shad that I was ready and interested. I wanted to be with him outside of school. I wanted to understand him, find out everything about him. I wanted to be the one he talked to when he was upset, like he had done for me. I wanted to know his hopes and dreams and fears. It scared me a bit how much I liked him, but then I would see him smile and move his hair out of his eyes, put his hands in his pockets and be casually formal in his now only partial prep-school look. Yes, liking him seemed right.

I needed to make things progress between us.

I was determined to ask Shad to go to the movies with me. I knew it was last minute, and I could’ve texted him, but I wanted to talk to him in person, and I felt like making it last minute made it less of a date and more of a no-pressure hang out. Plus, if he said, “no,” maybe it was just because he had other plans. That made it all the less scary for me, because who was I kidding? I wasn't very brave. I didn’t know what movies were playing, butI figured we could figure that out later. I entered our second period math class, and I told myself:you can do this.He let me see his rose book, which was very personal. He had helped me when I needed help the most, and he had not abandoned me. I did not scare him away, and that said something, didn't it? I could certainly ask him to see a movie with me. My fists were shaking near my sides as I slipped into my seat in math class.

“Hello, Emma,” Shad said as he usually did. I smiled and looked at him. He was wearing a gray button-up shirt and black jeans. It was getting a little colder out, and he also wore a dark brown leather jacket. Summer was ending, and autumn was near. His hair was perfectly tufted as usual, and I could smell the scent of him from across the table. Casually put together was his new look and I liked it.

“Hey, Shad, how’s it going?” I asked, taking out my math notebook. Matt and Karen, our table-mates, were not there yet, so I figured it was the perfect time to drop the question.

“It is going well, thank you,” he nodded and smiled at me as he reached for my hand.

I took it as he slipped into the chair beside me, instead of his usual seat in front of me. He had been getting to class early, and so had I, so we could take the seats, side-by-side, and hold hands. His fingers grazed mine, and he scooted his chair closer to me, so our legs brushed, he set my hand on his leg. My hand pulsed with his comforting electric flow, and I felt my heart rate rise and tried to steady my breathing. He ran a thumb down my hand, and I thought I might die as he made circular patterns on my palm, causing all sorts of small electric currents to spark through me.

“I wanted to ask you a question,” I said, not meeting his gaze because I was a coward.

“Yes?” he asked. I was sure his eyebrows rose with curiosity like they always did, but maybe they hadn’t. After all, I wasn’t looking.

“So, I was wondering if maybe, you—I mean, if you are free—and not super busy, but I totally understand if you are—seeing as it is like super last minute, but I was wondering if you would want to, go—with me?” I peeked up at him. His eyes smiled at me, and a little crinkle in his cheeks told me he was holding back a big smile and just giving me a little one.

“Emma, are you asking me to Homecoming?” His hand gripped mine even tighter, and he moved our hands off his lap and set them on the table where everyone could see. His hand let go of mine for a moment, and he moved my fingers and traced the outline of them, and it sent tingles racing through me.

“Oh, no-no-no,” I finally responded with burning cheeks.Did I not mention the movie? Why did I not mention a movie?I went over the words in my head.Did I leave it out?

“I thought, I, being the guy, was supposed to do that.” He smiled, looking at our hands. “Can’t say I am disappointed, however, quite happy, actually.”

“No—no, I mean, that’s—”

“No, you don’t want to go to Homecoming with me?” he asked, furrowing his brow and lifting his golden eyes to meet mine. I pulled my hand away from his and placed both hands on my cheeks, trying to hide my face.

Would he notice if I just slid under the table, now?

He pulled my hand away from my face and touched my cheek with his finger. Ripples of electric currents again flowed through me, and I thought I would drop:surely I will die from this, from this perfectly wonderful feeling.