Page 26 of Voyeur
The night air washes over us, and we don’t speak for a long time. I may be the quarterback football star, but Declan is the star of the high school. He’s the mayor’s son, and because of that, he thinks he can do whatever he wants to. Because he can.
“What the fuck is wrong with them?” I ask.
Conner shrugs. “I don’t know, but there’s no use in getting into shit with them when they’re this far gone.”
“I know.”
“Stanner, Whitfield, get your asses in here! We’re going to have some fun!”
When our eyes meet, it’s as if we both understand what needs to be done. We both know that they can’t be allowed to tarnish some girl and ruin her life. I think of my mom and what she’d say if she knew I stood by and watched, that I was an accessory.
As we turn and head back inside, it’s decided. They will harm no one tonight. And if it came to violence, it wouldn’t be the girl on the table who was enduring it.
I open my eyes, looking over toward the red-stained screen door that hangs from one hinge at its top corner. I remember the race of my heart as I pushed back into the house, ready to go toe to toe with Declan. He was the mayor’s son, and the biggest lineman we had on the team. If only it hadn’t gone so fucking wrong.
I sigh, pushing my car into drive. I pull away from the curb. Glenmont had given me the address of where Carina was supposed to be staying while in school, but I decide after peeling open the wounds of my past, I’ll leave hers alone.
Instead, I pull onto I-5 and head back home, head full of memories and chest seizing with emotion.
Conner was right. I should’ve stayed away.
* * *
She’s notat her desk.
Odd. Since she’s been here, she hasn’t missed a day, and today is definitely a day when she should be here.
“She’s out today,” Suzanne says from behind me.
I swing around. “Where is she?”
She shrugs. “Don’t know. No-call, no-show.”
I think about the man I chased off only a little over a week ago, and my heart pumps faster.
“Has anyone called her?” I ask.
She shrugs and moves down the hall, her heels clicking as she goes. I roll my eyes.
Way to take initiative, Suzanne.
When I burst into Conner’s office, he abruptly sits up. He pulls his feet off his desk where they’d been perched and places his sub down on the table. He’s got his napkin covering his shirt, and I damn near smirk. Almost.
“Why’s no one checked on Carina? She’s a no-call, no-show today, and no one thought to see if she’s okay?” I shout, slamming his door behind me.
His mouth is hung wide open like a gaping fish. “Uh, well, normally we fire people who don’t show up to work. Unless you’ve changed our protocols, so…”
“So? She’s different, Conner. Don’t pretend you don’t know that. She could be in fucking danger!” I slam my hands on his desk, leaning over it as I pin him with a stare that saystread lightly.
“Danger?” he asks, standing and pulling his ridiculous bib-like napkin off his shirt.
I growl in frustration, standing back up and scrubbing my face as I plop into the chair in front of his desk.
“She has a stalker,” I admit.
I don’t know if it’s really my business to tell him anything, but I have to tell someone about the shit that’s been going on in my fucking life. She’s turned it upside down unknowingly.
“A what? How do you know that?” He sits back down, tentatively sitting on the edge of the chair, ready if he needs to move again.