This Is War - Chapter 41 – Tate Abernathy Halifax
“Are you sure we shouldn’t knock?” I asked as I pulled at the top of my dress for at least the twentieth time.
Cole flipped through the keys on his keychain. “At this hour? No way. Like I said…we’ll just be in and out. They’ll never even know we were here.” He unlocked the door and slowly opened it. I cringed when it creaked a little.
I knew this was his parents’ house, but my heart was still pounding.
The closest I’d ever come to sneaking into a house was when I used to help Rosalie sneak in through our bedroom window after a wild night with whichever guy she was dating that week.
Me? I’d never even had a boyfriend to sneak out with.
I’d always wondered why Rosalie didn’t just come home on time. But now I kind of understood. There was something thrilling about the adrenaline pumping through my veins. The thought of getting caught and having to meet Cole’s parents was terrifying.
“Where’s the computer?” I whispered.
He pointed down the hall. I tiptoed ahead as he eased the door shut.
Then everything happened all at once.
“Freeze, bitch!” yelled a deep voice.
I screamed bloody murder and threw my hands in the air.
My dress fell down.
The lights flicked on.
I stared down the barrel of a shotgun. And then I looked past it and locked eyes with Cole’s father. Or at least, I would have. But he was staring right at my exposed breasts.
Fuck my life. I wanted to cover myself, but I really didn’t want to get shot.
“Tate?” asked the woman who had hit the lights. “Is that you, honey?”
“Yes, it’s me!” said Cole. Or Tate, apparently. “What the hell is Dad doing with a shotgun?”
“Language!” said his mom.
Cole looked down. “Sorry, Mom.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “And who’s this…?” She waved her finger at me and crinkled her nose. “This hussy?”
“She’s not a hussy,” replied Cole. Although my slutty little dress combined with my tits being out indicated otherwise. “Dad, will you please drop the gun?”
Cole’s dad grimaced. And then he literally dropped the gun.
A shot rang out through the house and we all screamed.
Except for Cole’s dad. He was too busy clutching his chest as he stumbled backwards.
“Brucey?” gasped Cole’s mom just as Cole said, “Dad?”
Cole rushed over and put his arm around him, guiding him to comfort in an armchair.
“I,” started his dad, but he was struggling to get the words out. “My chest. I can’t breathe.”
I just stood there watching the entire scene unfold, the top of my dress now clutched securely around myself. Oh my God. I was pretty sure I just gave Cole’s dad a heart attack. By flashing him.
“Don’t just stand there!” shrieked Cole’s mom in my general direction. “Call an ambulance!”
“I don’t have my cell phone!” I yelled back. I was totally panicking.
Cole tossed me his and I dialed 911.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“I think my…” What is he? I didn’t want to call him my boyfriend’s dad. “I think my dude’s dad is having a heart attack.” Dude? Why would I refer to him as that?!
“What’s your current location?”
“2407 Windy Lane,” I said. “Wait, no.” Shit! That was my home address. Not Cole’s. What was I doing? The pressure was totally getting to me. I didn’t want to be responsible for killing Cole’s dad. “Hold on.” I turned to Cole. “They need your address.” I tossed him the phone.
Cole calmly finished the phone call. And unlike me, he was able to give the right address.
The ambulance arrived a few minutes later. And then another came. Two ambulances? That seemed bad. Really bad.
Cole and I sat on the porch while the paramedics checked him out.
“I’m so, so sorry,” I said. “I never meant to give your dad a heart attack.”
“He’s going to be okay,” said Cole. But he didn’t sound nearly as confident as he usually did. “And it wasn’t your fault.”
“I really think it was. You saw what happened…right?”
He nodded. “I did. My crazy dad pulled a gun on you. And for some inexplicable reason, you flashed him and gave him a heart attack. To be honest, it’s not so bad of a way for him to go.” He forced a laugh and looked away.
I put my arm around him and squeezed his shoulders. “You’re allowed to be upset, you know.”
He turned farther away and wiped a tear from his face. “Why should I be upset? Like I said, he’s gonna be okay. I know he is.”
“But he might not.” Why are the ambulances still here? “I don’t mean to be a downer. I just know all too well how much you’ll regret it if you don’t spend every last minute that you can with him. I’d give anything to have just one more minute with Rosalie.”
He nodded and stood up. “Can you maybe come with me?” He put his hand out for me.
Of course. I slipped my hand into his and we walked over to the ambulance.
Please don’t be dead yet. I wanted Cole to be able to say goodbye. Then at least he’d get the closure that I never got with Rosalie.
“What’s going on?” asked Cole to the nearest paramedic.
“We still want to run a few more tests, but…”
“I’m fine!” called his dad from the ambulance. “Will you get these wires off of me? And why are you touching me there ?!”
“We think it was a panic attack,” added the paramedic.
“Between thinking you were intruders, and uh…” He glanced at me and cleared his throat.
“Other things. He got a little over-excited. We see this a lot in older folks. The excitement accelerates their heart, and they mistake it for a heart attack. And then they panic. And well…that’s why it’s called a panic attack. ”
“So he’s fine?” asked Cole in disbelief.
“We’re pretty sure. Yes.”
“Oh thank God.” Cole let out a huge sigh. “You didn’t flash my dad to death!” He grabbed me and planted a big kiss right on my lips.
I laughed as he twirled me around.
His mom climbed out of the ambulance. “I guess you heard the good news,” she said.
“That dad was just being a big drama queen?” asked Cole. “Yup, we heard.”
Mrs. Halifax laughed with him. “I’ve always said your father is a big baby. You should see him when he gets the sniffles…”
“Hey!” called his dad from the ambulance. “I heard that!”
We all laughed and Cole’s mom gave him a big hug.
“It’s so good to see you, honey,” she said. “But what were you doing sneaking in at 4 in the morning? And who is this?”
“This is Raven,” he said. “Raven, meet my mom.”
“I’m sorry I almost killed your husband,” I said.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m pretty sure that was the most excitement he’s had in years. Maybe a little too much excitement.”
I looked away. I couldn’t stand the awkwardness of this conversation.
She leaned in and whispered super loudly in Cole’s ear. “She’s really pretty. Is she your girlfriend?”
He laughed. “You’re terrible at whispering, Mom. And we can chat later, but right now we really need to use your computer.”
“We don’t have it anymore,” she said.
Cole cocked his head and looked at her like she was crazy. It was nice to see him give someone else that look for once. “What do you mean you don’t have it anymore? I just bought it for you like two months ago.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Did someone steal it? Is that why dad got a gun?”
“No, nothing like that. It just didn’t work right.”
“What do you mean it didn’t work right?” asked Cole. He was getting more and more frustrated. “That thing cost like three grand.”
Mrs. Halifax shrugged. “It worked great at first. But after a few weeks all these strange things started popping up every time we logged into the AOL.”
The AOL? I held back a smile.
“You mean pop-ups?”
“Yes, pop-ups.”
“You must have gotten some sort of virus.” Cole and I briefly locked eyes. I was pretty sure we both knew exactly what had happened to that computer. Porn. Lots and lots of porn was the only thing I knew of that caused tons of pop-ups. Not that I knew firsthand or anything…
“That was what I told your father. So he took it to the Best Buy. They said it was a lost cause and told him to just throw it out, though.”
I had to put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. I knew old people were bad with electronics, but Cole’s parents had taken things to a whole new level.
Cole ran his hands over his face. “Are you serious? You know what, never mind. I don’t need to use the computer I got you. We can use any computer.”
“We don’t have one. Our phones work just fine. Well, mine does. Your father’s runs so slow.”
He watched porn on his phone too? Cole’s dad was as pervy as Cole was.
Cole turned to me. “Do you want me to drive back to the city? We can…”
“Nonsense,” said Mrs. Halifax. “Only drunks and hoodlums are on the streets at this hour. You know, they say that driving tired is even more dangerous than driving drunk. And you both look exhausted. You’re going to sleep on the couch, and Raven can take your room.”
“But we really need to…”
“Tate Abernathy Halifax, you’re staying the night. And that’s final. Now give me your keys.”
“It’s okay, Abernathy ,” I said. I couldn’t resist making fun of that ridiculous middle name.
“We can spend the night. The photos will still be there in the morning.” As much as I wanted to see the photos, I was freaking exhausted.
And maybe a small part of me was scared to look at them.
Right now I was so hopeful that the photos would give me the clue I’d been missing.
The key to finding Rosalie. But I knew there was a high probability that it would just be another dead end.
Or maybe there wouldn’t even be a photo of her.
The spit roast photos were only of the winning team.
So there was a 50% chance that she wouldn’t even be in it.
“If you’re sure,” he said.
“Great!” said Mrs. Halifax. “I’ll go get everything ready.” She ran off towards the house.
Cole and I looked at each other.
“My dad totally crashed the computer by looking at too much porn, right?” he asked.
“Oh for sure,” I said. “And then tried to cover it up by throwing it out. Doesn’t surprise me, really. I mean…like father, like son.”
“I beg your pardon?” said Cole. “For your information, I’ve never crashed a computer.”
“ Never? You know I can ask your mom anything I want tomorrow morning, right?”
“Fine. I had a computer in high school that stopped working. But I swear it wasn’t my fault. The thing was so old...”
“Your poor mom. Does she know how perverted you two are?”
“We’re not perverted. We just have a nuanced appreciation for the artistic beauty of the female form.”
I stared at him. “Mhm. Sure.”
He laughed and pulled me into a hug. “Thanks for coming along on this crazy adventure with me tonight.”
“Are you kidding? Thank you for figuring out a way to get that flash drive. It seriously means the world to me.” I looked up at him and smiled. He may have been a filthy pervert, but he was also incredibly sweet.
A part of me didn’t want tonight to end.
Because in the morning, I’d either be one step closer to Rosalie, or still as far away from the truth as ever.
And no matter what, I’d have to face the consequences of what happened tonight.
Dr. Lyon’s key was burning a hole in my clutch.
Tanner was still a stupid runaway. And Cole…
Tate . I let my head rest on his chest. I think I may have accidentally started falling for him. What the hell had I gotten myself into?