Chapter Seven
Hollie
I’m awake as the sun comes up. Memories of last night hit me all at once.
I tense, bolt out of bed and go and check Noah Brady hasn’t done a runner in the night.
Standing there in my pajamas, my hair in disarray, the tension drains from my shoulders when I see him lying face down on my couch, covered with a blanket and snoring soundly.
I go back to my room, sit back down on the bed as a sense of panic descends.
Things always seem better in the morning, my father used to say. I double over, rest my elbow on my knees and cradle my face in my palms.
This morning, everything feels worse.
And if my father knew what I’d done last night, he wouldn’t be able to look me in the eye for disappointment.
I glance at my phone on the nightstand. This is not me. I’m not the kind of girl to break the law.
I pick up my handset. I’ve had another email from Owen, asking if I got his last poem, and whether we could talk sometime.
I have bigger things on my mind right now than my persistent ex-boyfriend.
My fingertips hover over the screen. It would be so easy to just dial the police. There’s nothing stopping me from confessing to them that I am harboring Noah Brady.
Except there is one thing.
AJ Callahan. Noah’s half-brother, and someone who took up way too much space in my brain even before I went chasing after him last night.
He asked me a question before he left, and it kept me awake. Would I have acted differently if I’d known Noah was AJ’s half-brother? Would I have brought Noah to my apartment, knowing I’d have to see AJ again?
I’m torn.
Most of the girls at Eastvale High had a crush on AJ Callahan.
He’d arrive at school on his motorcycle, often alongside Mo Mariano, who also rode a bike, oblivious to the level of thirsty stares directed his way.
He wore a leather jacket with a quiet, reserved confidence.
He had ripped jeans that hugged in all the right places.
He had tattoos and tousled dark hair, which he would casually rake his fingers through; he always looked good, as though he woke up looking that way.
He barely had to smile at a girl before she’d melt over him.
Even the teachers, who reserved a special kind of contempt for the kids who came over from Rapture, seemed to give him the time of day.
He could have any girl he wanted, and I definitely wasn’t his type.
It wasn’t like I was tortured though, caught in a cycle of self-flagellation, wondering if – boohoo – he would ever notice me.
The rich kids of Electric Hills were the ones who barely knew I existed.
No, AJ and his friends noticed me, all right.
And they made a hobby out of making my life a special kind of living hell.
I can’t say that AJ was the ringleader though, nor did he act alone.
Chase Brennan, Balthazar Reyes, Moses Mariano…
I can picture them now and they were all in AJ’s crew.
I remember there was a girl too: Nicole Escribano.
They all came from Rapture. Chase was very much my high school bully.
The others just seemed to all go along with it.
So, am I happy about having a chance to see AJ Callahan again?
My romantic, beating heart is thrilled. My sensible head is plain horrified.
Yet, this morning, my heart is winning, hands down, and my phone remains on the nightstand.
I have a shower and make myself a coffee. Apparently, no amount of clattering around is going to wake Noah, even when I play the radio through my smart speaker. I send a text to Tawny, with an apology that I’m unable to volunteer at Sunset Pines today.
The sun is barely up when I hear a low rumble outside the window, the unmistakable sound of a motorcycle. I get to my feet, my heart slamming against my ribs. I wasn’t expecting him so soon. I go to the window, my breath simultaneously catching in my throat.
This time, he’s riding his own sleek bike. It’s black, sporty, with a splash of lime green. AJ’s wearing jeans, the same leather jacket from last night, and a black helmet with a black visor.
I know that I’m not myself around him. He makes me feel things other men don’t, and I’ll admit, only to myself, that the sight of him is enough to cause a physical reaction in me.
My pulse flutters. A shiver goes down my spine, ending between my legs as my intimate muscles ripple at the thought of him.
Which is ridiculous really, as I know for a fact that I could never be with him.
Not in that way. Yet I have no control over these visceral reactions inside me.
Unable to drag my eyes away, I swiftly whip off my baggy tee and replace it with a fitted tank top. I lick my teeth, before checking I don’t have coffee breath, then smooth down my long hair as best I can.
I watch him from the corner of my window. He’s parked and removed his helmet. Standing beside his bike, he’s lifted the seat and pulls out a small backpack. Once he’s secured the bike, I see him walking through the security gate.
Seconds later, the intercom sounds.
I buzz him up, then instantly regret not having put any makeup on.
I check the peep hole. Even at school, I used to admire how he was consistently unhurried. His pace could be described as casual – his walk punctuated with a hint of a swagger. He carries himself with cool disdain. My hands brace either side of the hole as I watch.
‘What are you doing?’ Noah’s hoarse voice interrupts me, and I jump back in surprise.
‘Nothing,’ I whisper. ‘AJ’s here.’
A split second later, AJ knocks at the door. I wipe sweaty palms on my jeans, then open it. He’s quick to slide inside and close the door behind us.
‘Hey,’ he says, glancing over at Noah, and I note, not looking in my direction at all.
‘She was watching you through the door,’ is Noah’s reply, and I feel the base of my neck grow warm.
I clear my throat. ‘I saw you pull up on your bike. I, uh, was checking that there was no one else in the corridor.’
This time, he holds my gaze. He hasn’t shaved. He looks a little grungy and I feel that ripple inside me again. He looks serious as he puts down the bag and his helmet. ‘Everything all right?’ he asks me.
‘All fine,’ I say with a nod.
‘I’m hungry,’ Noah says. ‘You got any food?’
‘He just woke up,’ I tell AJ.
AJ frowns at his brother, who is getting to his feet and stretching his arms up to the sky. ‘Luke Saint was at the house, Noah,’ he says, raising his chin.
‘Who’s that?’
‘County sheriff, you idiot.’
‘In Rapture?’ Noah exclaims. ‘Dang, they got a hard-on for me.’
‘Mom’s freaking out, shit bird.’
‘You think she’s proud of me?’
I can see how exasperated AJ is. He rakes his fingers through his hair, the same way he did in high school. I can see he’s about to cut Noah down with another barb, so I raise my brow at him, silently urging him to reconsider.
‘Mom loves you, Noah. No matter what,’ AJ says.
It’s not the words I expected to come out of his mouth, but Noah is thrilled, and the look on his face warms my heart.
‘Can we talk for a second?’ AJ asks me under his breath.
‘Um. Sure. Kitchen again?’
‘Hey, what about me?’ Noah objects, watching as AJ follows me. Except AJ stops in his tracks and goes back to the backpack on the floor. He unzips it and throws something inside a paper bag toward his half-brother.
‘Breakfast,’ AJ says.
Noah catches the bag and unravels it, pulling out a Blueberry Danish, another pleased smile on his face as he digs in. It looks to me like there’s another still in the bag.
We go back into the kitchen and I close the door, just like last night.
‘Thank you,’ AJ says on an exhale. ‘I half thought you might call the cops after I left last night.’
I’m not going to confess that I came close this morning. ‘I would never have done that. I can’t keep him here though.’
‘I know that. And I have a plan. But I, um… I wanted to ask for your help.’
His stands opposite me with his arms crossed over his chest, his feet slightly apart.
He has no idea of the power he has over me at this moment.
I want to tell him the answer to the question he asked me last night.
That, if it hadn’t been for him, I probably would have bottled it and turned Noah in before midnight.
‘Oh? What help?’
He sighs, then shakes his head. He doesn’t look happy and lowers his voice when he speaks. ‘You can’t tell Noah any of this. Nothing about this conversation, understood?’
‘Um. Sure. I won’t say a word.’
‘I have an aunt. My mom’s sister, Rita. She lives north, outside Santa Fe in New Mexico. My plan is to speak to her today. Explain the situation. But if she agrees, I’d have to take Noah there. It’s about a twelve or thirteen-hour drive from here.’
My eyes widen. ‘You’d smuggle him out of Canyon? Away from here?’
He gives me a nod. ‘That’s the plan, yeah. Or else…’
‘When would you leave?’
‘If she agrees, soon.’
This time I’m the one nodding my head. ‘Okay. That’s good.’
AJ goes quiet for a moment. ‘I, uh, got a favor to ask you.’
He’s looking at me, his brows drawn together. My stomach flips over. I don’t remember ever having seen him look worried before.
‘Nobody else can know Noah was here. But I don’t have a car, and I can’t put him on the back of my bike, it’s too risky. Reyes is the same as me, a steel horse cowboy, he only has two wheels. My mom’s car would never get us there and back in one piece—’
‘You want to use my car?’
He looks to the floor. There are holes in his T-shirt, at the hemline around his neck.
‘I thought about asking you that. But if I get pulled over, it’s not my car, and then when they find Noah, I’m in even deeper shit.
I was gonna ask if maybe you could drive Noah, and I’ll follow on my motorcycle.
Girl like you… cops wouldn’t look at you twice, let alone pull you over.
You could put Noah in the trunk ’til you’re outside of Canyon. ’
I blink at him. This conversation is borderline surreal. He hasn’t raised his head. ‘I… I don’t know,’ I murmur.
‘We’d go fast. Leave after dark. Stop on the road someplace, maybe a motel. Then hit the road early morning, get to Rita’s and drop him off, turn around, come right back.’
He raises his eyes to me. I instantly look down, because I can’t look my crush in the eye.
‘I could pay you,’ he adds. ‘I will pay you.’
I raise my chin. A little money would go a long way at the moment. ‘How much?’ I ask.
He shrugs. ‘Few hundred bucks?’
‘Deal.’
‘You sure?’ he asks, and for a second time, he looks me in the face. This time, I do my best to hold his gaze, and an explosion of butterflies goes off in my stomach.
He looks hopeful, if I can call it that. His expressions mostly involve glowering, yet he’s always had a touch of vulnerability. ‘I need to figure some stuff out first. We could leave in a day or so?’
I seem to have inadvertently roped myself into his plan.
Mostly, I think, because I’m still fizzing from the fact that AJ Callahan is standing so close to me.
He might be paying me, but I’m the one who started this.
I can hardly abandon him and Noah now. ‘That would be good. He’ll be climbing the walls by then. ’
I lower my voice further. ‘What will you tell Noah? Would he not want to go to Santa Fe?’
AJ puffs out his cheeks. ‘My aunt, she’s, uh… a little different. From my mom, that is. More of a disciplinarian. He’s not gonna love that. But he doesn’t have a choice. It’s that, or juvie, which is where he’ll end up if the cops track him down anytime soon.’
‘So, what will you tell him?’
‘I gotta figure that part out.’
‘I told Sunset Pines I couldn’t work today. I can stay with him. Do you need to work?’
‘Uh huh. Yeah. Is that all right? I brought him a change of clothes in the bag, and a few things from his room. I could come back later. Bring us some takeout.’
‘How should I call you? If I need to?’ I ask.
‘Call the number for Scotch & Smoke. Say it’s an emergency. Somebody can come get me.’
‘I didn’t know you worked in the bar as well.’
‘I don’t. Echo’s Auto Shop is right next door.’
‘Oh.’
‘So, I’ll see you tonight?’
He’s looking straight at me again and my cheeks warm. I give a little nod.
‘Don’t let Noah push you around.’