Chapter 14 #3
I shook, sobs still not fully under control. “Sorry. I always shake like this after I get hit. It startles me. I never see it coming, not that it makes it less pathetic.” I couldn’t seem to stop talking, words falling out of me like it might make things better.
“You’ve been hit before?” he asked, his eyes gone cold.
I shrugged, the who not nearly as important as the pain to me.
“There was a random man. We keep seeing him. Last night around when you left, Barrett noticed him, too, and said he’d seen him before.
I didn’t realize it but I think I recognized him from the jazz club.
He’s big. Bald. He didn’t mean to hit me, but after he did, he just ran off.
Anyway, he keeps popping up, it seems, and this time, he popped me. ”
Phoenix pulled back, not laughing at my attempt at a joke. “Is your face okay enough to wait a minute for ice? I want to find this asshole. Get on, grab my waist. Which way did he go?”
I pointed in the direction he ran while my brain puzzled through the rest of his directions. Get on? What does he want me to get on …? Oh! My gaze dropped to his skateboard. Jeremy mentioned his brother’s skill with skating, but somehow I didn’t expect to see him riding.
“Can two people ride on it?” I asked, genuinely baffled.
“Yes.” He nodded, gesturing impatiently. “Come on. Get on my back. Grab me piggyback. Hurry.”
All thoughts of the bagels replaced by my throbbing face and the possibility of finding my attacker, I climbed on Phoenix’s back. We took off, and my hair whipped behind us like a banner.
As I clung to him, shifting my weight with his, my eye started to water from the pain of the punch and my heart raced.
There was something just bizarre about the moment, and I hoped I would remember every second, every dip in the pavement, every small jump.
We weaved around people, our bodies in sync, dodging pedestrians and skirting around parked cars until I spotted him.
The man who’d hit me, who was everywhere I went.
“That’s him.” I shouted, pointing.
He noticed us as we approached, and his eyes got huge. He would have turned to run again but Phoenix skidded to a stop right in front of him, and the large man toppled in surprise. Phoenix set me down on my feet and then pressed on the man’s chest with his skateboard.
“Did you hit my friend? Have you been following her? Start talking now. You never know when I’ll have a sudden break with reality and start bashing in your head. Got it? Start talking.” He shoved the skateboard again, practically spitting into the man’s face.
The stranger held out his hands in obvious submission. “I know who you are. You’re the one who got taken. I’ve been following all of you for the last few days. I do my research.”
Phoenix lifted an eyebrow, and I tried to remember to breathe.
The youngest Lent brother spoke again, his voice rough.
“Why? Why have you been following us? I don’t like strangers, so talk faster.
” I couldn’t help but remember Jeremy said the same thing.
He continued, glancing at me. “And I like ones who hit women even less.”
He waved his arms again. “It was an accident. I’m just following her, and I got too close. You just happened to be around.”
Phoenix shouted in his face, not seeming any calmer. “You’re not helping yourself out here.”
People were staring, some stopping to pull out cell phones but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Were they taking pictures or calling for help? What would happen then?
“I’m a private investigator. Her family wants pictures of her, that’s it. They want to see what she’s doing, so they’ve been paying me to follow her.”
Phoenix moved his skateboard. “Don’t move. I mean not a fucking inch.” He grabbed his phone, pressed a button and held it to his ear.
“Dad?” he said quickly. “Yeah. No. I’m here with a friend of mine.
Some PI asshole has been following her around, says her family hired him.
He just hit her, and is that legal? She’s sixteen, so a minor orphan living with Tricia Samuels.
Yes, those people. But she’s nice and it’s …
a long story.” He listened for a few seconds then nodded.
“Could you please tell him what you just told me?”
Phoenix hit another button, setting the phone to video chat. “This is my father, Kit Lent, but you’ve probably heard of him. Yes, that Kit Lent. He would like to talk to you.”
He swiveled the phone so their father, the apparently well-known Kit Lent, appeared on the screen. As the two men considered one another across the connection, I wondered who in my family would have me followed. More importantly, why? It didn’t make sense.
“Listen up, there are rules about tailing minors. You’re prohibited from engaging in activities that could be considered harassment or stalking, for instance, such as excessive following intended to distress or intimidate the subject.
From my son’s description, you hit her. Unless you want this girl to file every available charge against you, you’ll end your position immediately and never follow her again. Do I make myself abundantly clear?”
The man nodded, sweat dripping down his face as he practically quaked in terror. “Yes, sir.”
Kit raised a brow, reminding me of his sons. “I don’t need to quote the criminal code, do I?”
He shook his head quickly. “I’m very familiar.”
“Good. Get away from my kid. Now.”
The PI, still sweating, scrambled to his feet then ran from us in stumbling leaps.
We didn’t chase him, and I touched my cheek again.
It burned as the thump of the city pulsed around me in time with the pulse of pain.
I glanced around and realized how near we were to the Park, only one street away.
My family is having me followed. My thoughts kept circling back to it, wondering why again.
My aunt insisted I go out and do things, or I wouldn’t even be out of the apartment in the first place.
Did she want that man to find me? What could he have caught me doing that she would even want to know about? It made no sense, I thought again.
Phoenix pointed out the obvious, saying, “Sounds like your family is a little fucked up.”
I scowled at him. “More than a little.”
“Phoenix,” Kit said, drawing my attention back to him after I forgot he was with us via video.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t want you involved.
You helped your friend, now get out of there.
I want all four of you back here tonight .
I mean it, tonight.” Finally, he looked at me.
“I’m sorry about whatever is happening to you. I’m even more sorry we can’t help.”
He shook his head and disconnected.
I tried to ignore the ice skating down my spine, but I didn’t want them to leave.
It made sense, though, especially when I saw it from their parents’ perspective.
I was a problem, but not one their father had to deal with, since he had enough on his plate with Phoenix.
I took a deep breath, ignoring the way it trembled out when I exhaled.
I couldn’t blame their dad, much as I wanted to pretend he was the bad guy.
The truth was, I didn’t want to deal with my own problems—so how could I fault someone else for walking away from theirs?
More than anything, I just didn’t want to be anyone else’s burden.
Until I turned eighteen, though, I couldn’t think of another choice.