Chapter 19 #2
I did as he asked and got back out. He just stood there, staring at the back of his car. I shifted from one foot to another and he finally looked at me, his eyes holding a pain I didn't understand.
I took a step toward him and he backed up, turning and heading away from me. "Blake! Where are you going?"
"I need a minute." I barely heard him, but stopped myself from following him.
He got to a stray plastic cart, pushed it on its side and gave it a few kicks. He righted it and laced his hands behind his head, his back heaving.
I leaned against the trunk of his car and wondered if there was anything I could say to him to ease his pain and frustration. A million questions flitted through my mind about what had just happened.
A few minutes passed before he turned back around and headed toward the car. He didn't make eye contact or say a word as he got in. I scrambled to the passenger side and got in as he revved his engine.
"I'll take you home."
"What about dinner?"
"I'm not hungry."
He turned the music up loud enough where I couldn't talk and peeled out of the parking lot.
About fifteen minutes later, we pulled into my driveway and he turned off the car, turning toward me. "Do you understand what happened back there?"
"He pulled you over because you're black."
He looked out the front window at the garage door. "My father warned me that the people... the police... wouldn't care how rich I am or what my last name is."
I put my hand on his arm and this time he let me. "You could report him."
He snorted. "And what are you going to do? Testify that my brake lights were fine?"
"If I need to."
"It won't matter. In that officer's eyes, I'm just a black man in an expensive car, driving through a rich town with a white girl in my passenger seat. I can't wait for this year to be over to go back to where I'm not judged." He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Where is that?"
"Nowhere. Forget I said anything." He looked down at my hand on his arm. "You should get inside."
"Do you want to come in and work on homework or something?" I just wanted to make sure he was okay.
His eyes met mine. "Or something?" The corner of his mouth pulled up. Typical guy. "I thought you hated me."
"It's complicated." It was more complicated than I'd care to admit to him. "Thought you could use the distraction from... life."
I could use the distraction as well. For whatever reason, sitting in the car with him, despite what had just happened, had made me feel calm. I was probably just going crazy.
"I can come in for a bit."
He followed me to the door, and once we were inside, we dropped our bags. "I'd offer a tour, but you already know your way around, don't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." He flopped down on the couch and patted the seat next to him. "Let's talk."
My stomach growled and I pulled my uneaten dinner out of my bag. "Want a sandwich?" I unwrapped it and bit into it.
He grabbed it from me as I sat down and took a bite of it, scrunching his face. "It's drier than a piece of beached seaweed."
"That's an interesting comparison." I laughed and took the sandwich back, handing him the small bag of pretzels. "It fills me up."
"Do you not have any money?" He popped a pretzel in his mouth. "Jax said-"
"Why is he pretending he cares?" I put the half-eaten sandwich on the coffee table. "One minute you guys are threatening my best friend with a sex tape, and the next you're showing concern for me. It's like you have multiple personalities."
"We could say the same about you." He took a few more pretzels and threw the bag on the table. "One minute you hate our guts, the next you're inviting us into your house."
I pulled my leg up on the couch and turned toward him. "I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to answer me honestly."
He pulled his own leg onto the couch, his shin touching mine. "Depends what you're about to ask me."
"I saw you, Morgan, and Jax swimming that night." He was going to think I was crazy. "And I filmed it."
"Of course you did." He stood, looking down at me. "It wasn't on that camera?"
Before I could stop him, he reached for my bag and started looking for my cell phone. "It's not in there, and even if it was, I'm not stupid."
"You just told me you had a recording of us. That's pretty stupid." He dropped my bag and laced his hands behind his head again like he'd done in the parking lot. "You need to destroy it."
"Why?" I planted both feet on the ground and looked up at him. He didn't even know what I'd gotten on video.
"If anyone sees..." He started pacing in front of the entertainment center. "All it takes is the wrong person seeing us and that's it."
"What would happen?"
He stopped his pacing and sat back down before taking my face in his hands. The second his hands were on me, something low in my gut stirred. "You didn't see?"
"See what? You were swimming unnaturally fast and Morgan's eyes..."
"What about his eyes?"
"They were glowing yellow and looked weird. If you guys are on drugs that do that to you..."
He sat back, breaking contact with my skin. I frowned down at his hands, wanting them back on me.
He wasn't giving me the answers I wanted. "What do you know about sirens?"
"What do you know about sirens? You have a siren knife."
We stared at each other. I was gauging how much I could trust him about the knife and he seemed to be doing the same. Finally, he took my hand and my shoulders relaxed a little.
"All of those knives should have been destroyed a long time ago. They're dangerous in certain hands." I nodded, urging him to continue. "Forget whatever shit you've read from Greek mythology. That's not what sirens really are."
"What are they then?"
"They were warriors of the sea. Their purpose was on the front lines, protecting Poseidon's sea palaces from being discovered and infiltrated by explorers.
One word from their lips could entrance anyone into forgetting their own name if they wished it.
" He stood again and went to look out the front blinds.
"Poseidon gifted them with knives that had hilts of abalone to soothe their more vicious nature.
The knives themselves could cut through anything, including the same doors they were meant to protect. "
I wanted to laugh at what he was telling me, because it sounded outlandish. "You said they were warriors?"
"The tritons destroyed their knives and killed them because they attempted to infiltrate the palace to take Poseidon's child."
"Percy Jackson?" I couldn't stop myself from smiling. I was enjoying this story he was telling.
Blake rolled his eyes. "I'm not making this up. Poseidon thought he was immune to the sirens, but he was wrong."
"Are sirens blue?" I still didn't understand how it all connected, or what my estranged father and my missing mom had to do with it all.
He turned back to the window again and didn't answer. I stood and went to stand beside him. Jax's SUV was sitting out front.
"They aren't blue." His frown deepened as Jax got out of his vehicle and leaned against the passenger side, staring right at us. "Tritons are blue... for camouflage."
Jax pushed off the side of his car and walked toward the front door, a scowl on his face. I didn't know what he thought he was doing, but I wasn't about to let him in my house so they could outnumber me.
"Are you going to let him in?" Blake's laugh was uncomfortable. "He'd love to hear you ask all these questions about sirens and tritons."
The doorbell rang. "Will he tell me what the hell is really going on?"
"Only one way to find out." Blake sat back down on the couch. "If you don't let him in, he'll find a way in."
I scoffed and went to the door, taking a deep breath before opening it. "What do you want?"
He walked in and pushed past me. "Blake. Why are you here?"
"Just hanging out. What are you doing here?"
They stared at each other and then both looked at me. I wasn't sure why I'd let either of them into my house.
"Blake was telling me about sirens and tritons." I crossed my arms.
"Was he now?" Jax moved toward me and I backed into the wall. "And what conclusions did you come to?"
I gulped as his hands went on either side of me on the wall, caging me in. "Are you three..."
"What, Riley? Are we what?" His head was cocked to the side in question and his blue eyes darkened. "Say it."
I gulped and tried to look past him to Blake, but he grabbed my chin. My skin heated with his touch, and I leaned harder against the wall, using it for support.
It was taking everything in me not to kiss him and I didn't know why. "Are you... sirens?"
Jax's lips turned up as he let go of my chin and ran a finger over my lips. "Sirens are female, and so incredibly intoxicating, males lose their minds with one little taste of her lips. Sometimes even the sound of her voice." He cocked his head to the side. "Where's the knife?"
"What?" I had been so mesmerized by his fingers tracing my lips that I couldn't think. "The knife?"
"Go get the knife." He pushed away from me and sat down next to Blake. "We'll be waiting."