All We Know Is Falling: Fall With Me: Volume One (10 page)

“Well you must be. By now there is no chance that you’ve not heard about the things I’ve done. Yet you still want to talk with me. So, insane,” he decided.

“Maybe I just don’t believe rumors. Doesn’t mean I’m crazy.”

“True that most of what’s being said are outright lies, that doesn’t erase the seed of doubt. Surely you must be curious about it.”

I shrugged.

“Really? Not an ounce of you wants to know about the alleged girls, the drugs, the murders?”

I shook my head.

“Insane,” he said again. “And if you’re insane, then I still have a chance at my day with you.”

“You don’t,” I said, emotionlessly. “I understand that a really fucked up thing happened to you, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call me crazy because I’m not dumb enough to believe some stupid rumors.”

“I’m sorry. But what else am I supposed to assume about you?”

“Not that.”

“Rory,” he said after I gave him three minutes of the silent treatment. I glanced over at him and the boy was smiling at me. And all annoyance I had vanished like it as never there. A gorgeous face was a dangerous weapon. “I am very sorry. I was sure that you were done with me. You didn’t want anything to do with me before, and I though this would just cement that. And…it didn’t. So I was caught off guard.”

I sighed. “It’s fine. I’m not mad at you.”

He smiled wider and it made me smiled back, though I fought it. Poorly.

“That’s two,” he said, pleased.

“Two what?”

He slowly shook his head as a crooked smile remained on his face. “Still for me to know, Lamb. Maybe I’d tell you if you agreed to spend a day with me.”

This would never end now. I’d been dumb enough to show him I cared and now he was trying to catch me when I was vulnerable. “Not happening. And it has nothing to do with the rumors. It’s because I don’t have friends. I told you before.”

He nodded as if he had already known. “I’ll still try.”

“And I’ll still say no.”

He got a cocky look on his face and it somehow didn’t piss me off. “You won’t. Not forever.”

An eyebrow went up. “You sound so sure of yourself.”

“I am. You’ll say yes to me one day.”

“Doubtful.”

He just kept grinning at me. “And when you say yes,” he said like he hadn’t heard me. He reached out and took my hand. I didn’t yank it back, though it was my first instinct. His hand was too warm and too soft for me to let go. “You’ll understand.”

“Understand what?” my eyes were glued to our hands as he laced our fingers together.

“How much you want to say yes.” The look in his eyes gave me a strange urge to tackle him to the ground and start ripping his clothes off.

I had nothing to say to his comment. The best I could do was fight off a shiver.

He was looking at me like he could read my mind and was game for the clothes ripping. It almost sent me over the edge.

No no no no. No human boys. They were off limits for me, lest I get my heart shattered beyond repair. And when I looked at this boy, that was what I saw. A heartbreaker for my almost willing heart. I didn’t need that pain in my life. No friends. No boyfriends. That was what I swore to myself. And I couldn’t just dive in now.

I was finally able to speak. I kept my voice soft and quiet. “I can’t say yes to you.”

He started moving his hand up and down my forearm, slowly. “Why not?”

He kept asking and I kept saying the same thing. But he ignored me. I didn’t know what to say to him.

“I’m bad for you,” I said earnestly.

He laughed without humor. “You believe that? That you’re the worse one between the two of us?”

I nodded. “I know I am.” I’m made from evil.

“Rory,” he tucked my hair behind my ear and maintained a smile as he spoke. “There isn’t a thing wrong with you. I however, have done some very bad things in my life. Things I can’t take back. But I want to be better. I want to be someone that you’d want to say yes to.”

“My saying no has nothing to do with who you are. It has everything to do with the kind of person I am. I’ve told you before, you don’t want to know me.”

“And I’ve told you, that’s not your decision. Let me get to know you and I’ll be the one to decided if I want to keep knowing you.”

I paused and looked down at my lap. My foot tapped while I tried to talk. “What if I don’t want that? I don’t want to spend time with you, and decide that I like you, just for you to decide that you don’t like me.”

“Look at me,” he asked.

I didn’t. He spoke anyway, “I already like you. So I wouldn’t worry about that. And no part of me thinks that if I got to know you more, I’d like you less. I think it would be quite the opposite.”

I glanced up and he looked worried.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out if only for something else to look at. I had a text from my brother.

Walter: Annie told me I had to call you. My dad died. Is this a good time to call?

“Oh my god,” I said out loud without thinking. My breathing quickened and I wasn’t sure what to do.

“What’s wrong?” I looked to my side and Hale was staring with worry for me.

“Um,” I blinked. “My brother…” I stood up and grabbed all of my stuff. I threw my backpack over my shoulder and started walking out of the room.

“Miss Flynn?” I heard from the teacher. He was reading at his desk. “Where are you going?”

I pointed to the door. “I’ve, I’ve gotta go. Family emergency,” and I was out the door.

I stopped just outside the door and dialed the phone. It rang twice before I heard my brother greeting me.

“Walter,” I breathed. “Your dad died? What happened? Are you okay?”

He was quiet for a minute. “It was an accident. Car accident,” he said. “He went out to the store and never came home.”

My hand went to my mouth. “I’m so sorry, Walter. Are you still in Wales? I can be there in thirty seconds. I can bring you home. You should live with your sisters. Mom wouldn’t mind at all.” 

He sighed loudly. “Thanks, but I’ve already been placed.”

“What? When?”

When and underage antichrist’s sibling dies, our father takes us and brings us to live with another sibling until we’re eighteen and we start getting our bi-monthly allowances from him. Walter was only fifteen.

“A month or so ago.”

“What?! Your dad died a month ago and you didn’t tell me?”

“A ton of shit happened after. I told Lucifer that I wouldn’t go with another antichrist. I was hoping he’d just let me live on my own.”

“You’re fifteen. Of course he didn’t want you living alone. Why didn’t you say you wanted to come live with us?”

“He didn’t give me the chance to pick. I blinked and I was at the door of a house in the middle of nowhere. Bumpkin was in one hand in his cat carrier and I had a bag in the other. I’m just now getting to go through Dad’s stuff.”

“Who are you living with?”

“Hellions.”

I paused. “What the Hell is that?”

“They’re demons. Demons that were once human but died. Apparently Lucifer can bring the dead back to life. But only as that. And they work for him.”

“Dead…of course he can do that…how the fuck have I never heard of them?”

“They said there are only about a dozen of them in the whole world. Same reason we didn’t know about Made until we met some. They’re just aren’t enough for us to know about.”

“Jesus. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m as okay as I can be given the circumstances.”

I took a breath. “I’m so sorry. Your dad was a good man. Are the people with treating you right?”

There was a second or two where I thought he’d hung up. But he was just quiet. “They are. Though I’ve given no reason for them to. I’ve been awful and they’ve still taken care of me. Saved my life.”

“Well I’m glad. Do you want me to come see you? Where are you living?”

“Scotland. But things are just starting to quiet down. I’ll try and see you soon but for now I need to settle a little more.”

“Okay. If you need anything, call me.”

“I will.”  We said goodbye and I hung up. My brain was in shock over the conversation. But before I could process it, I felt a hand on my back.

“Are you alright, Rory?” Hale asked. The surprise caused me to jump a little.

I turned, wide eyed, to look at Hale. “How long have you been listening to me?”

Unashamed, he said, “I followed you out. I would have said something but the conversation seemed a little…incredibly serious. I didn’t want to interrupt it.”

I went over my words in my head to make sure he didn’t hear any demon talk. As far as I could remember, I didn’t say anything incriminating.

“It was,” I said.

“His father died?”

I nodded.

His eyebrows knit together. “His father? Not yours?”

I swallowed and tried to figure out how to dance around this without lying. “Yes.”

His tongue touched his teeth as he considered that. “You share a mother then? But…you said he should live with his sisters.”

“Well, I’m his sister…”

“And you have another? I heard you speaking with Miss Coleman on my first day and she asked about her. But I’ve only ever heard you speak of your aunt and your mother.”

I broke eye contact. “Yeah. I have an aunt.”

His eyebrows went up and he smiled a bit. “And a mother?”

I nodded. “Is she his mother too?”

“Yes,” I lied and for some reason it irked me.

“Your Irish mother has a Welsh son?”

“Um…”

“Because you said he was in Wales. I’m not sure I understand.”

How the Hell do I get out of this?

“With his father.”

Hale nodded. “Okay. So he was born after you.”

“Yup. First me, then Walter. His dad raised him in Wales and I live here…with my mom and aunt…”

He eyed me and I knew he was suspicious. He had to be. My story was delivered with a shaky voice and unsureness. With all of that, he let it be. He didn’t poke or pry any more.

And that made me want to tell him everything.

“Are you going back to class?” he asked.

I was still stunned and stuck in my own mind over my little revelation. I wasn’t even sure why I’d thought it. I couldn’t tell him.

“No,” I said when I found my voice.

“I suppose I have no reason to go back either.”

Then we were just standing there. And I did something stupid. “Do you still want to spend a day together?” The words came out in a rush and I almost regretted them the second they were out of my mouth. But that disappeared when Hale smiled at me. He looked grateful and happy for the first time since this whole rumor thing started.

“I do,” he said. “I really do.”

I might have just gotten myself into quite a mess. But for the moment, I wanted to be in it. Something about him not poking holes in my story make me like him a little more. And, what could possibly happen in a day?

“Okay. Saturday?”

He thought for a moment. “Not this Saturday. I need time to plan this. Next Saturday? Is that good for you?”

I nodded with a timid smile.

“Three,” he said.

I almost wanted to kick him. But I let the anger simmer down. “I guess I’ll see you later,” and I started walking.

He caught me by the shoulder. “Wait.”

I turned. “What?”

“Let me bring you home.”

Hmm…my mom and sister are there…this might end badly. But the look in his eyes said I wasn’t getting off so easy. “Fine,” I didn’t bother fighting him.

The bell rang before we started. When the halls started filling with students, Hale put his hand on my back again and started guiding me through the crowd.

There weren’t many students at this school, but I didn’t like being around people at all. I unconsciously pushed myself closer to Hale. He put his arm around my shoulder and held me to him.

The crowd thinned as the students went into their classrooms or to lunch. In the distance I saw a boy leaving the girls bathroom, zipping up his pants. He looked familiar but I didn’t know his name.

“Classy,” I almost laughed at the sight.

“Girl bathrooms are far nicer than boy bathrooms.”

I looked up at him while we walked. “Have you spent a lot of time in girl’s bathrooms?”

He suddenly looked guilty. And that answered my question. I guess that the rumors about the girls were true. It left an uneasy feeling in me and my stomach sank.

Not a full minute after the boy left, Kenna came walking out into the now empty hallway. She was buttoning her shirt back up. I would have just walked right past her, if it weren’t for her mouth.

“Aww,” she said when she spotted us. “How cute. The Freakshow and the Psycho. What a cute couple.”