Hollowed (29 page)

"Don't." No apologies, not from him. There are a lot of things he should have done. There are twice as many things
I
should've done. Starting with not following Joel into that building.
What was I hoping to accomplish? Did I think I could waltz in there, make my demands, and Joel would submit peacefully? My stupid choices have killed my family.

And they've killed any chances I might have had to prove to Noah I'm not a monster. If I were to tell him right now what I did tonight, would he kill me? Would it be enough to convince him I'm not
me
anymore?

I feel his fingers on my neck, tracing the fading scar where the axe got me. His fingers are so warm to the touch, scalding my icy skin. All I want is to curl into his warmth and hide away there and pretend all of tonight never happened. My phone gives its pitiful attempt at a ring just as I think I might be able to get away with reaching for him and he pulls back.

The only other people who have this number are Ruby and the boys
. I stare down at it for ten seconds of weak bleating before Noah plucks it out of my hands.

"
Hello?
"
Better him than me, I guess. He makes a slight face.
"
Yeah, she
'
s here
—
yes, she
'
s safe. I didn
'
t touch her.
"
Eyeroll.
"
I
'
ll bring her home and you can ask her yourself.
"
Without waiting for an answer, he hangs up.

"
Who was it?
"

"
Your friend. The bitchy one. You need a new phone; said he
'
s been calling for the last hour.
"

Oliver. Even if it had been ringing, I doubt I would have heard it over all the commotion
and my own hysterical sobbing
. I nod solemnly and look away. At least they know I
'
m safe; they don
'
t have to freak out about my disappearance.

He offers me back the phone.
"
Feel like telling me what you
'
re thinking about?
"

That I killed a man and my parents
might be
dead. I let out a heavy breath.
"
I should never have chased after him.
"
Regret. That
'
s the only emotion breaking through the shock.

Noah lets a hand run around the rim of the steering wheel before dropping it to his lap.
"
There
'
s no point in dwelling on it now. Should have, would have, whatever. You did what you thought was right
, Briar
. You were trying to help.
"

Trying to help, yeah.
"
How can it possibly be that easy? ‘Tried my best, failed, oh well.
'
My decision caused my parents to die.
"

"
You don
'
t know that.
"

"
I do!
"

"
Have you been with your parents, Briar?
"
He twists in his seat. His face is only a few inches from mine and I want to recoil before he somehow realizes the blood on me isn
'
t just mine.
"
Because it would have been just as easy for Joel to show up whether he ran into you or not.
"

"
But why—
"

"
He
'
s trying to smoke out Ruby.
"
Not accusing, simply stating fact in such a way that I know he
'
s absolutely right.
"
They
'
re doing this to get
her
. Which means as soon as they realize you
'
re alive, they
'
ll probably target you again. I really doubt you running into him tonight was some kind of coincidence.
"

"
They set me up?
"

"
That
'
s my guess.
"

My face
grows
hot with a mixture of anger and embarrassment that I could have fallen for something like that. Terrific.

"
Look...
"
Noah starts to reach for my hand, stops himself, laces his fingers in his lap instead.
"
I really don
'
t want to get your hopes up, but we don
'
t know if your parents are even dead. Didn
'
t you say they were out of town?
"

I swallow hard, trying to clear the lump in my throat.
"
Yeah.
"

"
And you don
'
t know when they were due back?
"

"
No.
"

"
So for all we know, they
'
re still at a hotel somewhere. Maybe on their way back if the police have called to tell them about the house.
"

He
'
s right; I shouldn
'
t get my hopes up. Why would they bother burning an empty house? Just to freak me and Ruby out? To lure our parents back into town so they could be used as pawns? This entire thing sucks. Stupid or not, that little bit of hope he just gave me is the only thing I have to cling to right now.

Noah takes my silence to mean he can bring the car back to life and throw it into reverse to head out of the park. Taking me home, I guess. I'm not looking forward to telling the boys what I did tonight; Oliver's going to throw a fit.

I have to tell them about the guy I killed. God, I wish I could tell Noah to get it off my conscience; keeping secrets from him when he rushed to my side
tonight just feels so wrong.
But just like all those nights I wanted to say
I love you
and could never get the words past my constricted th
roat...
I'm too terrified of his reaction
.

Back at the hotel, he swings around to the front curb to drop me off. Not coming in, I guess, which is good. Noah
waits
. Patient
. W
aiting for me to either say something or get out. Guilt is a heavy lump in my chest, the dryness in my throat.

"Thank you. For...
you know. For coming to get me tonight."

He nods solemnly. "I'll go investigate your parents' house once everything's clear and let you know what I find. If you want to brave it, try giving their cell a call."

"Won't be calling anyone for awhile." I stare down at my busted phone. I didn't have any numbers programed into it, aside from the boys', anyway. Everything else is still on my old phone, the one the river tore to pieces.
"
What do you think I should do while you're playing detective?"

He squints.
"
You shouldn
'
t do anything. Ruby should confront them before someone else gets hurt because of her. Maybe they can talk it out.
"

I grin feebly.
"
I don
'
t think there
'
s anything to talk out. She killed Maverick
'
s brother.
"

"
I believe it.
"

Figured he would. No point in trying to get him to believe it was an accident.
"
She
'
s my sister.
I
'
m already involved.
I can
'
t just sit back and let all this happen without helping.
"

"
I wish you would.
"
He sighs.

"
This whole being useless thing really isn
'
t working for me, Noah. I want—
I
need
—
to be able to help. If everyone around me can fight, then I want to, too.
"
I
'
m not going to sit this one out. Even if I make stupid choices... I have to make
some
choice rather than hide in the corner and let everyone protect me.

He searches my gaze, like he expects to find some miraculous answer to all of this in my eyes. Finally, he
faces
straight ahead again, mouth drawn.
"
Open the glove box.
"

I do as I
'
m told. A push of a button pops open the compartment, revealing
some maps, travel documents...
and a gun. It looks like the one we trained with at the firing range
a few months ago
. For all I know, it could be the same one.

"
Take it,
"
Noah says.
"
Hope you remember how to use it.
"

So do I. He watches me scoop it up, checking the safety, trying to refamiliarize myself with it.
"
Why...?
"

"
Because if you
'
re going to be running around getting yourself into trouble, you should at least have some means of protecting yourself.
"
He shrugs.
"
A bullet to the brain might not kill a vampire, but it
'
ll put them out of commission for awhile.
"

I remember Noah shooting Alex, point-blank to the back of her skull. The next time I saw her, she looked completely unscathed. The idea makes me shiver. I
make sure the safety is on, slip
the gun into the front of my pants
,
and tug my shirt down to cover it
. There's a box of ammo I shove into my rolled-up jacket.
"
You
'
re being awfully helpful to the girl you wanted to kill.
"

"I have my reasons."

I get out of the car, leaning down to peer at him through the open door. "Like what?" Questioning his kindness is really not something I should
do
. I can
'
t think what Ruby said might be right. Noah has to know me well enough that if he played his cards right, lied to me the right way, I would take him right to my sister. The fact that he hasn
'
t tells me something, I just don
'
t know what.

Noah doesn
'
t look at me.
"
You haven
'
t done anything wrong yet. And if anyone is going to kill you, it should be me.
"

A cold chill slithers down my spine. Even after everything he did for me today, he still says that so easily? I open my mouth to respond and he gives a nod.

"
Your welcoming committee is here.
"

I turn in time to see Oliver and Cole exiting the hotel and coming for us. Oliver
'
s eyes are narrowed and the hunched up look of his shoulders is probably a
bad thing. Great. I straighten and step away from the car
, surprised Noah doesn
'
t take the opportunity to peel out of the parking lot.

Oliver
shoves
his face a few inches from mine. I can tell he would really like to grab and shake me.
"
What the
hell
were you thinking? Going after him like that?!
"

I lean back, arms crossing. Automatically defensive even though he has
every right to be pissed off
. Before I can come up with a witty response, the driver
'
s side door opens and slams shut again and Noah circles around the front of the car.
"
Don
'
t yell at her.
"

Oliver
'
s attention whips from me to Noah.
"
You
stay out of this. What right do you have to get involved?
"

Just like at the cemetery, I can feel the flare of their power wash over me, making me shudder. Scary or not, having them go at each others
'
throats in the parking lot would not be a great end to everyone
'
s day. I throw myself between them, one hand on Oliver
'
s chest, the other on Noah
'
s. Like they couldn
'
t toss me aside if they really wanted to.