Gena Showalter - Twisted

Still here. And I want you to know… I love you, Aden. Weaker still.

“I love you, too.” So much.

Thank you for everything. You were a great host, and I will never forget you.

Once again he wanted to shout, Don’t go, but he didn’t. He’d just lost Joe—not that he wanted to be a part of Joe’s life—but to lose Julian, too? Here and now, like this? His eyes were like twin coals just pulled from a fire.

“You were a great friend to me.”

Julian, Elijah said, sad and happy all at once. Aden understood. He was sad for himself but happy for his friend. We will never forget you, either.

Dude, Caleb said. I knew you were the one with the comb-over.

Julian laughed. I love you, guys. Even when you were being a pain in my ass.

Caleb was the one to laugh this time. You might want to rephrase that. You don’t have an ass.

“I’m going to miss you,” Aden said softly. His chin trembled so violently, he barely got the words out.

Would it be gay if we attempted a four-way hug? Julian asked.

Yes, Caleb answered. How about a mental slap on the back, instead?

Another laugh, this one so weak Aden had to strain to hear it. Yep, even when you’re a pain.

“Just…if you see her, tell Eve we said hi.”

I will.

I bet she’s a babe, Caleb said, his amusement gone. Like everyone else, he was fighting with his emotions.

Julian snorted. I can’t believe this is goodbye for us. Can’t believe I’ll never see you again. Never hear Caleb being perverted, or Elijah bringing down the party or you Aden, the most honorable, loving person I’ve ever met, finding his way into the light. I’m no psychic, but great things are in store for you, my friend. I know it.

The burning migrated to his cheeks, a wet tide, unstoppable. “We’ll see each other again.” Believing otherwise would kill him.

I love you so much, Julian said again, and then, just like that, he was gone. Aden felt the absence of him all the way to his bones.

Another goodbye he hadn’t been prepared for.

He remained just as he was and let the tears flow. Victoria wound her arm around him and cried with him. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed.

When they both quieted, she whispered, “Let’s find Riley and Mary Ann and go home, Aden.”

“Yes. Home.”

“WHAT DID YOU DO to yourself?”

They were the first words Mary Ann had heard her father say in weeks—or what felt like an eternity—and she knew they were a precursor to all kinds of trouble.

She sat in the passenger seat of his sedan. He’d bailed her out of jail, or whatever. She wasn’t really sure what had happened, only that she’d been cuffed, driven to the Tulsa P.D. headquarters downtown, stashed and questioned in a room for hours—not that she’d answered anything—and then uncuffed and ushered to her dad. Who hadn’t spoken a word to her until now.

Since she hadn’t given the cops his name and number, she could only assume Riley had. A reunion she’d wanted to both thank and slap him for.

The moment she’d seen her dad, she’d nearly run to him and thrown her arms around him. Anything to comfort him. As Penny had told her, he looked like hell. Bruises under his eyes, lines of tension branching from his mouth. His clothes, wrinkled and stained with coffee. But she hadn’t let herself hug him, too afraid the strength of her riotous emotions would cause her new wards to fail and she’d start draining him, human though he was.

Rationally she knew that wouldn’t happen, but fear…well, fear was illogical and all-consuming.

“Mary Ann! I’m talking to you. You take off without any warning, without calling, and I’m left worrying to death about you. Searching for you, begging the police for help, putting out flyers, and you’re out there with that…that…” Fury crackled from him, so much fury his fingers nearly bent the steering wheel in half.

Guilt filled her, but she said, “We can’t leave Riley there. We have to go back.” She’d said it a thousand times before, but he’d ignored her each time. Riley could take care of himself, she knew that. Still. Leaving him behind felt wrong. Even though he’d purposely gotten them arrested.

She knew that now, too. What she didn’t know was why. And there was a reason. With Riley, there was always a reason. The next time she saw him, she would find out. Because right now, all she could think was that he’d wanted to get out of a painful, we’re-breaking-up talk. Except that wasn’t his style.

“Please, Dad,” she added. “Go back.”

At least he didn’t ignore her this time. “We can leave him, and we will leave him. I don’t give a flying fig about your delinquent boyfriend. That boy is an outlaw who lives by no rules but his own, and who knows if he follows those even half the time. He stole a car, Mary Ann. While you were with him! And you should start praying those are wash-off tattoos on your arms.”

The guilt intensified. “I…I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? You’re sorry? That’s all you have to say to me?”

“Dad—”

“No. Be quiet. Are you doing drugs?”

What did he want? For her to be quiet or to answer? “No. I’m not doing drugs.”

“Do you expect me to believe you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I don’t. I don’t know who you are anymore. So, guess what? We’re going to find out together. Unquestionably.”

“What? You’re having me tested?”

Silence. Silence that cut her up and left her raw. He faced straight ahead.

Fine. She would ignore him, too. She turned her attention to the window, to the trees whizzing past. To the storm clouds hovering overhead. To the sign—for a town that wasn’t on the way home.

Mary Ann flattened herself against her seat. Looked back at the sign, then at her father. Forget ignoring him. “Where are we going?”

“Clearly, I can’t help you. So I’m taking you somewhere with people who can. No matter how long it takes.”

Dread washed over her, leaving an icy glaze in its wake. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about a psych evaluation. I’m talking about group therapy. I’m talking about medication, if that’s required. I’m talking about figuring out the root of your problem, whatever it is, and getting my little girl back!”

“Dad—”

“No! I don’t want to hear it. I wanted to hear from you for days, then weeks, and I got nothing but silence and worry. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t work. I thought you’d been kidnapped. Thought you were being…raped and tortured. What do I find instead? You were out having fun. That isn’t like you. Which means something’s happened to you. Something you can’t or won’t talk to me about, so I’m going to make you talk to others.”

The ice thickened, hardened. “Dad, don’t do this. Please, don’t do it.”

“It’s already done. It’s the only way I could get you released without having to go to court or serve any time.”

No. No, no, no. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I am.” She couldn’t tell him she’d done it for his own good! He wouldn’t understand, and he wouldn’t accept. More than that, she couldn’t promise him that it wouldn’t happen again. “But you have to trust me in this, okay? You have to—”

“Trust you? Oh, baby girl. You truly are delusional if you think that’s happening. Trust is earned, and you did nothing but stomp on mine.”

She had never seen her dad so angry, so hurt; she wouldn’t be able to reach him through her usual means. “I’m not a little girl anymore. You can’t just lock me away without my permission and think—”