The sketch was of her and Pearl, twelve years ago. They were sitting on a bench together, a bag of all their possessions to their left. It had been raining and her mom insisted she wear that ridiculous rubber hat. Scout hated that hat.
A watery chuckle rose in her chest. She could hear her mother’s voice telling her it was the hat of a famous sea captain and he’d be sad if she didn’t wear it with pride. She was so full of crap. That was when her mom still acted like a mom, before Scout started calling her Pearl.
Even when she went to the tracks and talked with Pearl, she still left missing her mom. Scout hated what drugs had done to her. She’d never come back to her and every day she loved her it hurt a little more.
Scout hugged the drawing to her chest and carefully folded it back up. It was tearing where the creases were. She should find tape and fix it before it fell apart. After tucking the picture back in her bag, she lay down. The heavy covers warmed her body, but she shivered anyway.
Faces swirled behind her closed eyes. Parker and Pearl and Deborah and the scary man from the shelter. She thought about the crying baby she’d heard the other night.
Her mind randomly recalled a conversation she’d had with a nursing mother several years ago. The mother had told Scout that her body had become so malnourished that she could no longer produce milk. Scout hated when that woman was at the shelter. Her infant would scream all night long. Every cry cut through her like a hot blade, and she’d never been so furious or felt so helpless. Scout wanted to help that starving baby and she couldn’t. She hated when that woman was at the shelter, but Scout hated when she left more because she never knew what happened to her or that baby.
That was her life, people coming and going and no one sticking around long enough to ever depend on. She had been the one afraid to depend on Parker, afraid to call him friend. But now she was the one abandoning him. Would he hate her for leaving him? If he left her she’d never forgive him. It was a complicated thing, her way of thinking. She hated letting people in, but once she did and she began to care for them she never wanted to let them go.
Chapter 13
Rooks and Voyeurs
A sharp, shrill alarm sounded and Scout jerked upright. Instinctively, she reached for her bag as the alarm sounded again.
Fire?
Her eyes landed on her unfamiliar surroundings and she remembered she was in the hotel, and the annoying sound that had woken her was coming from the phone. She leaned over and answered it.
“Hello?”
“Get dressed. Something casual, but nice. Meet me out front in thirty minutes.”
Scout wiped her eyes and scowled. She was still angry from last night. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise. Thirty minutes.” Lucian said and hung up in her ear.
She replaced the phone and glared at it. After a few minutes of refusing to move, eventually she gave in and went to take a shower.
She dressed in a pair of fitted jeans and knee-high boots. The boots, although heeled, offered more support than the pumps. Finding a soft corded sweater the color of rust, she slipped that over a lace brown camisole.
Katelyn had given her a dainty bag full of makeup the day before, and Scout sorted through the little tubes and compacts for some magic quick fix that wasn’t there. Locating the mascara, she pulled out the black wand. Her eyes flickered rapidly as she tried to swab her lashes with the goopy stuff. When she finished, she wasn’t pleased. Her eyes looked startling. Witch eyes. She tossed it back in the bag and found some powder.
There were ten different brushes. Selecting a fluffy large one to use with the powder, she dabbed the compact. Blending was a talent that took skill she lacked. Growing frustrated, she grabbed the clear gloss, slathered it over her lips, and left.
Her hair was still damp, so she twisted it into a bun as she waited for the elevator. Scout wasn’t sure how she’d treat Lucian today. Part of her wanted to hurt him the way he had hurt her, but another part of her missed the way they’d been that first night. And then there was the part of her that constantly reminded her she shouldn’t care that much.
There was no paying him back for the things he had given her, and her stubbornness refused to allow her to bow out at this point. If she let people like Lucian intimidate her, she’d never make it in the real world.
Squaring her shoulders, she stepped off the elevator. The lobby was politely hushed as people checked in and out. She could smell the restaurant and wondered if they’d ever dine there.