To Capture a Thorn (The Society 2)

“I love her so much, Lucas, and she looks at me like I’m the enemy.”

“She is hurting as well.”

“I know. I know. He’s a fucking monster.”

I couldn’t take anymore, so I rounded the door, walked into my mom’s room, and went straight up to her.

Wrapping my arms around her thin body, I held her tightly to me, wanting her to know that even though I had so many issues, in my way, I did love her.

“Sian?” Joan asked.

“I love you, Mom. I do love you.”

“You heard?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

“He has taken so much from us already. Don’t let him take any more. We’re strong together,” I said.

“I love you, Sian. I will always love you.”

I believed her. How could I not? I had no doubt there were more stories for her to tell. More emotional as well as physical scars for her to share that had everything to do with the son of a bitch who called himself my dad.

****

Gideon

“We need to get Sian out of here sooner rather than later,” I said after she left.

The guys agreed.

Personally, I was starting to hate hospitals. Not that they’d ever been on my list of places to come and visit.

This one with the pristine white walls and fake smiles, I just couldn’t handle it. Sian’s world was tipping on its axis, and I had no way to ground her. Her mother’s presence didn’t seem to help either.

Alexander was still on the loose, and I didn’t feel we were any closer to catching the son of a bitch, which only served to piss me off more. To make matters worse, I had been given a single letter today with instructions for a week from now. I had to go to a seminar and give a single disc to a doctor. That was all I had to do.

Glancing at the guys, I wondered if they had been given instructions on what to do.

My father had told me under no circumstances was I to tell anyone about the details of what I had to do.

We were not to know everything we’d done, or why. We were to do. Messengers. That was what we are. I didn’t like it.

William began to peel back the wrapping around his water bottle. “What is up with you?” I asked.

I’d noticed he’d been withdrawn lately.

“Nothing, why?”

“You have missed several opportunities to tell a joke,” I said. “I’m missing them.”

He snorted. “Look around you. I guess being around death isn’t putting me in a good mood.”

I rolled my eyes and turned to Mateo and Dante.

“He’ll be himself soon enough. Give him some time with Sian,” Mateo said.

This made William chuckle. “Yeah, she’s what I need.” There was no hint of sarcasm.

“I need some air,” William said, getting up, swiping his bottle, and leaving the room.

“I’ll go and keep an eye on him,” Dante said. “Let’s hope he stays out of trouble.”

I watched him go as well, leaving me alone with Mateo.

“Just the two of us,” I said.

“Don’t sound so happy about that.”

I laughed. “Any news from Fred?” I asked.

“He’s looking into all security footages and stuff like that. No sign of Alexander, but I’m guessing he’s spent a long time getting to this stage where he can go around undetected.” Mateo shrugged. “He’ll slip up. I predict sooner rather than later.”

“Why?”

“No money. He can’t just go to an ATM. Chloe’s gone. Coach Bilson is gone. I’m thinking his resources are starting to dry out. We’ve got Joan, and she was a big ticket for him getting what he wanted. He used her to blackmail our dads. He’s getting desperate.”

“Yeah, and desperate people act irrationally.”

“True. We can’t lower our guard. He’ll come. We’ve just got to be ready.”

The cafeteria closed up the main counters serving food. It was another day spent at the hospital with crappy food.

Mateo and I left, joining Dante and William outside in the cold night air.

“You know it’s nearly Thanksgiving,” William said.

“What happened to Halloween night?”

The days were rolling all together. I hadn’t made much sense of one day to the next in the past couple of weeks.

“It’s tonight,” Sian said.

I spun around to see her coming out of the hospital, putting on a jacket.

“It is?”

“Yeah. Tonight is technically our anniversary of being together. Congratulations, guys on your one year as a … secret member.” She dropped her voice to the last part.

Looking at Sian now, I saw there was a smile to her lips. Her eyes were a little red and puffy, but she didn’t look sad.

Whatever had happened in the past couple of hours had been good for her. I wanted to ask, but rather than point out the obvious, I held my hand out to her. “So, our one-year anniversary. How do you want to celebrate?” I asked.

I didn’t know what I was expecting. Dinner. A movie. An early night because to be honest, we were all tired.