𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃

30

HER PREDATOR

From my window upstairs, I was watching my father look for something in the backyard when my cell phone buzzed. I didn't want to tear my eyes away from whatever he was doing. What could he be looking for? But I went and got my phone off of my bed, standing there in my dino pajama pants and a bra.

Casei had shared her location with me out of nowhere, making me curious. No other text indicating a why, just a moving location. I went to my dresser and then into my bathroom to get myself ready for the day. My dad was waiting in the room when I got back.

"Lowen, we need to talk."

Ah, the backyard. Now I know why he was looking.

"It rained last night," he told me. Like he wasn't away from the home and mommy didn't rock me to sleep. "The mud gave way and I found some things out back."

"What'd you find?" I asked him calmly.

"Lowen, we moved here for a reason," he stated sternly, standing up, "Don't disappoint me and your mother. Or...our family name."

"I won't. And I'm not," I promised him.

He took me in with his eyes. "Where are you goin'?"

"Why ask? You don't care anyways."

"You just think that," he sighed.

"You're never home," I said accusingly.

"Neither is your mother...or so I hear," he told me slowly, holding my gaze as he left.

"I'm going to go check on this girl," I told him vaguely before he could head down the stairs.

"What girl?" he asked, turning around. "Aren't you tired of them at this point?"

"So tired that I'm in a coma, Dad," I laughed bitterly.

"Dylandra should have been enough to show you that these Quercitron girls don't play, Lowen. I don't need anymore mess."

"Stay home," I told him quietly, walking right past, "And you might see a family worth stayin' for."

"Take my Charger. You're get wherever you need to go faster," he dug in his pockets and tossed me his keys. "Today, I will spend my time with your mother."

"Or you'll just end up takin' my Jeep or her Rover to go out," I added doubtfully.

"Have some faith in me, kid," he shook my hair, moving around my coils.

His shirt was two days old and he sported eye bags.

But yeah, I'll trust you, big guy.

Phone in hand, I went downstairs, waiting for my father to head off into his study before I changed course from the front door to the back door. I slid open the patio door and walked outside, going over the cement until I was at the very edge that divided house from grass and yard.

The yard was mostly mud and puddles hung around in some of the slight depressions in the mud. I stepped out onto the grass, my sinking down a bit.

I could make out a tail from here and over towards the corner of the yard, maybe a snout.

I ran a hand over my face, sighing.

Next time I'd just have to dig deeper.

I scraped the bottom of my feet on the cement to get the wet mud off of my Converse, and went through the house towards the garage.

I unlocked Dad's Charger and got in, adjusting the seats and waiting for the garage door to open.

I sat my phone up in front of the window-shield and pulled out of the driveway. By the time I made it out of Quercitron Trace, my neighborhood, Casei's location had been stabilized for a long minute.

She was at the Starbuck's downtown.

Odd how we've barely known each other for a full month and she shared this with me. All of these fights and Maeve setting up criminal shit. I would never forgive myself if she had sent her location to me as some sort of hint at something and she ended up hurt because I ignored it.

Maybe I'm overreacting.

I pulled up out front of the Starbucks, immediately spotting Casei and Chocolate talking through the windows. I parked and paid the meter, getting out and opening the door to go in. A bell rung over my head as I walked over to them.

Casei saw me and stood up.

"Don't talk to me again, Lowen," she brushed past me, leaving Chocolate at the table shocked. I glared at her, "What the hell did you tell her?"

"Something anybody who's getting involved with you should know," Chocolate got out of the booth, grabbing her coffee and standing in front of me. "I watched you break Dylandra's heart because we both know that you weren't woman enough to love her fully."

She tried to walk away and I grabbed her arm, stopping her. "It isn't your place to butt into the things I got goin' on because I hurt your bitch. Shit don't work that way."

"It does."

I turned, and there was Dylandra, coming from the bathroom, jaw set. "The gang's almost all here. We just need Arah and it'd be like the good ole days."

"Those days are never happening again," I told them both very clearly, "and it seems like you two Quercitronians can't understand that."

"Well, the one you care for is about to drive away right now," Dylandra gestured out the window. I jogged out of the place, trying to catch Casei before she drove off.

I kept pace with her vehicle before she could fully take off. She braked abruptly while I caught my breath. Letting down her window, she looked at me.

"What do you have to say to me? Is it true?"

"Euphemie was my heart. They truly were," I stressed, licking my lips. "Let me in. Or, let me meet you somewhere and I'll explain."

"I don't wanna talk to you."

A hard expression came over her face.

"My mom cursed me to like fucked up people."

I leaned against her door, damn near all the way into her vehicle. "You're not fucked up. You're perfect. And so am I."

"That...truly is a sentence, Lowen," she laughed, "I don't think you realize what Chocolate told me."

"Fuck Sioyana, okay? She just wants every bitch that I care about to-

"Every bitch, Lowen? Really, Low?" Casei looked at me. "I'm a bitch?"

"She just wants everyone as unhappy as Dylandra," I told her. I glanced at a car coming up behind her, "I wanna talk to you. Meet me at my house."

"Fine, Lowen. I don't know why I'm doing this, but fine."