Raven's Song

Cornered

My dad agreed to let me go only after I promised to answer my phone when it rang, keep it charged, and to make sure my location stayed on. I wasn't going to tell him about Tylor yet. We needed the weekend to figure out where we stood with each other. No matter how much I had tried to stay away from him, I couldn't forget that he had been there when no one else was. Not my dad or Dove or Amber or Izzy or anyone else. I hadn't realized how much he had filled the loneliness I'd experienced since my mom left until he was gone.

Tylor picked me up in a different vehicle. A black SUV that looked like it'd just been driven off the lot. Maybe it had been. I had an idea how rich his family was, but I knew that idea was probably just a fraction of how much money they had. Tylor didn't flaunt his wealth. If people didn't know his dad, he would have passed as any other lower-middle-class kid. But he wasn't.

I'd asked him once why he went to public school and his brother didn't. Spencer went to the elite private school in the rich sector. It put my old school to shame with all of the resources and state-of-the-art buildings. He hadn't given me a straight answer until I didn't let it drop and he revealed that he was originally only supposed to go for a little while to do some work for his father–although he refused to tell me what kind of work–but then he met Tessa. He didn't leave once he was finished because he'd fallen in love with her. After she was killed, he hadn't wanted to leave because he wasn't going to run or hide from people who expected him to do just that. He hadn't expected to meet someone like me, either, when he returned.

When Tylor got out to help me with my bags wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, I arched an eyebrow.

"We don't want the neighbors questioning. I even wore sweatpants and tennis shoes to look like Alec," he said sourly.

"I like sporty Tylor," I said with a smile as we put my bags in the backseat.

Tylor closed the door and pulled down the sunglasses so I could see his eyes. "Don't count on it happening on a regular basis."

I pouted. "That sucks."

He shook his head and pushed the glasses back up. "I'll make it up to you later."

I grinned at him before I climbed into the passenger's seat. I'd had Izzy log into my tracking app so that when my dad looked up the address, he wouldn't find out I had lied. She'd been planning to leave about the same time as me, so I texted her when Tylor was driving down my street to let her know. Then I turned off my app. My dad wouldn't look too closely at it unless he suspected something was off.

I had told Izzy why I needed her to be me for the weekend. She had been the least judgmental out of the friend group about Tylor, but she wasn't a fan of him since we'd broken up. She promised not to tell but had made me promise to keep in touch and to give her the address.

I didn't want the others to be mad at me since I'd just gotten them back, too. It was just for a little while. I would figure out a way to convince them that Tylor did not kill Tessa. We were cordial towards each other in school. I moved back to my original seat in government to do a group activity. So far, no one had questioned us.

"I might have to leave you alone for a little bit tonight," Tylor said as he drove. His left hand was relaxed on the steering wheel while the other was resting on my knee. I was scrolling through his phone to find a song.

I looked up at him, though, as he spoke. "Why?"

"I have to meet my dad to close a deal. It shouldn't take long." He glanced over at me. "I'll be all yours after, though."