Damaged Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,14

the back of my neck stood up and I felt cold.

I slowly turned my head and looked behind me.

There was nobody there.

Nobody watching.

The feeling refused to go away.

I shivered and hugged myself.

Then I ran back to the beach house.

I still didn’t feel safe.

I had to dart up to BFH to drop some stuff off and pick up more work. Besides trying to take down Noah, Easton, and Xavier, my only other goal was to make sure I could get out of BFH on time and in one piece.

I was this close to saying goodbye to it all.

Everything was lenient, considering my accident and all, but I refused to rest on that as an excuse. Other than what I had already done.

The second I parked Tank Two and got out, I saw Noah.

He had his car back.

The one I had wanted to mess up.

The one that Talon had smashed the back tail light out with the tire thingy that was in the back of Tank Two.

My heart sank for a second but I kept my face straight as I waved to him.

He nodded and motioned for me to come over to him.

I approached like normal but told myself to be careful.

“Morning, Winter,” he said.

“Noah,” I said.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m here, right?”

“I see that,” he said. “It’s good to see you.” He reached out and stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. “I missed you around here.”

“I read that in your note,” I said.

“You got the flowers?”

“That I did.”

“No thank you, Noah?”

“Thanks,” I said. “They were nice. Confusing, but nice.”

“Confusing?” Noah asked.

“What a fucking mess of a night,” a voice said from behind me.

I turned and Easton approached with speed.

He put his right foot up on the hood of Noah’s car and showed his hands.

They had a slight pinkish tint to them.

“What happened to you?” Noah asked.

“Something is going on around here,” Easton said. “First my car is torched. So I figured I’d stay at the beach house for a little bit. Someone took an old can of pink paint and tossed it all over the back deck.”

“Pink?” I asked.

“Wasn’t my choice of color,” Easton said. “Did you see anything?”

“Me?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Easton said. He moved his foot to the ground and inched toward me. “You live right nearby. Did you see anything? Hear anything?”

I stared into Easton’s eyes.

The more I knew about them…

“No,” I said. “I was asleep mostly. Trying to rest and get caught up on things.”

“You should be careful, Winter,” Noah said. He touched my arm so I would look at him. “You hear me?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Sure. I mean… why?”

“Something feels wrong around here,” Easton said. “It’s like it’s creeping up the back of my neck. You know? I can feel it.”

Easton looked around.

He licked his lips and looked ready for a fight.

I had to contain myself from smiling.

This is working. They’re getting nervous…

“I have to get going,” I said. “I have stuff to hand in. Trying to keep up with it all.”

“Winter,” Easton said. “How do you remember what to do?”

“What?” I asked.

“All the work and shit,” he said. “How do you remember that? How do you remember your name? How to breathe? How to write? How to drive? How does it work?”

Noah stepped up next to Easton.

There were plenty of people around us but that did not make me feel better at all.

They were both staring at me.

I slowly inched my way away, not sure how to respond to Easton’s questions.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I never really thought about it. I just kind of-”

I let out an oomph sound as I hit someone.

I spun around and Xavier grabbed my arms.

Shit.

“What are we talking about here?” Xavier asked. “Winter looks jumpy.”

“You scared me,” I said. “You always sneak up on me.”

“That’s kind of my thing. I like to do that.”

“Well, fuck off,” I snapped at Xavier.

I threw an elbow at him and moved away.

“Oh, she’s in a mood,” Easton said.

“Yeah, I am. Why would you ask me what you did?”

“What did you ask her?” Xavier asked.

“Easton wants to know about her memory,” Noah said. “How she can remember certain things.”

“Right?” Easton asked. “She can write and talk and do whatever else…”

“Hmm,” Xavier said.

“No,” I said. “I’m not talking about this with you guys. I don’t know what this is. What am I to you? Some kind of freak? A science project?”

“Nobody said that, Winter,” Noah said.

“I was just asking a question,” Easton said.

I side stepped but Xavier made a move.

He put his hand around