When Stars Collide (Light in the Dark #2) - Micalea Smeltzer Page 0,90
speaking too.
It’s late, we practiced all day, and the sun has almost completely set.
I reach my truck and climb inside the cab. I pull my phone from my pocket and check for messages. I smile when I see a text from Thea. I open it and laugh. She sent a picture of herself holding Prue. I text back: Cute and seconds later my phone rings, and it’s Thea calling. “Are you on your way home?”
“Yeah,” I answer, stifling another yawn. “I’m really tired so I think I’m going to head straight to bed.”
“Okay …” There’s a long pause on her end, and then, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“What?” I ask, starting the truck and heading toward the exit.
“My stupid dad is parked out front. Can’t he catch a hint and disappear? No one wants him around.”
I instantly tense. “Is Cade home?”
“No,” she answers. “He took Rae out to dinner. It’s just Mom and me.”
Should’ve gotten that security system.
“Whatever you do, don’t let him in.”
I instinctively know, rather than see, that she rolls her eyes. “Yeah, he might be my sperm donor but I’m not letting him in the house. He can rot and die for all I care. Don’t worry, okay? When it comes down to it, the man’s a big chicken. He won’t do anything.”
“Thea—” I warn.
“Iloveyoubye,” she slurs and hangs up.
I sigh. “I love you too,” I say to the empty line, and toss my now silent phone on the passenger seat.
I try not to worry on my drive home, but it’s hard not to. Thea might not think that her father’s capable of anything, but I saw the look in his eye that night in the basement, and the man is unstable.
A person who has lost it all is the scariest kind out there, because they have nothing left to lose. There’s nothing holding them back from going off the deep end.
When I’m about twenty minutes from the house, I call Cade.
“What? This better be important?” he says when he answers.
“Are you home?”
“No, I’m out with Rae. We’ll be home soon.”
“How soon?”
“What the fuck is going on, Xander? You sound weird.”
I’m sweating now. It’s like a sixth sense has come over me that something bad has happened or is going to happen, and I’m powerless to stop it.
“Thea called me when I was leaving practice and she said your dad was parked out front. I have a bad feeling about this.”
Cade grows silent on the other end. “Shit,” he breathes out after a moment. “I’ll be home as soon as I can, but I don’t think I’ll be there for at least thirty minutes.”
“Fuck,” I curse. “I’ll be there before you. Hopefully, I’m freaking out for no reason.”
But my gut says I’m not.
“Drive faster,” Cade says and hangs up.
His parting words are enough to tell me he doesn’t think I’m crazy.
I just have to hope I can get there in time.
“Sorry, Prue, but you’re going to have to wait until Daddy gets home to go for your walk. He might be tired, but I’m not going out there with that psycho sitting in his car.”
I peer out the window for the hundredth time and sure enough my dad’s car is still parked by the curb right by our mailbox. I called the cops, but they were extremely unhelpful and said that as long as he was parked there and not disturbing anything then they couldn’t help me. If that isn’t insane then I don’t know what is.
My mom’s footsteps sound on the steps behind me, and I immediately turn away from the window. Too late, though.
“What were you looking at?” she asks, trying to see behind me and out the window.
She looks better than she has in a long time. Her hair is fuller and bouncy, her face isn’t so sallow, and her eyes have a brightness in them now. She looks happy.
“Nothing,” I say quickly. She gives me a look, so I quickly lie. “The woman across the street is watering her plants.”
Apparently, this explanation still isn’t good enough, because she pushes around me and moves the curtain to peer out. She immediately hisses and rears back like she’s been burned.
“What’s he doing here?” she seethes. “Why can’t he leave me alone?”
I snort. “Probably because he likes control and he’s lost all of it, so he’s trying to gain it back.”
She lifts her chin defiantly. “I’m going to talk to him.”
“No, Mom, please don’t.” I grab her arm, but she shakes out of my hold. “He’s