I Have an Invisible Stalker (Guardians #1)

Chapter 24

Samuel's POV

Olivia and Mina watch the police car until it disappears around the corner, while I continue to keep my eyes on my charge. We are still standing at the edge of their front-drive, surrounded by the warm darkness of a summer night.

"Are you sure you're not hurt?" Mina turns to Olivia.

"Just my knees. But it's only a few scrapes, so don't worry."

"Good." Without missing a beat Mina smacks Olivia over her upper arm. "How many times have I told you to stop being so impulsive?"

"Weren't you listening? Someone pushed me onto the road."

"But you probably did something to deserve to be pushed," Mina says.

"I agree with her," Eliza pitches in from where she's standing at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the house.

I find myself nodding along, which causes Olivia to shoot all of us a glare.

"It wasn't my fault." She turns back to her mother and then pauses. "Are you okay? I've never seen the bags underneath your eyes look so dark before."

"It was a long day at work." With a wave in dismissal, Mina turns in the direction of the house. "Let's just go in."

I follow the three females into the house to where they stop in the narrow hallway. While Olivia pauses at the door of her room, Mina and Eliza stop at Mina's bedroom door further down the hallway.

"Get some sleep, Mom." Olivia motions for her mother to enter her room.

"I will if you promise not to do anything stupid for the rest of the night. Otherwise, I'll lock you into your room."

"I promise I won't set a single foot out of the house."

Because I have already experienced first-hand that Olivia can do stupid things even inside the house—like insist on someone smacking her over the head with a heavy book—I find her promise meaningless. Mina, however, seems to find the promise enough as she wishes Olivia a good night and then slips into her bedroom.

The moment Mina and Eliza are out of the hallway, I fold my arms in front of my chest and turn to Olivia. "Tell me what happened."

She straight-out ignores me and enters her bedroom. I'm about to follow her inside when she spins around and finally meets my eyes.

"I'm going to change my clothes, so you need to stay out here. Got it?"

The thought of her undressing makes me want to enter her room even more, but I sink my teeth into my tongue to keep myself from voicing it aloud. While Olivia closes the door in my face, I continue to glare at it for another moment. So close.

With a sigh, I move down the dim hallway until I reach the kitchen. There I flip on the lights and sit at the table. At the sound of approaching footsteps, I turn to the open doorway, but instead of Olivia, Eliza enters the room. She shuffles to the chair Olivia usually occupies and sits down.

"Where's the mother?" I ask.

"Where's the daughter?" she asks.

"Changing."

"Mine took two sleeping pills, so she'll be knocked out in a moment or two."

"Two? What happened?" Despite Mina having never been my charge, I picked up a few of her habits along the way. And two sleeping pills at once screams of something being wrong.

"Her boss at the hair salon is being a pain in the ass." Eliza shrugs.

"Olivia knows?"

"I have no idea. You ask her." Eliza glances at the watch wrapped around her left wrist and lets out a long sigh. "Since Mina will be knocked out soon, I'll take my leave."