Carolina Wren

Chapter 32

Wren's POV

It was like time slowed down. Just as the basketball thudded against the hood of the very expensive looking BMW, someone who was definitely not Victor stood up from the other side of the car. My heart stopped beating as I said his name and one perfectly sculpted eyebrow slowly rose up Mr. Blackbourne's forehead, the basketball slowly bouncing down the driveway. He looked as immaculate as he always did at school-- a creaseless, unwrinkled suit. Perfect posture. Stony control over his features.

Like I've been shocked with an AED, my heart thuds back to life. Mr. Blackbourne is at my house. Upstairs, my baby siblings that I've been hiding from him are napping in my room. If one of them starts crying, he's going to hear them and my lie will be discovered. They could wake up any minute now and that'll be it.

The monitor is in a pile of cell phones up by the door, turned up as high as it can go and my instincts are at war-- in the same breath that they're telling me to book it over there and turn it off so he can't hear them, they're telling me to just let it be. That the jig is up, and I should just accept my fate.

There's almost a relief in knowing that one wrong move and he'll know that he was right, that I keep secrets. Important secrets that pull his team away from him, making them keep secrets, too. Another, bigger, part of me is clinging to my secrets as tightly as I can. I don't want to prove him right. I don't want him or Dr. Green to know. I don't want to face whatever comes next.

Silas, North, Gabe, and Luke all came running up from the back of the house laughing and skidded to a halt at the sight of their group leader. Kota finally straightened up and asked, "Why did you come all the way out here?"

Dylan looks ready to cry, he's wilting so much under Mr. Blackbourne's disapproving gaze. "I'm really sorry," he all but whimpers, just loud enough for the man to hear him. I want more than anything to pull him into me, but he needs to do this without my interference. "I didn't mean to."

Mr. Blackbourne's eyes soften a fraction when they land on Dylan. "No harm done. It's rude of me to drop in like this, but my team has been out of touch most of the day," he said, eyes scanning over all of us. "They all seem to have forgotten how to answer a phone." His eyes landed on mine, not softening in the least. "I can see why, now."

Kota swallowed hard, looking guilty as all of the guys looked anywhere but my general direction. Humiliation seeped into my veins even though I knew it wasn't really my fault. They had made the decision to come over here, I hadn't asked them to ignore their phones. With all of them avoiding me, though, it made me feel like they blamed me and saw me as a distraction. At the very least, they weren't going to jump to my defense.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Blackbourne, we put our phones down on the porch so they wouldn't get wet," Kota said. The others murmured apologies, but Kota remained stoic in taking the brunt of the blame. "I made the wrong call."

"So it seems." He took on a more commanding tone that even had Dylan's shoulders straightening as the guys all seemed to stand at attention. "We have things to do. Mr. Lee, Mr. Luke Taylor, and Mr. Griffin with me. Mr. North Taylor, Mr. Coleman, and Mr. Korba-- follow behind me in the jeep. We're already running late." Mr. Blackbourne's eyes flick back to me momentarily, the dismissal clear even without all of the extra frills. "Miss Nelson."

Gabe starts to raise a protest. "But Mr. B, what about—"

"That isn't a priority right now. I can't spare one of you on sitting around waiting for something that may not occur. Is that going to be a problem?" There's a goading factor to his words, like he's begging one of them to kick up a fuss.