The Thief Who Saved My Life

Chapter 16

"You answered," Talon says when I pick up the phone. She's called every ten minutes or so since I left, but I haven't been in the mood to rehash everything, so it was easier to ignore. I had just gotten into bed when the phone began it's incessant buzzing once more. My friend didn't take the hint, so I finally picked up mostly to tell her to stop worrying about me and go to sleep. Because that's all I want to do.

"Yeah, sorry, I just needed some time. Talon, it's the middle of the night, can we do this in the morning?"

"Of course," she says immediately. "Will you just tell me if Tyler's with you? He's not answering his phone and—"

I sit up in bed, more alert now. "Slow down," I say, interrupting my friend. "Why would Tyler be with me?"

I hear her soft inhale but she doesn't respond immediately. "Well, he left ran out of here after you left. I thought he was just going to stop you, but neither of you came back."

"He left?" An awful, horrible feeling settles in my stomach. "I never saw him, Tal. He's not with me."

But something tells me I know where he is. Standing to my feet, I pin the phone between my ear and shoulder as I pull on a pair of blue jeans and rummage through my dresser for a bra and shirt. My hands shake as it pick up the first clean tee I find, nervous that I'm right. That Tyler's gone to take out his anger on someone deserving of it.

"He probably just needed to blow off steam, he was pretty upset."

"Yeah," she murmurs thoughtfully and then adds, "Why... was he upset?"

I stammer over the right words and then decide the best option is to simply ignore the question. "Can you text me his number?"

"I—sure." She pauses again and I think she's going to let it go and hang up the phone, but she doesn't. "Evie," she demands in a tone more serious - and coated with worry - than I've heard from her before. "What was this about? I haven't seen my brother that upset in a really long time."

How am I supposed to tell her that it's my fault? That he stormed out and is god knows where because of me.

"My, um, my boyfriend."

"Why would he be upset because—oh." With the weight of that word, I know she's come to same conclusion I have.

I pull my phone back from my ear and look at the time. It's not quite two, so tell Talon to send me Tyler's number and then quickly excuse myself from the conversation. I tiptoe back down the stairs so not to wake anyone but when I sneak back into the kitchen where I'd left my car keys after getting a glass a water when I got home, the pause.

"Well, aren't we a couple of night owls," Julia says warmly. "Your father snores," she adds as an explanation with a wink. "So I thought a warm cup of tea was in order."

I give her a tight smile, not wanting to be rude but also not wanting to make small talk in the middle of the night when there are more important things going on. I reach and grab the keys, there's not really a discreet way to do so, and ignore the raised eyebrow from my soon to be stepmother.

"Isn't it a little late to be going out?"

I sigh. I really don't want to hate this woman. I don't want her to hate me either, but like I said, I don't have time for this.

"You know, my father's never been much of a parent, so you really don't need to feel like you need to pick up the slack or something. I do pretty okay on my own." That might be a lie based on the current state of my life, but oh well. "My friend has a boy-related emergency. She needs mega-girl time right now."