Unraveling Sarah Cresley, Marisa Maichel [thriller books to read .txt] 📗

Jordan did was wrong. I'm not going to say I'm innocent, because I'm not. I stole from businesses. I used to drink all the time. I even tried smoking. No more. No more of any of that. No more toxins in my life. No cigarettes or alcohol until I'm twenty one.

"I want to change my life completely. Even my grades are suffering. I can't seem to get any work right. I think I need a tutor. Reese, will you help me with my homework?"

"Absolutely," I said.

"Great. I just need my tote bag. It's in my car in the trunk. Will you get it for me?"

"Sure," I said, and she handed me her keys.

I went downstairs and out the door to Sarah's car. I opened the trunk. I was tempted to look through the bins in the car. One seemed to be full of baby books, and the other seemed to be full of clothes. There was a small toolbox, jumper cables, a jack, and a spare tire. I wondered if she'd ever gotten a flat. I spotted the tote bag and grabbed it. It was heavy; full of books and papers. In the backseat, there was a pair of boots, a coat, and a laptop.

In the console, she had a cigarette lighter, a notepad and pencil, a pen, red lipstick, a compact mirror, teabags, a hairbrush made with wood and boar bristles, and a spoon wrapped in plastic. She had the car manual in the glove compartment, her insurance and other papers, and a bag of dried sage.

Okay, I looked through her car. I found it hard to resist. My only excuse is that I have little self-control. I daydreamed about marrying her on the way back up. My future wife. My soulmate. My fiancee. At least, she would be when she said yes after I finally proposed.

She was waiting for me patiently, looking at a book with a skull and crossbones on the cover.

"What's that about?" I asked.

"Death, of course. It's some kind of anthology about death." I felt a chill run down my spine. "What took so long?" she continued. My abdomen contracted.

"I...it was...hard to find." My lie came out more smoothly than I expected it to. She raised an eyebrow and took the bag. She pulled out a science textbook.

"I'm taking Zoology. What's the most common pet in an average American household?"

"A cat," I said without thinking. In North Hampton High School, either Zoology or Biology was a requirement for juniors. Sarah opened her book.

"It says here that dogs and cats are the most popular pets," she said. "Did you know that there are over a hundred different cat breeds? It says here that Shadowfang is a long-hair of some kind."

"Have you ever had any cats?" I asked.

"No, just dogs. I really want one, though." Okay, we were keeping Shadowfang. Not that I'd had any choice in the first place.

"Speak of the devil," I groaned as the feline made his way back into my room. Apparently, Louis couldn't keep him contained. Shadowfang jumped onto my bed and nuzzled Sarah. She petted him for a moment before he plopped himself right onto her textbook.

"Okay, you have to move," I said, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and placing him on the floor. He glared at me and jumped onto the bed again. Sarah scratched his ear, then turned back to her textbook.

"Can I borrow your computer?" she asked.

"Sure," I said. I turned it on and typed in the password. My father had a habit of trying to snoop on my computer, so I was constantly creating new passwords. Not that I had anything illegal, but there were some things that I'd rather he didn't see. Like plans for leaving New Jersey. I would go to a music college somewhere in the West, and then I'd move to San Francisco, where it was grey all day. I'd move Sarah with me.

Right now, my only music classes were choir. I had a decent voice, but I preferred playing instruments. I was too shy to sing in front of other people by myself. I'd stumble over my words. I closed several tabs and opened a new one for Sarah. She sat in my desk chair and started to type.

While she did homework, I finished writing the new song. She had papers strewn about. Important notes and terms were highlighted in different colors. She wrote and typed until it was almost dinnertime, when she finally said she was finished. I started writing a new song.

"What do you want for dinner?" I asked as her stomach growled. "Name anything and I'll get it for you."

"Whatever you have in the house is fine," she said. Damn. We didn't have any human food in the house.

"How about pizza?" I asked. I'd never tried it myself, but I had heard that it was a favorite in many households. She made a face, however, so I quickly suggested Chinese instead. She seemed okay with that, so I placed an order for vegatable lo mein, pork, fried rice, sesame chicken, sweet and sour shrimp, crab rangoon, and chicken egg rolls.

~~~~~~~~~

The food arrived in about an hour, and I paid the man while Sarah tried one of the egg rolls. When Father came into the kitchen, he made a face.

"Do you not like Chinese food?" Sarah asked him.

"I don't particularly care for it," he said. I tried a bite of rice. Sarah smiled at the face I made.

"You didn't have to go through all this trouble just for me," she said.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm going to spoil you rotten, princess."

"Princess?" she asked, trying to grin, her mouth full of chicken, eggs, and fried corn flour.

"You're a princess now," Father told her. Uncle Soren, who was coming into the room, shot him a death glare. "What is your problem, Soren? Can't handle the truth? That your favorite nephew finally found someone who will last forever before your son does?"

"I don't care about that," Uncle Soren said. Sarah looked uncomfortable.

"Maybe I should go anyway," she said. "It's getting kind of late."

"Stay the night here," I suggested.

"I probably would, except I don't have any clean clothes here. And Mom'll worry." She started to pack up the uneaten food.

"Uh, I'll put that away, Sarah," Uncle Soren said, grabbing a box from her. "Go ahead and do whatever it is you were planning to do." She looked even more uncomfortable.

"So, we leave for Denmark in a week," I told her. "Better start planning what you're taking. And get some rest." She smiled weakly, went upstairs to grab her things, and came back down a minute later. She stood on her toes to kiss me on the lips. We kissed, I kissed her hand, and she hugged my father, which surprised him. She waved at my uncle.

"Goodbye, Soren," she said. "Bye, Mordecai. See you later, Reese. Give Louis my regards." She went outside and started up her car a minute and a half later.

"A well-made woman," Uncle Soren commented.

"Very sweet-natured," Father said. "Not to mention incredibly beautiful." To my surprise, I didn't feel any jealousy when they said these things. Instead, my heart swelled with pride.

"Very smart, too," Uncle Soren added. "I can see why you like her, Reese."

"Do you not like her?" I asked. The thought of my uncle not liking her was too horrible a thought to even consider.

"No, I do like her. I just think that you should go slower with her. Also, she is consuming your life. She has you wrapped around her little finger. There is nothing more dangerous than a beautiful woman who has a man who loves her wrapped around her finger."

"If you're referring to Alga-" Father began.

"I mean women in general. Not just Alga. She did it to me. Marina did it to you. Even our mother did it to Father."

"Mother died," Father said. "She didn't leave Father." Uncle Soren looked sheepish. "I highly doubt that Sarah is going to purposely break Reese's heart."

~~~~~~~~~~~

As I got ready for bed, I thought about how I was going to propose. Should I buy a diamond ring? Blue or white? Or should I get an emerald ring? Her birthday was in February, I'd discovered. February fourteenth, actually. She was a Valentine's Day baby. She would be seventeen next year. I purred. Soon, we'd be the same age, at least until next October, when I turned eighteen.

I wondered what to get her for her birthday. A new car? A diamond necklace? A new wardrobe? Well, Alexander had her wardrobe under control. He spent half his money on her, and he was even richer than we were. Some new makeup, perhaps? But what kind? What was her foundation shade? She had a light tan, so maybe that.

I searched through her Facebook and saved every picture of her by herself on my phone. I smiled as I went through her pictures. She was smiling in each one, although her eyes were not always happy. And no wonder. She'd lost her father, lost her friends, been raped, and was falling in love for the first time in her life. I wondered if she'd done it with anyone besides me and Mike. So far, we'd had sex twice, and I had been gentle with her due to her condition.

I wondered if I was moving too fast, if I was pressuring her to move too fast. Maybe I should ask her if it was what she really wanted. That's what I should have done in the first place, but I was so excited that I completely forgot about that possibility. I fell back onto the pillow, stomach twisting with fear. Had I pressured her? Did she resent me, even in secret?

I started going through my own Facebook. No messages, few notifications. No surprise. I had joined few groups on social media, mostly related to music. Shadowfang jumped onto my stomach.

"Hey, cat," I said, scratching his ears. I looked at him. "Did you come into my life for a reason?" Shadowfang blinked once, and I took that to mean yes. Less than a week with him, and we could all clearly see that he was much smarter than the average cat. He yawned. He patted the pillow with a paw, and I turned off the light and crawled into bed. He laid by my head, almost obscuring my sense of smell.

He went to sleep almost instantly. Meanwhile, I lay awake, wondering what Sarah saw in me. I was prepared for weird dreams, however, Father crawled in with me, and I slept peacefully. I noticed that I always slept better when I was next to someone, be it Sarah or my father.

"Go to sleep, young one," Father said. I followed his advice and closed my eyes. In the dream, I felt warm and full and content.

Sarah laid next to me. She was no longer pregnant; she'd had the baby a few months ago. He was with Alexander now. Alexander adored him. He couldn't get enough of him.

The dream changed. Sarah and I were on an island where the natives were not particularly fond of us. Specifically, me. The older ones knew what I was. Some of the women talked about taking Sarah away from me. I couldn't let that happen. They admired her, brushing her hair and showing her how to make oil for skin.

The natives adored her almost as much as my parents did. Mother was particularly fond of Sarah. Their stories were similar, and Mother felt like she had a duty to protect Sarah now that she was part of the family.

The dream changed. I was drowning. I was in a bottomless outdoor pool. The water was green and slightly mucky. I fought to stay afloat. I saw Alexander and begged him to help me.

"You can take care of yourself," he said. And when Father tried to help, Alexander prevented it from happening. Even Grandfather couldn't get to me. The pool opened up, and I saw a bottomless