Unraveling Mordecai, Marisa Maichel [ebook reader .TXT] 📗

and texting her, to no avail. She wouldn't even answer for Beckett or Mother. I couldn't help feeling that I was responsible for her running away.
My own personal heartache came to a head one day, when a visitor from Sarah's past showed up at our door. I was reading a book to Sarah, when the doorbell rang. Since no one was here but us and a couple guards, I gave Toby permission to answer it.
"Hi, is Sarah here?" a shrill female voice asked. Sarah's eyes widened, and she went downstairs as fast as her pregnancy would allow.
"Caitlin?" Sarah asked. At the door was a brown-haired female our age, with dark brown eyes and pale skin. Compared to Sarah, she was rather plain.
"Sarah?" the female looked around at her.
"It is you!" Sarah shouted. A big grin split her beautiful face in half. She and the human hugged each other tightly. "I can't believe it! I haven't seen you since middle school!"
I cleared my throat.
"Oh, Caitlin, this is my fiance, Reese. Reese, this is Caitlin, my best friend from Atlantic City."
Caitlin's eyes widened. "Oh, so this is him? You were right, he is handsome."
"Thank you," I said. "It's nice to meet you, Caitlin." As per custom, I kissed her knuckles.
"How did you find us?" Sarah asked.
Caitlin smiled and rolled her eyes. "Your friend Ariella is the biggest gossip. She said she knew you."
"What are you doing here?" Sarah asked.
"That's another story. Guy problems. And work. I needed to get away. I knew you of all people would understand."
Sarah blinked, and I stood there, not sure what to say. Was Caitlin assaulted by a guy? Did the same thing that happened to Sarah happen to her?
"How do you know Ari?" Sarah continued.
"She and I were friends on Facebook before, just talking, you know, and she said she knew you and mentioned where you live now."
"Ari wouldn't do that," I said automatically. Sarah grabbed my hand and squeezed it, both indicating that she knew that and that I should shut up.
"Why do I get the feeling that you're holding something back, Cait?" Sarah asked. Suddenly, then other girl broke down in tears and began crying loudly. I suspected that it was fake. But Sarah, bless her large heart, looked concerned.
Sarah, something's not right, I thought-spoke to her.
I know, Reese, she thought-spoke back. This is odd. Caitlin used to never fake her tears. She's hiding something, I'm sure of it.
My girl was intelligent.
"Caitlin, what's wrong?" Sarah asked. I looked at her, confused. I would have just told Caitlin to shut up and leave.
"It's been horrible, Sarah," she sobbed. "I'm so torn right now. There are two guys, and they both want me!"
"Really?" Sarah blinked. "Who?"
"You remember Nathan Arnold?"
"How could I forget?" Sarah replied sarcastically. "He pulled my hair all the time and then kissed me in the sixth grade." I growled at that. Sarah squeezed my hand again.
"It's between him...and Jesse Gold."
"That redneck?" Sarah scoffed. "They're both losers, Caitlin. Nathan is an immature man-whore with Peter Pan syndrome and I remember Jesse trying to kiss all the girls. He kissed me once, and it was so gross. We were only thirteen, and he smelled like tobacco and armpit sweat."
"They've both matured," Caitlin sniffed. "If you only met them, Sarah, you'd know why I'm confused."
"But there's more, isn't there?" Sarah prompted.
"Yes, Sarah. I was raped!" Now the girl's tears were real. My heart broke instantly, and I felt sorry for her. Sarah paused, then wrapped her arms around her old friend. "I knew you'd help, Sarah."
Sarah's eyes filled with tears, and I growled at Caitlin for upsetting my mate, then hated myself. The girl had been through a trauma and was quite possibly alone and definitely scared. I didn't know her from Adam. Sarah embraced her friend for a long time, then she invited Caitlin in.
"Mortal Kombat?" Sarah asked. "For nostalgic reasons?"
Caitlin weakly smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."
It's been a while since Sarah played her games, I thought. Maybe Caitlin introduced her to them.
I followed the girls upstairs to my room. Caitlin's nose wrinkled, I assumed because of all the black. I sat on my desk chair while Caitlin and Sarah took the bed.
I watched as Sarah set up the Xbox. She handed Caitlin a controller, and she took the other one.
Caitlin chose Reptile, Sarah chose Rain. The girls played viciously. Sarah sometimes let me win; she wasn't doing that with Caitlin. The minute Rain blew up Reptile, she paused the game and then turned to me.
"Reese, would you mind-?"
"Yeah, I'll go."
I decided to visit a secondhand record store that I hadn't been to in a year. To my disappoinment, they were closing the store, so everything was on sale. I stocked up on Heart, Stevie Nicks, Pink Floyd, Pantera, Metallica, Journey, KISS, and Toto. As soon as I paid, in cash, I left the store just as Scarlett was walking in.
Oh, great.
She paused and looked at me. "Hi, Reese."
"Scarlett."
"What are you doing here?"
I held up my purchases. "I took advantage of the sale."
"That's great. I'm here for some rock. Anything good?"
"I don't know, that depends on your taste."
"I personally prefer classic rock. AC/DC, stuff like that."
"Nice to see you, Scarlett," I lied, then slipped past her into the Barnes & Noble next door.
I looked around and grabbed some religion books, some classic novels, a few teen and young adult that I thought Sarah would like, and I took a peek at the children's section, where a security guard followed me around. He only left me alone after I paid for my books.
I considered putting the purchases in the Nissan, then realized that the heat would be bad for the books and the records. Instead, I ducked into a coffee shop, where I ordered a water and sat reading one of the books. Before long, Scarlett reappeared in the doorway, ordered a caramel macchiato, and sat across from me.
"Let's make a proposal," she said. "You kiss me once, and I don't tell Sarah you cheated on her."
I glared. She was bluffing. She couldn't possibly know that I'd slept with Sadie before she committed suicide. It was during a fight with Sarah, and I had mistaken her words for a breakup. When she sighed and said that we'd simply had a fight, I hated myself instantly even more than I already did.
I didn't want to lose her, not now, not ever. So I'd kept my mouth shut about the affair and hoped no one would find out. Well, Father knew. And Uncle Soren. Other than that, I hoped no one else knew. Louis wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut, and Grandfather would want to get any confessions off his chest before he died.
Still, I stayed firm. "Not happening, Hart."
"Come on, Reese," she said pleadingly. "It's my last chance before I leave for Salem."
"Salem? Seriously, Scarlett?"
She nodded. "Seriously. You can either join me, or lose Sarah. Your choice."
"Number one, I'd lose Sarah with either of those options, two, I don't give in to ultimatums, three, I'd never join you, and four, you disgust me. And five, I won't ever leave Sarah."
"But you've been having doubts, haven't you?"
I blinked.
"Yes, I know all about what goes on in a boy's mind, Reese. You've been having doubts, thinking that maybe, just maybe, there's another boy in her life. Think, Reese. Use your incredible thinking brain. You know as well as I do that there's something about Sarah that draws members of the male variety to her. She has tons of guy friends, and almost all of them have considered fucking her at least once. She has so many options."
I hated to admit it, but she was right. I'd been having doubts. She took my silence as confirmation and nodded.
"You'll never have a better offer, Reese. When's your birthday?"
"The first of October."
"That's tomorrow. Come on, sweetheart, take a deep, unneeded breath and pull me in."
"Don't call me sweetheart. Your words are poisonous, Scarlett Hart. I don't care how beautiful you are, Sarah's beauty surpasses yours in every category, especially her inner beauty. She may not like herself right now, but I do. I adore and worship her. I knew she was different than the rest of you. And I was right. You're a vile, vain, horrid woman, Scarlett. Stay away from me. For the last time, stay away from me."
I grabbed my purchases and left Scarlett there, fuming. When I got home, I heard batches of French coming from upstairs. It was Beckett and Sarah.
"Vraiment, Sarah? Pourquoi Caitlin?" ("Really, Sarah? Why Caitlin?"
"Papa, elle avait peur et avait besoin d'aide. Je sais qu'elle a déjà menti, mais je pense que c'est pour de vrai." ("Papa, I know she's lied before, but I think this is for real. She's scared and needs our help.")
"N'oublie pas, mon amour, elle t'a fait du mal avant ton départ," Beckett said. ("Don't forget, she hurt you before.")
"Je n'ai pas oublié. Mais je suis sur lui depuis des années, papa. J'ai Reese maintenant." ("I haven't forgotten. I've been over him for years, Papa. I have Reese now.")
Stomach roiling, I cleared my throat loudly.
"He's back," Beckett said. I heard tension in his voice.
"Papa, don't be jealous. Reese was my rock when I had no one else."
"I know I'm being irrational, but if I get my hands on him..."
"Papa! Not okay!"
"Okay, okay, I'll control my jealousy. Any sign of your sister?"
"None. She's ignoring all my calls and texts. I can't help feeling guilty-"
"Sarah Harper, don't you dare blame yourself for his mistakes. It was his uncle's fault that the young vampire died."
"It wasn't Soren's fault! It was Samuel who ordered all those murders to be committed, and it was Alana who went through with half of them. No one could have been safe with those two around."
"If Soren had just given him the Book-"
"The Book's dangerous, Papa. No one is supposed to rise from the dead."
"But I did, and I'm glad I'm back. I can protect you now."
"I am, too." I heard the shuffling of clothing, and assumed they were hugging.
"You're my petite rose, dear daughter.That's why I died for you."
"I don't fully understand."
"Sarah, it's quite simple. When you were a baby, you were cursed to die. But I found a loophole. If someone else died in your stead, you would live."
"Papa, if what you're saying is true, you interfered with fate!"
"It was worth it, to watch you blossom and grow from Heaven."
More shuffling of clothing. "I missed you, Papa."
"I missed you too, mi petite rose."
I entered the room, carefully avoiding Beckett's eyes as I sat in my desk chair.
"Where have you been?" he snapped.
"Where's Caitlin?" I redirected.
"In the bath," Sarah said. "Where were you, Reese?"
"I went to the Douglas Plaza. I got you some books, lover."
"Ooh, thank you." I handed her her bag of books and she eagerly looked through them. "I've been wanting to read this one. I was planning to buy this one anyway. This looks interesting. Ooh, a detective story. And a book of fairytales? You know me so well."
"A book of fairytales?" I asked, surprised. "I don't remember picking up a book of fairytales." I took the book from her and thumbed through it. It had all the usuals, like Tom Thumb and Thumbelina, Red Riding Hood, A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was confused. A Shakespeare story in a book of fairytales. Then I realized that its pages had been ripped out and added between Sleeping Beauty