Outsider: The Flawed Series Book Two Read online

  “That sounds like it would be cool. About the trip though…”

  “Yeah?”

  “It looks like we’re going to have to postpone it.”

  “Why? Are you all suddenly too busy? Aiden with the volleyball and Travis with the girlfriend?” She chuckled nervously.

  “Actually, it’s me. It looks like I’m going to be out of town then.”

  “You didn’t have plans when we talked a week ago.”

  “Yeah, it sort of all happened quickly.”

  “What’s up?”

  “Oh, nothing big.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I don’t want to jinx it by saying too much.”

  “You’re being all mysterious. What’s going on?”

  He laughed. “Detective Alex is on the trail.”

  “I hope nothing bad happened.”

  “No, nothing like that. If it works out—it’ll be good news. I’ll just leave it at that.”

  “Okay…”

  “Listen, I have to go, okay? Aiden is bugging me to get off the phone.”

  “Wait—so when are you coming to visit then?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I’ll be in touch, okay?”

  “Sure. Later, Ferno.”

  “Catch you later.”

  Alex tossed her phone onto the couch. “Well, that sucks.”

  Chloe burst in, out of breath. “Bye, Angie!” She waved and shut the door.

  Alex glanced at her roommate’s attire. “Back from a run?”

  “Yeah. It was a good one, too. I need a shower big time before tonight.”

  “I can smell you all the way over here.”

  “What?” Chloe’s face screwed up into a horrified expression and she attempted to sniff the front of her shirt.

  “Just kidding,” Alex said. “You never stink, even when you’re all sweaty. How do you manage that, anyway?”

  Chloe shrugged. “Good genes, I guess.” She crossed the room, then stopped shy of the bathroom door. “Oh, someone came by to see you earlier.”

  “Really? Who?”

  “That dorky-looking guy you’re trying to start a band with.”

  “Oh. Guy.”

  “I don’t remember his name.”

  “His name is Guy.”

  “Whatever. I just think he’s a bit weird. I mean, who wears Doc Martens anymore? That’s like so…I don’t know…decades ago.”

  “It’s retro—you know, from the ’90s. Stuff is coming back in style.”

  “Some things are.”

  “Well, fashion isn’t as important to everyone as it is to you.”

  “Obviously.” Chloe rolled her eyes.

  “And there is a certain cool factor about shopping in thrift stores.”

  “Beg to differ,” Chloe muttered. “But I am glad he rescued me from a living room full of drums, though. So you can tell him thanks for that—honestly.”

  Alex smiled. “I’m as happy as you are that we finally got a practice space, and I don’t have to store my equipment here anymore. It’s not like I could really play here, with these paper-thin walls. So what did Guy want?”

  “I don’t know. He just said to call him. Weird, that he’d come by without knowing you were home.”

  “He was probably visiting his cousin downstairs.”

  “Where did you find him, anyway?”

  “At a jam session at Beans and Booze.”

  “Oh, I love that place. They have great coffee. Well, I’m gonna jump in the shower.” Chloe disappeared into the bathroom.

  Alex grabbed her phone and called Guy. “What’s up?” she asked. “Chloe said you stopped by.”

  “I was just going to let you know I got the fliers up in all the local music stores.”

  “Great. I got all the nearby coffee shops covered.”

  “Sweet,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll start getting calls and we can nail down a lead guitarist soon. Better yet, one who sings. I’m getting tired of leading every song during practice. Great idea on the band name, by the way. It’s perfect.”

  “You don’t think it sounds, I don’t know, cheesy?” Alex said.

  “Nope, I love it. Don’t you?”

  “I do, actually. It’s accurate.” Despite her feigned modesty, Alex was pretty proud of the name she’d come up with.

  “Totally. The best band names have the right mix of, like, poeticness and obscurity. You nailed it.”

  “Thanks.”

  Clicking off her phone, Alex pondered the prospects in her life. So far both Guy and Chloe had accepted that she was different, yet treated her like normal anyway. She was slowly realizing that her weird-factor didn’t have to make everything awkward and didn’t need to be the big secret she’d made it in her old life.

  “You’re still sitting there?” Chloe asked after her shower.

  “Hey, it’s Friday, and I had a long day. Cut me some slack.”

  “It’s just that we’re supposed to meet Cam and Josh in like thirty minutes. Is that what you’re wearing?”

  Alex looked down at her dark-wash jeans and faded vintage t-shirt. “What’s wrong with it?”

  “Um, it’s okay, I guess. But can’t you at least ditch the ponytail? And maybe put on a little makeup?”

  “We’re just hanging with your brothers, right? What’s the big deal?”

  “We’re going out. Who knows who we could meet.”

  “You mean like two handsome, mysterious strangers?”

  “Never know.”

  “You know I don’t wear makeup.”

  Chloe sighed as if this were one of her deepest burdens in life. “And I love you anyway.”

  Alex gave her a wry smile. “I’ll fix my hair. Happy?”

  “I guess I’ll have to be.” Chloe gave a resigned smile and headed for her room.

  Alex chuckled to herself. Moving on didn’t have to be so bad. She determined to enjoy herself and not ruin her weekend thinking of her old life. California was far away, and she’d leave it that way…for now.

  ~

  After leaving the nursing home, Nic sought out his next target. Paul Billings exited his office at the firm at 6:03 every Friday. Nic checked his watch, hoping he had enough time to catch the man before Mr. Billings walked to the nearby parking garage and headed home.

  And there he was, precisely on schedule, his expensive shoes clapping on the street. Nic subtly fell into step alongside Mr. Billings, plastering a smile on his own face.

  “Hello, sir, how are you?” he asked, holding out his hand.

  Confused, Mr. Billings accepted Nic’s hand, halting mid-stride. “Um, hello?” He searched Nic’s eyes. After several seconds his pinched brows smoothed and a slight haze shrouded his eyes. His mouth went placidly slack.

  Nic threw his other arm around the guy, rounding out the handshake with a hearty pat on the back. “Great day, isn’t it?” he said, not breaking eye contact.

  The man nodded dully as if sensing that was the appropriate response.

  Nic let his hand drop behind the man and snag what he needed. Still staring into Nic’s eyes, Mr. Billings was unaware of what was happening even as Nic shoved his prize into his pocket.

  “Now be on your way and don’t look back.” Nic walked away briskly. After a few paces, he glanced over his shoulder, but the man had continued without a glance, now whistling a tune. He wouldn’t discover what he was missing for a while, and when he did, he wouldn’t know how it had happened.

  Nic moved the wallet from his pants pocket to the inside of his jacket in one quick, surreptitious motion. He’d added the deep pockets inside his oversized black hoodie, and they were large enough to hide quite a stash without it showing on his small frame.

  After Mr. Billings, Nic was planning on calling it a night. He got into his BMW and headed back to his apartment but as he passed the theater, a pattern caught his eye. Slowing the car, he cocked his head, taking in the arrangement of landscaping around the entrance. The small, decorative bushes set in clu
mps of threes made his spine tingle. Apart from the layout, the greenery was not exceptionally noteworthy, and he was about to shrug it off when something else caught his attention. One of the movies on the marquee was titled Three of a Kind, the love triangle romcom of the week about two brothers who played poker and the woman caught in the middle. Nic had heard of it, and though he cared nothing about the movie, the title hooked him. Another three. It had to be an omen.

  Going on instinct, Nic pulled into the parking lot and made a beeline for the theater. He didn’t know what he was looking for yet, but he knew he’d find it here.

  “It’s not like some crazed psychopath is after you or something!” Chloe said.

  “It just might be like that—you don’t know,” Cam said.

  Josh popped a fry into his mouth and listened to his siblings squabble. Whenever Cam was in town, it was just like the old days when the three of them had been living under one roof at their parents’ house. Except that there was no room to lock himself away in here at the burger joint near the theater. At least when the movie started he’d have a distraction from Cam and Chloe’s banter. HeH glanced across the table where Alex sat eating her burger. Periodically she’d make a soft rat-a-tat on the edge of her plate with her nails. Her gaze flicked between Cam and Chloe, and she seemed almost unaware of her own mannerism.

  Chloe rolled her eyes at Cam. “Don’t be such a baby.”

  Josh glanced at his tanned, muscular brother and got an image of Cam in a bonnet sucking on a bottle. He stifled a smirk.

  “I’m not being a baby. But you post stuff online and you have no idea who you’re going to end up with.”

  “Oh, chill out. It’s just an online dating service.”

  Chloe read from her phone where she’d pulled up the dating site and tapped a few things in. “‘Avid snowboarder, enjoys rock climbing and outdoor sports. Blond, blue-eyed, five-foot-ten, athletic build…’” She glanced sideways at him with a sly grin. “‘And prone to super-charged déjà vu.’” She laughed.

  Cam glared at her. “You’re not putting that.”

  “Just teasing, of course.”

  Alex looked back and forth between the two of them, frowned, and spoke to Josh under her breath. “Déjà vu?”

  “Chloe didn’t tell you?”

  “Oh, is that when he has blackouts and sees things in slow motion?”

  “Yeah, basically.”

  “Okay, she did mention something about that.”

  “It’s triggered by bright pulses of light,” he said.

  “Oh, right. I remember her saying that now.”

  Undeterred, Chloe continued. “So, do you want me to put that you prefer blondes…or brunettes?” She gave Alex a sideways glance, and the edge of her lip twitched.

  Alex was twirling and un-twirling one of her brown curls around her finger when Chloe’s comment made her freckled cheeks redden. Her eyes darted away, and her feet tapped the floor in a quick pattern. She’d been doing that tapping thing off and on all night, but neither Chloe nor Cam seemed to notice.

  When Cam didn’t respond, Chloe held up her phone, aiming it at him. “Smile!”

  He groaned. “Chloe, stop. No pictures. Remember what bright flashes do to me?”

  “It’s not like you’re in danger. We’re all sitting here at a table. Five seconds of déjà vu won’t kill you. Besides, I can turn off the flash.”

  “I’m not in the mood.”

  “For the pictures or for the online dating?”

  “Either.”

  “But you’re my brother, and I’m worried about you. You’re a somewhat decent-looking, eligible bachelor who’s been single for far too long now. Besides, after that thing with Jade—”

  Cam’s gaze turned suddenly icy, and Josh imagined frozen bullets pummeling Chloe in the face. “Drop it.” Cam’s teeth were clenched.

  Chloe frowned. “Fine. I’ll get some pics later. But will you at least take our picture?” Chloe handed the phone to him and threw her arm around Alex, who appeased Chloe by smiling. Cam snapped a picture and handed it back.

  “Josh!” Failing to turn off the flash, Chloe snapped one of him before he had a chance to respond. He blinked rapidly to clear the bright splotches in his vision and looked down, his hair falling over his eyes.

  “Oh yeah, Josh, give us your emo pose.”

  Josh ignored her, popping a fry into his mouth, but she snapped a few more of him. “Love it, loooove it.”

  Alex laughed.

  Josh felt her eyes on him, and heat crept under his collar. His body froze in its hunched, hair-over-the-face pose. Chloe’s light-hearted teasing wouldn’t have been a big deal if it were just the three of them, but his awkward encounter with Alex was still fresh on his mind. Plus, he still didn’t know her very well. Who was this new girl, really? She didn’t exactly look like the stereotypical young woman from California. More like an average, everyday Midwestern chick from Kansas or something.

  “Chloe, you’ve been at it all day. Give the pictures a rest.” Cam looked at Josh. “So, how’s the skateboarding going?”

  “I’m getting the hang of it,” Josh said. “Thanks for letting me borrow the board.”

  “Hopefully it still works all right after I wore the snot out of it in high school.”

  “I adjusted the wheels a bit. It’s working great.”

  “Skateboarding?” Chloe asked with a look of disdain. “Isn’t that like…totally junior high?”

  Josh narrowed his eyes at his sister. “You know I’d rather be snowboarding or surfing, but those are expensive. Besides, it isn’t lame if you’re good.”

  “Are you good?” Chloe said.

  He sighed, poking what was left of the grease-soaked fries. “Not really. Not yet, anyway. But I’ve been working on it—I’m going to start doing tricks soon.”

  “I think that’s cool,” Alex said.

  Josh allowed himself to make eye contact with her. She smiled warmly at him. She had a great smile, and her curls cascaded around her shoulders, sort of messy, sort of graceful.

  “You think you could show me a few things sometime?”

  He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I could do that.”

  “Cool. So you just graduated, right?”

  “Well, last spring, yeah.”

  “I bet it feels awesome to have that behind you.”

  He shrugged. “It’d be better if I wasn’t stuck working retail.”

  “Yeah.” Alex turned back to Cam. “So, Chloe tells me that you and Josh have a lot of the same interests. Rock climbing, surfing, snowboarding…have you guys always been so close?”

  “We’ve always been buddies,” Cam said. “Since we were kids.”

  “I remember when Cam learned to ride a bike without training wheels,” Chloe said. “Josh wanted to learn so bad, he tried for two days straight. He was so little and he kept falling, but he wouldn’t give it up. He finally figured it out, like the third day.”

  “You remember that?” Josh said. “You would’ve been, like, four.”

  “Well, Mom tells it well,” Chloe said. She looked back at Alex. “And every year they had to have coordinating Halloween costumes. I wanted to be a fairy or a princess, but if Cam was Batman, Josh had to be Robin.”

  “Aww, that’s cute.” Alex said.

  All Josh’s life he’d been living in Cam’s shadow, trailing behind like some sort of lame sidekick. It was Cam who got the attention, Cam who had the witty personality. Cam who had a cool ability. When would Josh have his chance to shine?

  At the theater, Josh and Cam hit the concession stand to get drinks. Alex and Chloe waited, chatting off to the side about their classes at school.

  “Oh my God! Josh Schuyler?”

  The high-pitched voice froze Josh in his tracks. He rotated to face a petite ginger with a bob. Her pointed chin lifted as she watched him.

  “Bonnie. Hi.”

  “Who’s this?” Cam asked.

  “Uh… My—”

  “
We used to date,” Bonnie said. “Back in high school.”

  “Oh, right,” Cam said. “Thought the name sounded familiar.”

  A young woman with flouncy blonde hair walked up to Bonnie. “Who’s this?” she asked.

  “Shannon, this is Josh and…”

  “Cam,” Cam said, giving her a nod.

  Shannon gave a tiny wave, and her attention drifted to Josh. “So you two dated, huh?”

  “If you can call it that,” Bonnie said. “I could barely get him to take me out anywhere.”

  “I couldn’t drive yet,” Josh said.

  “You were sixteen.”

  “I failed my driver’s test.”

  “So? I could’ve driven, your parents could’ve dropped you off somewhere… You were like the boyfriend I didn’t actually date.”

  “Ick, that sounds terrible,” Shannon said.

  Bonnie nodded. “It was kind of terrible. He never initiated anything. Just waited around for me to make the first move.”

  Cam arched an eyebrow at Josh.

  Josh started to protest, but Bonnie wasn’t listening. “Now I’m with a man who has no problem taking initiative,” she said.

  “If he did, you wouldn’t be getting married!” Shannon said, as if she were announcing it majestically to the entire theater.

  “You’re getting married?” Josh asked.

  Bonnie displayed her hand, and the ring sparkled. It was huge. She beamed.

  “But aren’t you, like, twenty-one?” he asked. “That’s pretty young to be getting married.”

  “The wedding’s in June, so I’ll be twenty-two. And it’s not young if you know where you’re headed in life. I’m not the girl I was in high school. I’ve found my soul mate. I have a solid career path.”

  “Yeah?” Josh said.

  “I’m in law school now, and in three years I’ll be working at the firm with Phillip full time. It’s the life I’ve always dreamed about.”

  “Phillip?” Josh asked.

  “Her fiancé,” Shannon said.

  Bonnie eyed Josh solemnly as if she were very concerned about him. “The point is, when you find out what you want in life, you just have to go for it. Take control, grab life by the horns. Don’t wait around for something to happen. Make it happen.”