Don’t Let Go

18. Aurora

18

Aurora

I lied to Paolo, saying I didn’t feel too hot so he’d take me home. God forbid I stayed the night.

Paolo took off as soon as I closed the car door. He nearly ran my foot over. I jumped back quickly. The porch light was on. I dug through my purse, searching for my keys. Next to me, I heard rustling, like someone or something was preparing to pounce on me from behind the potted plant near the living room window. Without hesitation, I opened the front of my purse where I kept my mace and clutched the pink spray in my hand. “I have mace, and I’m already dialing 911. I advise you to leave right now!” I shouted, trying to sound angry and more intimating than I was.

Tyler came out of the darkness with his hands up. “Don’t shoot! I’m sorry. I got locked out.”

I raised an eyebrow but dropped the mace back into my purse. “Oh? Where did you sneak off to?” I moved my wallet out of the way and found my keys at the bottom of my purse.

“Scottsdale,” he said in a harsh whisper. The way he shook his head made it seem like he said he came from visiting someone in prison.

I unlocked the front door, pushing it open. “It was that fun, huh?”

He followed me inside. I closed the door and locked it behind me.

“It’s late.” Tyler turned on the flashlight on his phone and turned toward the stairs.

“I’ll make a copy of my key sometime tomorrow for you,” I said as we tiptoed up the stairs toward our rooms.

“That would be great. I didn’t think of how I’d get back in when I jumped out of my window.” Tyler said in a low voice once we reached the second floor.

“Tonight was long for me too.” Hopefully, I didn’t look as shitty as I felt.

“Great night all around then,” Tyler muttered as he passed me in the hallway.

I opened my bedroom door and locked it behind me. I let out a breath and sagged against the wood, sliding until I sat on the carpet. It had to be close to two in the morning by now. I’d do almost anything for a shower to scrub Paolo’s strong cologne from my skin, but I didn’t want to wake anyone up.

Lightly, I tapped the back of my head against the door. I could still feel Paolo’s hands on me, making me feel dirty. His urgent kisses and strong grasp on my wrists made them red and tender. I looked down at myself in my purple dress and matching pumps and loathed that I allowed such scum to tear it off me.

I kicked my heels off and hugged my legs as tightly to my chest as I could. My toes fisted the carpet as I laid my cheek against my knees.

In the other room, I could hear Tyler stumbling and muttering to himself. There was a thud like books fell from a table to the floor. Glass shattered as if thrown across the room.

What on earth is he doing in there? He’s going to wake everyone up.

Silence.

Maybe all that energy made him collapse onto his bed.

More muttering, but this time, it sounded like it was coming from outside. I forced my stiff legs to stand and walked over to my window. Peeking through the curtain, I saw the light from his room shining outside.

I turned away from the window, stripping off my clothes. I grabbed a long gray sleep shirt and matching pants from my dresser and pulled them on. Despite my exhaustion, I couldn’t go to sleep. When I closed my eyes, all I saw was either that morbid meeting about Tyler’s parents being murdered, Paolo on top of me, or that blonde girl floating in a pool of blood. At this point, I’d take a nightmare with Freddy Krueger if that got me to stop worrying about the issues in my daily life.

Tyler cursed outside.

I looked at my comfy bed and then the window. If Tyler couldn’t sleep either, I guess we could keep each other company. Wasn’t that what misery liked best?

I ran my fingers through my hair to tame the crazy wisps before moving the curtains and opening the window.

“What are you cursing about?” I queried, climbing onto the little ledge so my legs could dangle over the edge while I sat on the windowsill.

“Didn’t mean to keep you up. I forget how close our rooms are. I’m used to being the only one in the house.”

“Since your mamma died or since forever?” I followed the heart-shaped print on my pants with my finger until the cotton burned my skin to avoid looking at him.

“Since my mom. She was the best mother. She came to every game, she cooked from scratch and it was always amazing. Her laugh could make you smile no matter how you were feeling. Her entire spirit was good.”

I choked on my words. His mamma was stolen from him, and he had no idea. Was I the one who should tell him? He probably didn’t know anything about the Italian mafia, let alone about how this Jacob guy killed both his parents in cold blood.

“My papà taught me the brass horn like he used to play in high school. Practicing was always our way to hang out together. We’d use that excuse and sometimes go out for ice cream and have long talks instead.”

“Your dad sounds like a cool guy. I always liked going up north and camping with my old man. He had this pickup truck he’d put a camper on, and we’d go up to the mountains or the lake and be off the grid for days. We’d also hang out at our lake house so we could take my mom on trips, too. He taught me about the constellations and their tall tales of where they came from.”

I smiled, looking up at the sky. I could always find the big dipper from my window most nights, but I couldn’t find anything else. Between the other houses, trees, and the city’s light pollution, the stars always felt further away. “I bet those are some good memories.”

“They used to be.” Tyler turned so he straddled the windowsill and could face me. “When I was thirteen, my dad started getting more into politics, and there were so many meetings we no longer went camping and barely visited the lake house. His meetings soon grew further away, sometimes out of state, and he sold the camper and that old pickup truck for something he called more functional, his Mercedes. Soon, he gave me generous allowances, and the time we spent together became less and less. My anger toward him fueled me when he started missing my games. I was always blinded by rage, and I blocked out a lot of the good times we spent together.”

“You didn’t always live in Scottsdale?” Maybe Tyler was more down to earth than I realized.

“I was born in Glendale. We moved to Scottsdale when I was five. We didn’t live in what I guess people consider the fancy part of Scottsdale until I was thirteen.”

That was probably when his parents became more tied into the mob. I bet that’s how his papà rose so quickly in politics and became a state senator. It was also how both his parents met their demise.

“ Snobbs dale is what we call it here.” I couldn’t help but laugh. I wanted to try to keep the topic between us light. My mamma would freak out if I told Tyler the truth about his parents.

A smile cracked his lips. “Really? I suppose most are with their luxury and wealth.”

“I usually avoid Scottsdale. Whatever I need is around here.” I motioned with my arm and winced in pain. Paolo slammed my shoulder into a wall, and lifting my arm was slowly becoming more painful as the night went on.

“Are you alright?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Paolo was a little too rough tonight.” I blushed. Why was I being so honest?

“Damn. He seems like a real asshole.” His eyes widened in the moonlight. “No offense.”

“Don’t worry. I know. It’s a long story about how I got here. What about you? What made your night shitty?”

He ran his hands through his hair. It looked so soft. Part of me wanted to touch his hair, too. “Oh, you know. I found out about a party and crashed it. My old teammates won the game without me, my best friend barely acknowledged me, and I found my girlfriend screwing some other guy.”

I grabbed the side of the window to keep from falling out onto the ground. “Damn, and I thought my night went to hell. You win.”

He rubbed the side of his nose with his thumb. “Guess I don’t have to worry about returning to Lincoln. They moved on. It seems I’m staying at South Ridge for good.”

“South Ridge isn’t so bad. I promise. Our basketball team is still playing for the state championship.” I had no idea how, but by some miracle, we were.

He laughed nervously, cracking his knuckles. “Yeah. We never had South Ridge on our radar. I can’t believe they’re still playing.”

A yawn escaped me. It was near dawn. The sky had streaks of pink on the eastern horizon, slowly chasing away the darkness. “Well, I’m going to shower before anyone else wakes up and uses all the hot water.”

“Not going to try to get some sleep?”

I shrugged. “At least it’s Saturday. Sometimes, insomnia can’t be helped. It’s the demon you find a way to live with.”

“I’ll see you later. I think I’ll try to get some rest.”

We waved at each other and climbed back into our rooms.

There was no way I’d get any sleep with what was rattling inside my skull, but at least I could take an extremely hot shower and try to forget about the world for a while.