Stakeout (Aurora Sky by Nikki Jefford Page A

most
likely spent the night with her boyfriend. Trudy did morning
yoga.
    I set Marcus’s scone on the kitchen counter
to save for later... maybe even now. I was starting to feel hungry.
I’d bypassed all the appetizers at Marcus’s in favor of numbing my
emotional pain as quickly as possible. Happy fucking Valentine’s!
Always had hated this holiday. Now I hated it even more. It was a
slap in the face to anyone who had no one to love them.
    I stepped out of my pumps, scooped them up,
and was walking barefoot across the carpet toward my room when I
saw a figure in the living room from the corner of my eye. My heart
jumped instantly into my throat and began hammering out of
control.
    Clive sat on the couch, smiling smugly.
    “Hello, Noel.”
     

6
Out of Town
     
    I dropped one shoe and clutched the other against my
stomach. “How did you get in here?”
    “Your roommate let me in on her way to yoga.”
Clive smirked. “Nine a.m. Saturdays, right?”
    “You can’t be here.”
    “Of course I can. I’m your father.”
    “You can’t be here,” I repeated, and this
time I saw a flash of anger cross over his eyes.
    He leaned forward like he might stand up. I
squeezed the pump in my hand as though gripping the handle of a
knife. I’m sure the heel could do some damage—especially when aimed
at an eye. A cold sweat broke out over my body. If Clive came at me
I was more likely to freeze up than take out his eye. I was
equipped to kill vampires, not monsters.
    Clive’s eyes dropped down to the death grip I
had on my shoe. He relaxed back into the couch.
    “All our neighbors have been asking about
you. Your grandparents want to know when you’re coming home.”
    “Where did you tell them I was?” Clive lied
like a champ. He could come up with something on the spot. I wanted
to know what story he’d sold the public.
    “Rehab,” Clive said, shaking his head sadly.
He looked me over from head to foot. “I see it’s not working. You
need to come home where your family can take care of you.”
    Bile rose to my throat.
    Take care of me? Is that what he called
taunting and bullying and beating down his own daughter until she
couldn’t take it anymore? All my life I’d felt like he was trying
to push me over the edge. But why put a stop to the games? What he
really wanted was to push me over then pull me back up so he could
push me again and again and again and again.
    My jaw ached from the pressure of my grinding
teeth. “I can take care of myself. And I don’t ever want to see
your face again.”
    I braced myself for his reaction. With Clive
I never knew whether he’d erupt or come off as calm as a priest on
Sunday. He took the high ground on this one, looking me square in
the eye when he said, “Well, that’s just too bad. I’m your
father.”
    He loved saying that, like he was Darth Vader
delivering terrible news over and over—news that could destroy
me.
    I’d nearly let him destroy me once. I
wouldn’t let him again. Melcher said the world needed me. Melcher
wasn’t a liar. Not like my dad. He had one of the most important
jobs on the whole planet, and so did I.
    I lifted my chin. “You need to leave now,
unless you’d rather be escorted out.” I grabbed my phone.
    “Who do you think you’re going to call,
Noel?” Clive asked in a snide voice.
    “A friend,” I replied. Little did my father
know I had them in high places. Agent Melcher didn’t want family
interfering in my new life.
    Clive stood up.
    “All you had to do is ask nicely,” he
said.
    Yeah, right. The man lied as easily as he
breathed.
    “Please leave,” I said.
    Clive stopped three feet from me. “I will...
for now, but you need to come home. I’m giving you one week,
Noel.”
    “No.”
    Clive smiled because my “no” was barely a
breath. Now that he was closer, I could smell his familiar
off-putting scent—eau de demonic.
    Clive zeroed in on my neck. I hadn’t had a
chance to cover the bite mark. Instantly, his eyes