Take Me Tomorrow

Chapter 20: I Told You To Run

I stood up, crossed the room, and reached for the mug. She grabbed my wrist, and her slender fingers moved over the back of my hand. "Just be cautious," she said, her voice softening. She had only spoken to me like that once before. It was when she handed me my mother's necklace.

"Why you?" I couldn't pull away from my sister-figure. "Why did my mom pick you?"

Lyn never dropped my hand. When she breathed, her entire body grew. "That's something I can't answer," she exhaled.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know," she responded before I ever finished the question. "Your mother," she sighed, "Your mother wasn't able to come. She wasn't well."

My stomach flipped over. "Noah said she's fine."

"Noah's a good liar."

"Sophia!" a girlish scream erupted from the front porch.

Argos leapt to his feet and growled. I hushed him as Lyn rushed toward the front of the house. The door was already opening. I ran after her, only to stop when I saw a tall girl with white hair.

"Help," Lily gasped, barely holding up a boy as they stumbled inside.

I lunged across the room and grabbed Miles' other arm. We dragged him in, and he coughed. Blood splattered across the floor. He tried to speak, but all I heard was mumbling.

"Don't talk," I ordered as Lyn directed us to the couch. We laid him down before I relaxed. The blood had only come from a split lip. He was beaten, but he was going to be fine.

"He was laying on the front yard when I got home," Lily explained. "I think he's drunk."

It was then that I smelled the whiskey.

"Drunk?" I questioned. "He doesn't drink."

"Of course he doesn't," Lily said, answering all of my unasked questions with one glare. The police had made him drink. They were hoping he'd slip up and talk. That was obvious now.

Lily crossed her arms. "He even threw up on me." When I looked her over, her shoulders rose. "I had to change." Her concern dissipated with mine.

"She's right. He's just intoxicated," Lyn said, laying a hand on his forehead. "I'll get him some water."

When Lyn left, Lily sat down. "I drove us here with Miles' car," she said, wiggling the keys out of her pocket. "I couldn't let our mother see."

Ms. Beckett was a prideful woman. She definitely wasn't in on the plans. She was probably still at the station, waiting. I doubted she even knew her kids were friends with someone like Noah. I knew enough about her to understand that.

"How did you two get involved in this, anyway?" I asked.

Lily rolled her eyes. "We met Broden the same way we met you."

Her mother was our nanny. Apparently, she had watched Broden, too.

"She stopped watching Broden when he was put in middle school, but Miles stayed in touch," she continued. "Things just sort of happened from there."

"And you?"

"I never got involved," Lily said. "They wouldn't let me, but I watched. I listened. I figured it out."

Lyn returned with a glass of water. She placed it down before helping Miles up. When she handed it to him, he almost dropped it. "Come on," she coaxed his grip around the slipping glass. "You can hold it."

He gripped it and drank it like she controlled him. "Thank you," he muttered, putting the glass down. A little bit of blood clung to the rim.

"No talking," Lyn scorned him. "Let me see your lip."