Chapter 49: Chapter 49

Cutter lay wide awake in bed, even though it was well past midnight, and he knew he’d need plenty of rest for school the next day. Being a teacher was taking a toll on him, and he was seriously considering finding his own replacement and bowing out before he even secured Ru. Now that he knew where she was, it seemed logical to do so, but that would mean he wouldn’t get to see her every day, and he wasn’t willing to give that up, not yet at least.. Perhaps if she revealed she was in a relationship with this grocery store guy, he’d rethink it.

She was the one keeping him up now, anyway. Try as he might, he just couldn’t seem to get her out of his mind. The idea that she would rather spend her time with some guy who’d picked her up in the produce section, or wherever, made him nauseated.

The sound of footsteps in the hall gained his attention. It sounded like at least one of the girls was back from their expedition. He sat up at about the same time there was a knock on his door. “Come in,” he said, quietly, rubbing at his eyes.

Lyric opened the bedroom door, her silhouette backlit by the light at the end of the hallway. “Sorry to bother you,” she said, her voice tinged with excitement. “We just wanted to let you know we got Zu.”

Cutter’s eyebrows shot up. “What’s that?” he asked, not sure he’d heard her correctly.

“Zu! We got Zu!”

As the news sunk in, Cutter couldn’t help but smile. He hopped out of bed and wrapped his friend in his arms. “Lyric! That’s amazing!”

“I know! Ivy found him and was able to call me in to help.”

“What’s all this racket? Some of us need our beauty sleep.” Rider’s hair stuck out all over the sides of his head as he scrubbed at his bristly face.

“Damn right some of you do,” Lyric muttered, turning to face him. “We got Zu.”

He was awake now. “Zu?” Rider repeated. “Holy shit! You kidding me?”

As Lyric broke into a fit of giggles, he picked her up and swung her around, stepping into the hallway so as not to hit her legs on the doorway. “That’s awesome!” Rider exclaimed.

Once Lyric was back on the ground, Cutter asked, “Where’s Ivy?”

“Letting Uriah know. She’s going to ask permission to have contact with the insiders so that, if he should let out any information, they will let her know.”

“Good plan,” Cutter nodded. Hopefully, they could make him speak, and Nat’s intentions would soon be revealed, though something told him it wouldn’t be that simple.

“Well, as exciting as this is, I was having a very interesting dream about a certain Victoria’s Secret model, and I’d like to get back to it.” Rider shuffled off, seemingly half-asleep again.

Lyric shook her head in disbelief at his retreating form. Cutter couldn’t help but chuckle at his cousin who was perhaps a little more honest than he needed to be.

“You okay?” Lyric asked, and Cutter turned back to face her. “You look like you’ve been tossing and turning all night.”

“I have been,” Cutter admitted. “I just can’t seem to sleep anymore.”

A sympathetic expression captured her face. “I’m sure. Ru?”

Cutter nodded, not willing to say more.

“Tell her how you feel,” Lyric suggested with a shrug. “You never know. She might not realize. And once she does, she could feel the same way.”

“It’s not that simple,” Cutter reminded her, leaning back into the doorway. “She’s seeing someone now. And besides, hopefully, we’ll be working together soon. You know how hard it is to date someone you work with.”

Once again, Lyric was shrugging. “That doesn’t make it impossible. What do you mean she’s seeing someone now. When did that happen?”

“I’m not sure. She just said she met him at the grocery store.”

“Hmmm.”

“What’s that mean?” Cutter asked, suddenly a bit alarmed at Lyric’s apparent concern.

“Nothing,” she replied. “I just think it’s a little odd that, as far as we know, she hasn’t been seeing anyone in recent history, and then we show up into town, and now she’s got a boyfriend.”

“She never said it was a boyfriend,” Cutter corrected. “But you do have a point. What are you thinking? Do you think she made him up because she doesn’t want to see me?”

“No,” Lyric answered, quickly. “I don’t think it’s that at all. I mean, she might not want to come out here to your haunted house and talk about demons and angels all night, but I don’t think she’d invent a guy to get out of dating you.”

“What then?”

“I don’t know. But… I think it might be worth keeping an eye on.” She had her hand against her neck, like she was either thinking or not telling him something, and Cutter’s eyes narrowed in on her pretty face. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s nothing. She’ll probably go out with him once and never want to see him again. That’s how all of my dates go.”

Cutter nodded, but he wasn’t so sure. Now, not only was he upset that Ru didn’t seem to have the same feelings for him as he had for her, he was fairly certain there was something going on with this grocery guy, whoever he was. Perhaps he needed to do a little investigating into this guy.

As Lyric disappeared into her room, Cutter decided to do the same. As much as he wanted to congratulate Ivy, he knew she might be with Uriah for several hours. It was her favorite place to go.

He dropped down on his bed and considered Lyric’s words carefully. Was he just being nosey wanting to ask Ru about her date? It really was none of his business, after all—as much as he wanted to make it so. Cutter closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind so that elusive sleep might finally take over, but all he saw was Ru’s beautiful face. He was in for a very long night.