Deep (Heavy Hearts Book 2) by Sarah Duncan (reading tree txt) 📕

out into the passage before Andrea swings around with a face full of fury. She looks from Marcus to Ayden, gritting her teeth.

“You two have a hell of a lot of explaining to do! No more god damn lies! This is what happens when people lie. Things escalate and get out of hand. We could have avoided this situation to an extent if you little shits had just been honest. Poor Lexi has suffered enough, and you two haven’t helped. I’m fucking furious with the both of you. You can both bloody walk home.” Andrea turns and grabs my hand, “Come on, honey. Lead the way to your locker so we can grab the rest of your books. You will need them all at home to stay up to date with your work.”

I look over my shoulder at the two boys who just had strips torn off them by Andrea and kind of feel sorry for them. That’s until Ayden gives me one of his signature winks, and I turn quickly to hide the telling blush, hoping like hell that he didn’t see it.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Every picture frame in my house is empty. It doesn’t matter if it’s a frame hanging on the wall, or a frame sitting on a table. Every single one no longer has the pictures in them that were there this morning when I left for school.

“Seriously, can this day get any worse?” My whisper and shocked expression brings Andrea up short, and she looks around to see what I’m seeing.

“What’s going on, Lexi?” She’s confused, and rightfully so. I’m confused as hell too.

“Someone has taken all the pictures,” I whisper, my eyes darting to each empty frame that I can see.

Andrea stands in front of me, a world of concern twisting her pretty face. “Lexi, I can see that. Where have the pictures gone? Who took them?”

I sigh. I don’t want to tell her because then I’ll have to admit that someone really is breaking into my house daily with the intent to freak me out. But since she is now dragged into this, I have to be honest.

“I’d say the pictures are with all the other things that have gone missing.”

Andrea looks around again, and then as if a light bulb goes off, she grabs my arm and escorts me back outside to her car.

“Are you telling me that someone has been going into your house and taking things?” When I nod, Andrea continues, “How long has this been happening?”

I think back over the things that have gone missing. It all coincides with me leaving the house with the boys for the first time. I tell Andrea what she wants to know and sit in her car as she takes out her phone and relays the information to Officer Reynolds. Within ten minutes, Officer’s Reynolds and Zimora are at my house, checking through it to make sure no one is inside. Then they proceed to take photos and put some sort of dust stuff everywhere to pick up fingerprints.

Once they give the all-clear, I go inside to pack my bags. I hadn’t been sure that Andrea was serious about what she agreed to in Principal Rogan’s office, but she absolutely was. As far as she is concerned, she is my temporary guardian and I’m moving into her place. Well, technically, it’s Marcus’s house, but it’s where Andrea and Ayden are living, so I guess it’s now where I’m going to be living.

The whole idea seems weird as fuck to me. Am I really meant to sleep in their house and eat their food? And rules? Am I meant to have rules? The thought both warms my heart and scares the crap out of me. So does the idea of living with Ayden. Jesus, how am I meant to keep my distance from him if we will be eating breakfast at the same table?

Knowing that I’m just working myself up, I try to force my overactive mind to calm down and focus on packing my things. I shoot Valarie a quick text to let her know that I’ll be living somewhere else for a while and then lock up before meeting Andrea and the Officers in the driveway.

“Lexi, I thought you should know that we have spoken to your father on the phone a couple of times, but so far, we haven’t been able to convince him to hand himself in. We are still searching for his location.” Officer Reynolds offers the information, and I just give him a nod. My dad will never hand himself in. It would hurt his pride too much.

“Do you have any more information about Lexi’s dad’s case?” Andrea asks.

“Yes actually. We are working with a team in the city who are building a very damning embezzling case against him.” Officer Zimora offers, looking all sorts of yummy in his navy uniform with his gun sitting on his hip. Why is that so hot?

“Has he been in contact with his whore?” I ask in a flat, unimpressed tone.

“No, unfortunately, he hasn’t made any further contact with Sally.” Officer Zimora offers, and I just shrug like I don’t care. I do care, though, a hell of a lot.

“Anything on Mike?” I ask, wishing like hell that they would just catch him already.

“No. He’s a ghost.” Officer Zimora says, “But there’s a chance that these break-ins are him trying to torment you, and if so, it means we can concentrate our search locally. We will do drive-by’s regularly to monitor the house. Please don’t come back here alone, Lexi. Make sure you are with a couple of friends or an adult if you need to come back here for anything.”

I nod, knowing I’ll probably disobey his request. Why? Because it’s my home, no matter how fucked up the situation is, and also, because I’m stubborn.

The Officers talk with Andrea some more while I sit in her car waiting before she drives me away from my house. When