Focus Read online

  “Then what do you suggest?”

  “First, remember to use the old tried and true methods.”

  “Meaning?”

  “A good kick to the nuts is going to give you a nice head start.”

  I glanced at that region of Jared without thinking. “Get serious.”

  He caught the direction of my gaze “Don’t even think of trying it out on me. Anyway, most of us have such good reflexes, that you wouldn’t get the chance, but it’s worth remembering.”

  “Okay, so what if that doesn’t work or isn’t an option?”

  “You have to take your opponent by surprise and go after their weaknesses.”

  “Do Pteron’s even have weaknesses?” I certainly didn’t know of any.

  “We have one.”

  “What?”

  “Listen, this isn’t something we ever admit, and I shouldn’t even be telling you.” He studied his feet. He really didn’t want to be having that conversation.

  “You have to tell me.”

  “I will. But only because I want you alive, for Levi’s sake.”

  I glared at him. I was sure he could see it in the dim light. “Nice, very nice.”

  “Do you want to know or not?”

  “I want to know.”

  “Then play nice.” He smirked.

  “Please, Jared. Be kind enough to share your wisdom.”

  He laughed. “All right.” He pulled off his t-shirt.

  “As much as being in our Pteron form makes us stronger, it also exposes us.” He extended his large wings.

  I waited. I still had no idea what the weakness could be.

  “Come behind me.” I listened and moved behind him.

  “Put a hand on my back, right where my wings meet.”

  I hesitated. Touching his wings felt almost intimate, as strange as that sounds.

  “Just do it, Allie. We don’t have all night.”

  I reached out a hand and placed it right where he told me to.

  “If you pushed your hand up right now, you’d immobilize me.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes seriously. And I wouldn’t appreciate it if you tried it.”

  “Just by pushing up?”

  “Yes. Of course, Pteron’s guard that spot so it’s not going to be easy to get to it, but it’s probably the only way you’d ever take down a Pteron.”

  “Did you bring me out here just to show me that?”

  He retracted his wings and pulled on his t-shirt. “I appreciate your interest, but you really have to stop coming on to me.”

  “Shut up. I just thought we’d be doing more.”

  “I just revealed the biggest Pteron secret, and you want more?”

  “Fine. I’m sorry. Thank you. I really do appreciate it.”

  “Good. Now let’s get you back to your dorm.”

  “All right.”

  I got back into Jared’s car for the short ride back. I stared out the window, enjoying the way the street lights lit up the beautiful homes and live oaks along the way.

  Jared parked, got out, and leaned against the door. “Sweet dreams.”

  “You too.”

  “Do me a favor?” I figured it was just going to be one of his annoying jokes.

  “Sure.”

  “Tell Tiffany I said ‘hi.’”

  “Remember the rules.”

  “The rules don’t prevent me from saying hello.”

  I laughed. “I guess not. Good night.”

  I went back inside, and hoped I’d never have to use the trick Jared showed me. In the pit of my stomach, I knew I probably would.

  ***

  I’d never been in Owen’s truck before, but when he offered to give me a ride down to the hotel, I jumped on it.

  “Thanks for the ride.” I put on my seat belt and smiled at Owen. It didn’t surprise me at all that he drove a Toyota Tacoma. He kind of seemed like a truck guy.

  “Not a problem.” He turned down the volume on the Linkin Park song currently blaring from the speakers.

  It was strange. I’d gotten to know Jared so well over the past months but still felt like Owen was a mystery. I would have expected the opposite.

  “Are you excited to see your dad?” He glanced over.

  “Yeah, but his call surprised me.” I hadn’t seen my dad since the whole ring incident. I had no clue what brought him back to town after so much time. My gut told me it wasn’t good.

  “I bet. You should have seen your face when you listened to the message.”

  Dad rarely called me, so to get a message from him in the middle of the day had been surprise enough. Discovering he was in town, at the hotel, and wanted to meet up with me bordered on shocking. “Well, at least it will be good to see him.” That was true. I missed him. I just hoped he’d be his usual clueless self and wouldn’t notice the ruby ring on my left ring finger.

  Owen pulled up out front of the hotel. “I’m going to park and hang around for a bit. Give me a call if you want a ride home.”

  “You make it sound like I could just go home alone.”

  He shrugged. “Technically, you could.”

  “But someone would follow me.”

  “Yeah, but you wouldn’t be with them.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for the ride.” I walked into the hotel slowly. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t going to be a pleasant father-daughter lunch.

  My dad was waiting for me at a table in the dining room. He got up as soon as he saw me. “Hey, sweetie.”

  “Hey, Dad.” I hugged him. I didn’t pull away as quickly as I usually would. It felt nice to be hugged by him. I took a step back. “You look great.”

  “Thanks.” He smiled.

  “You’ve lost weight.” He had, or maybe he was just trimmer or something. He was never overweight really, but now he looked like he was in good shape.

  “You can thank my girlfriend for that. She’s been on my back about eating better and exercising.”

  “Girlfriend? Why are you and mom so into dating all of a sudden?”

  “Your mother is dating?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes. I thought we discussed this.” In our brief conversations, the topic had still managed to come up.

  “That’s enough about your mom. How are you?” He pulled out a chair for me.

  “I’m doing all right. College has definitely been an adjustment though.”

  “I bet. Are classes going well?”

  “Mostly. I hate French, but I’m getting through it.”

  “French? Why didn’t you just take Spanish?”

  “I wanted to try something different.” I unfolded my napkin and put it on my lap.

  “You seem to be all about trying new things, nowadays.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He looked away and took a long drink from his water. “Are you ready to tell me why you decided to change schools? It’s because of the boy, isn’t it?”

  “His name is Levi, and sort of.” I’d already decided that was the easiest answer, especially now that we were somewhat dating again.

  “What does ‘sort of’ mean? Either it was because of him or it wasn’t.” Dad finished off his water before signaling the waiter for a refill.

  “It means I wanted to see where things went.”

  “And where did they go?”

  “What’s going on, Dad? What’s with the interrogation?”

  “Interrogation? You’re the one who decided to throw away my deposit at Princeton to transfer schools for a boy you’d just met.”

  “Deposit? It’s the money you care about?”

  “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

  “Where’s all this coming from?”

  Dad ran a hand through his hair. He was nervous. “Are you sure you don’t want to get back with Toby?”

  I took a sip of my water. I needed to calm down before I answered. “Toby? We’ve been over for months. What does Toby have to do with anything?”r />
  “We’re going under.”

  “What’s going under?”

  “The company, Allie.”

  I gripped the table for support. “How?”

  “We had two bad quarters, and we lost several investors. I thought I had Tyler Henderson on board, but he made it clear he was only interested in helping someone who had the same interests.”

  “Are you saying he won’t invest because I dumped Toby?”

  “I’m saying he won’t invest unless you two work it out.”

  “Well, we’re not going to.”

  “Tulane’s not cheap.”

  “Don’t pin this on me. Princeton would have been just as expensive.”

  “You would be back with Toby.”

  “No, I wouldn’t. And don’t worry about tuition. I’ll figure out loans or something.”

  “Even if you did, that doesn’t help the bigger picture. This is about a lot more than tuition, it’s the whole business. I’m not asking you to marry him. Just spend some time with Toby and see if you can’t work something out.”

  I’d had enough. First, all the crap with Levi, and now my dad? No one was cornering me again. “I’ve lost my appetite.” I stood up to leave.

  “Allie, wait.”

  I ignored him and walked out of the restaurant. I picked up my phone and called Owen. “Can you take me home?”

  “Levi’s going to give you a ride.”

  “Perfect. I’ll meet him outside.”

  “No, I’m here.” Levi materialized out of nowhere. He’d probably been hanging out at the bar.

  Just then, Dad walked out of the restaurant. He’d probably realized I wasn’t coming back. “Allie, we’re not done.”

  “Yes, we are.” I turned to Levi. “Please get me out of here.”

  Dad pleaded. “Allie, we need to talk. You’ve got the wrong idea.”

  “The wrong idea? You pretty much just told me to whore myself out to save your company, or am I wrong?”

  “Lower your voice. I didn’t say anything of the sort. I was just giving you information.”

  Levi wrapped an arm around my waist, and I was glad for it. I needed any support I could get. “You know I love you, and I care about your company, but you just crossed a line you shouldn’t have. I don’t want to say anything I’m going to regret, so I’m leaving.”

  “Allie.”

  “No.”

  Dad looked at Levi. “Can you please give us a moment?”

  “Sorry, I think I better get her home.” Wow, he’d seriously just stood up to my dad. I let Levi lead me out to his car.

  “You want to tell me what that was all about?” Levi asked when we were about halfway uptown.

  “You didn’t get it from the part you heard?”

  “I’m guessing he didn’t actually want to use you as a prostitute.”

  “He wanted me to get back with Toby to help his business.”

  “What?” Levi’s hands tightened on the wheel.

  “I know my dad didn’t really mean it. He’s just desperate. He got the company from his dad—who always called him a failure. He’s just trying to save it.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, just mad.”

  “I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about it?” He put a hand on my arm.

  “Good guess.”

  “Want to grab some lunch?”

  “I’d love some.”

  “All right, I know just the place.”

  “Where?”

  “Semolina’s. It’s good Italian.”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  I couldn’t believe that I’d just run away from my dad and to Levi. Sometimes life just seemed so complicated.

  ***

  “Come on guys, this is serious.” Anne crossed her arms, glaring at us from across the table.

  “How can Halloween costumes be serious?” I tried to pay attention to the economics notes in front of me, but my mind was still on my conversation with Dad.

  “We need to come up with the ultimate costumes. I don’t want anything lame.”

  “Then come up with one. Why do we all have to have matching costumes?” Hailey used a clip to pull back her hair.

  “Because then everyone knows we’re together. It’s more fun.”

  “All right, what ideas do you have?” Tiffany set aside her laptop. We’d fallen into a routine of all studying together at the same table at one of the campus coffee shops.

  “I was thinking Disney Princesses. We can make them all cute and slutty. Obviously, Hailey could be Ariel, I’d be Jasmine, Allie could be Belle, and Tiffany can have her pick of the blondes.”

  I laughed. “Oh, how can Tiffany choose between Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty?”

  Hailey shook her head. “No way. You couldn’t pay me to dress up as a love sick mermaid. Next.”

  “Fine, what do you guys want to be?”

  “Flappers?” I suggested. “I dressed up as one sophomore year, and it was fun.”

  “We need to save those for the Prohibition party. I heard it’s epic.” Anne played with the straw in her iced coffee.

  “What party isn’t epic?” I asked, biting back a smile. “But, hey, I tried.”

  Anne ate a tiny bite of her blueberry muffin. “And it was a great suggestion.”

  “Pirates. Why don’t we go as pirates?” Tiffany took a sip of her coffee.

  “I like that.” Hailey smiled.

  “Same here. It’s classic,” I agreed.

  “Pirates…we can work with that. Let’s go as sexy pirates.” Anne was probably already designing our costumes in her head.

  “I never said sexy…” Tiffany got a panicked expression on her face.

  “It went without saying.”

  I leaned over to whisper to Tiffany. “Don’t worry. I’m not wearing anything too slutty either.”

  “But remember…Allie’s definition of slutty probably differs from yours,” Hailey ribbed.

  Before I could throw a sarcastic comment back to Hailey, Brandon pulled over a chair, throwing an arm over Anne’s shoulder. She stiffened. I wondered what had gone down between them. “Hey guys.”

  “Hey.” I gave him a wave.

  “What are you all up to?”

  “What does it look like?” Hailey played with my little highlighter tabs. I resisted the urge to grab the pink ones from her. I really loved those things.

  “You weren’t studying.”

  “We’re planning our Halloween costumes, if you must know.” Anne crossed her arms again.

  “What are you going as?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “Okay when did you two sleep together?” Hailey said the words on my mind—only I never would have said them out loud.

  Tiffany spit out her coffee, and Anne turned beet red.

  “I’m going to go…” Brandon excused himself quickly.

  “Was that necessary?” I asked.

  Hailey shrugged. “Sorry, it just came out.”

  Anne sighed. “We haven’t had sex, but we got close last weekend.”

  “When?”

  She looked down at the table. “We met up at the Boot…don’t ask.”

  “Okay…” Hailey, Tiffany, and I looked at each other.

  Anne quickly brought the conversation back to costumes. “So, who wants to go shopping for supplies tomorrow?”

  “Supplies?” I closed my econ book, realizing there was no way I was getting back to it.

  Anne pushed away the rest of her muffin, letting us know it was up for grabs. “For our costumes. I heard there’s an awesome costume shop on Magazine Street.”

  “I’ll go.” Hailey seemed strangely excited.

  “Okay cool. You get out at two tomorrow, right?” It was a testament to how much the four of us hung out that we knew each other’s schedules.

  “Yup, we can take the streetcar to my parents’ house and get my car.” Hailey finally released my tabs.

  “Okay, great.” Anne was
immediately back to herself again. Considering how messed up things were with Levi, I couldn’t judge anyone else for their relationships.

  Chapter Twelve

  “I can’t believe I’m actually going out in this.” I checked my reflection one last time in the mirror. The pirate costumes Anne designed were actually cute—but also very revealing. A short mini dress was the base of the costume, and with my long legs it looked even shorter. Add in black boots and a low-cut top with laces, and it screamed sex.

  “You and me both.” Tiffany finished putting on eyeliner. “No one from home would believe I’d ever dress this way.”

  “You’ll have to post a picture tonight.” Hailey laughed. “If it makes you feel better, if we run into my brother, he’ll make fun of me for the rest of my life.”

  “Would Owen really care?” Anne asked. She was already waiting impatiently at the door.

  “Yes. He still thinks I’m a little kid. Levi and Jared do too.”

  “An older brother is better than a younger one. Mine is the most annoying kid alive.” Tiffany replaced the eyeliner in her makeup bag.

  I slipped in gold hoop earrings. “At least you guys have siblings. I’m an only child.”

  “You didn’t like it?” Anne asked. She had two younger sisters.

  “It gets lonely.”

  “Levi’s an only child too, right? I guess you guys have each other now.”

  I forced a laugh. “Speaking of Levi, I need you guys to swear you won’t let me go home with him if I get drunk.”

  “What? You think you’ve lost your willpower?” Hailey adjusted her top one last time.

  “I plan on drinking. Hopefully, we won’t run into them and it won’t be a problem.”

  Anne nodded solemnly. “I won’t let you.”

  “Thanks.” We all grabbed our purses and headed out.

  We waited on the grassy median for the streetcar. Based on the crowd around us, Bourbon Street was going to be hopping. When the streetcar stopped, I had my money ready. I inserted the exact change into the machine, smiling to myself when I remembered my first time on a streetcar. It was the night of my first kiss with Levi.

  The streetcar was packed to capacity, so we all found straps to hold onto. If the car was that crowded uptown, it was only going to get worse. Way before Canal Street, the car ignored the other stops because there was absolutely no room.