Page 59 of Surface Scratch
“Ophelia?” he rasped, his throat feeling like it was jammed full of needles, looking back to Vincent’s black-and-blue gaze.
“Bathroom,” Vincent said. He stiffened and crinkled his nose. “Fuck,” he mumbled under his breath.
Caleb shot to his feet and grabbed Vincent’s shoulders, his mouth dry and his jaw aching. “Vincent, tell me you found it,” he begged. He needed to know for sure. “Tell me you found what we were looking for.”
Vincent’s eyes went wide, his mouth falling open for a moment as though he were too shocked to say anything. Caleb knew he looked crazy, but he needed to confirm it was Nick. That he hadn’t just lost his mind and been seeing ghosts.
The door slammed open. There was a blur of movement and he stumbled as the ground moved beneath his feet, his hands still up and clutching the air in front of him. Caleb fell forward into Marcus’s chest. Marcus’s strong arms wrapped around him, almost crushing him into his body. He could feel Marcus shaking against him as he realized he had been pulled from the living room to the hallway.
“Does anyone want to explain to me what the fuck is going on?” Marcus snarled.
“I didn’t do anything,” Vincent said coolly, sounding much farther away than he had been just seconds before.
“Boss, you gotta—” Tariq began.
Marcus suddenly pulled back from Caleb, his movements so sharp it felt like Caleb was being shoved away. A single vein bulged up one side of his forehead, his face tinged reddish with a barely contained fury that made Caleb’s heart drop into his gut. He looked beyond angry.
Enraged.
Marcus grabbed his hand, looked at the blood-soaked elastic bandage wrapped around it, then ran his black-and-amber eyes over Caleb’s face, his fangs flashing through his open mouth as his breathing became heavier. A brief look of sorrow overcame his expression as he stroked Caleb’s burning cheek, still stinging from the force of Vincent’s slap, before the rage returned.
“What the…” His voice trailed off as he began sniffing the air. His eyes grew as wide as it seemed they could go. “Ophelia…”
“Fuck, Dad, could you be any louder?” she yelled from the bathroom. “Calm down and talk to Uncle Vinny like a civilized person!”
Marcus paused, looking Caleb over again before staring down the hallway as though he could see through the walls to check on her. His lips formed a thin line across his face as he furrowed his brow, deep breaths audibly going in and out of his nose. He trailed one knuckle down Caleb’s face again, continuing to his neck as he stared at the rapidly forming bruise pattern.
“Did one of them do this?” he asked softly, glancing over at Vincent and Matteo.
Caleb felt he was barely maintaining his composure, ready to burst out of his skin and demand answers from Vincent. He’d been in the bathroom for a while with Matteo. Surely he’d found something. He needed to know. But Marcus looked like he was on the verge of losing his cool. He needed to keep things calm until he could talk to Vincent.
He shook his head, unable to bring himself to speak about what hadactuallyhappened. Would Marcus think less of him for it?
“Talk,” Marcus said to Tariq. He wrapped his arm around Caleb and guided him back over to the leather couch while Vincent put a good ten feet of distance between them.
Tariq stepped forward. “Look, we didn’t know what they were going to do until after it was done,” he started. He glanced at Vincent, who nodded as he interpreted for Matteo, who had chosen to stay back in the kitchen.
Maybe that was the smart thing to do in this case. Marcus was still tense, like every muscle in his body was primed and rearing to spring into an attack. “Do what?” he asked.
“’Phelia and Caleb went after the ID maker,” Tariq said, smoothing back his thick black hair as he dropped into a recliner near them. “Now there’s a fucking body under my pickup bed cover.”
“What?” Marcus glanced back at them as if expecting them to reveal that they were joking. “Caleb… what happened?”
His eyes began to burn as tears flooded his vision. What was the best way to explain what had happened? He bit down on the inside of his lip, trying to find the words, but none came. All he could see in his mind was Nick’s face.
“The fucker was with the Society,” Ophelia said. She stepped out into the hallway, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables pressed to her face, her hands still smeared with blood. “The fact that none of us knew he was one is a problem. A big one.”
“Your face.” Marcus reached toward Ophelia as she approached, but she pushed his hand away from her, the visible side of his face looking annoyed. Marcus shook his head. “What on earth were the two of you thinking?”
“I made him come with me,” she said before Caleb could open his mouth. She shot him a look that told him he should stay quiet as she lowered the bag from her face and moved closer to them.
“Nande?” The black in Marcus’s eyes retreated as he seemed to calm down.
Caleb sidestepped as Ophelia moved closer, Marcus’s focus shifting to her as he spoke quickly in another language. Caleb fixated on a folder Vincent produced from inside his coat. Tariq took the folder and opened it, scanning its contents briefly before his jaw dropped. He leaned over and mumbled to Vincent. Then they both looked at him.
I have to know. He shoved past Vincent and snatched the folder, ignoring both of them as he tucked it to his chest.
“Caleb, don’t—” Tariq tried to grab the folder back.
