Chapter 93 Ambiguous
1433words
His usually neatly-combed hair was ruffled, and there was a frown on his face.
"Are you insane?" I snapped when he approached me, taking my backpack from me and throwing it over his shoulder. I huffed, grabbing it back from him. "I can carry it myself, thanks."
"If you want to be like that, fine then," he eyed me. "And I see nothing wrong walking with you."
"I can see a few things that could go wrong. Like you and Kayn starting some ego show-off again and I have to do the damage control." I peered over my shoulder. "Except, this time there will be way more witnesses."
I strongly doubted I'd be able to clean up the mess this time if they decided to go apeshit. I couldn't even redeem the last predicament they put us in, now involving the AOUB.
As if reading my thoughts, he asked, "Did the people in the white suits come across anything solid enough to prove an actual fairy or merman was responsible."
"No," I bit out. "But one of them guessed spot-on of what could be responsible."
"Ah, but you see," he held up his hand. "It's just a guess."
"It's too close."
"Too close is when they have solid proof, not some estimation," he quipped.
"They have photos," I snapped. "Of me."
Rake stopped walking, turning to peer at me. "Who has photos of you?"
"The head of the company, of the AOUB, Janice."
"That doesn't prove anything."
"No. But why would someone like her be interested in me?" I asked. I almost admitted to him that the AOUB had pictures of merfolk too, but I figured it wasn't the best idea since I had no clue where he stood in the entire picture.
"Who knows, maybe it has something to do with that boyfriend of yours."
"He's not my boyfriend," I hissed, crossing my arms. "Now, why are you here, and what do you want?"
"I want to resume the conversation with you that your not-boyfriend—but clearly madly infatuated with you guy, rudely interrupted."
I narrowed my eyes, ignoring his remark of Kayn. "The one regarding Ember and her grandparents?"
"Ding ding!"
"Your maturity is admirable," I rolled my eyes. "So, what about them?"
"Prying ears incoming," he warned, staring past me.
"You're here?" Ella's voice squeaked. She leaped past me, into Rake's arms. "What an unexpected surprise!"
"Hello there," he spoke stiffly, offering Ella a meager excuse of a hug. "A surprise indeed."
When Ella released him, she turned to look at me with suspicion in her expression. "You were talking?"
"Yeah. He dropped by to see you," I lied, trying to remedy the situation.
Relief washed over me when her face lit up and she glanced admiringly up at him. "Aww, that's so sweet."
Rake, however, didn't seem too happy. "It's no problem, sweetness."
"Are you walking me to the bus?" Ella asked him.
"Actually, I need to discuss a few things with Carly regarding that boyfriend—"
"He's. Not. My. Boyfriend." I ground out.
"Fine, Kayn then," he sighed.
"Ooh," Ella's eyes widened. "Fairy—"
"Shh!" He covered her mouth, speaking in a low voice. "Big secret, remember?"
When she nodded, he released her.
"So, you know," she flapped her arms by her sides. "Business. Right?"
"Yes," he cut short.
"Ooh, okay." Her eyes bounced between us. "Are you going to tell me too what it's about?"
"I will, at a later time," he said. "You're going to be late for your bus."
"Crap," Ella pouted. "You're right. I have to go."
Ella threw her arms around him again, before she unexpectedly turned on me and drew me into a tight hug. "See you tomorrow, okay?"
I offered her a sad smile, well aware it would only be in passing since Ella was sitting with Poppy during lunch. "See ya."
We watched Ella half-skipping down the road.
Rake heaved out a sigh. "Thank goodness."
I threw him a dark look. "You're not leading her on for some ulterior motive, are you?"
He awarded me with a sheepish grin. "No."
"Rake, I swear, if you hurt my friend…"
A brow quirked. "What are you going to do?"
I sighed, knowing fully that after what I've seen he could do, there was no way I could take him on in a fight. "Just don't, please?"
"Maybe we can throw that deal into the agreement, too?"
"We don't have an agreement if I don't know what it's about," I bit back.
Rake placed a hand on my shoulder and steered me in the direction of the docks. "We can talk while we walk."
"So?" I said. "Talk."
"Okay, you know the important person in this picture is Ember."
"Right?" I shoved his hand from my shoulder. "What about her?"
"If it hadn't been obvious, I and her have a lengthy history," he breathed. "We dated since we were ten."
My eyes bulged, and I stopped walking. "You and Ember had a thing?" I suspected there was something between them, but not this. Not with the warnings she gave me of him.
"Yes. Walk."
I trailed next to him. "But then you betrayed them, didn't you? The thing Kayn talked about, what did you do?"
"That's the thing, Carly, I didn't do it." The sincerity and intent caught me off guard. "Some shit ratted them out and pinned it on me, and I have every intention to find out who. Whoever it was, is responsible for Aria's death and me losing the love of my life."
"Wow. Not what I expected," the words slipped from my mouth.
Rake glared at me. "This is serious."
"I know, I'm sorry," I said. "Look, it's just unexpected since everyone made me think you're evil." I hesitated. "Or, maybe you are, and you're feeding some sad story to mislead me."
"I can't prove my innocence," Rake admitted. "But what I need to ask you to do for me won't hurt anyone, or you, at all. Then, I'll also reward you with a favor in return."
"Regarding Martha and Hector?" I supplied. "How do you even know I care?"
"Well, it's obvious." He didn't explain further. "I need you to help me get Ember away from Kayn and Hector long enough so I can talk to her, and explain everything."
"Man, if you can't even declare your innocence to me, how are you going to explain it to her?"
It looked like someone knocked the air out of his chest. "I just have to try my best."
I sighed. "What exactly happened? Someone ratted them out, to who?"
"The council," Rake said. "This was when they launched an investigation against the family and found out about Hector and Martha. That they had a son together." He peered at me. "Ember and Kayn's father. A half-breed."
"Right?"
"And they found out about Ember, Aria, and Kayn."
I nodded for him to proceed.
"That is how they confronted the family, but by that time the old man, Hector, outsmarted them and sent Martha off and erased her memory to save her." Rake pushed his fingers through his hair. "However, Hector and Martha's son got captured by them, and punished for being half-breed."
"You mean killed?"
"Yes," he answered. "They went back for the rest of them, but Hector begged them not to take his grandchildren. So the council decided to exile them. However, for some reason they didn't like the idea that one of them was too human to be among their kind, even when exiled."
"Aria, she didn't change when she was in the water?" I supplied.
"Exactly. They took her away, and executed her."
"Now the whole family thinks it was you?" I asked. "How did they lead to that assumption?"
"Someone left them a note."
"A note?" I sputtered. "Just that. It took a mere note to convince them?"
"I have no idea what the note said to convince them of that, but it must have been quite convincing if they tried to kill me on multiple occasions."
I frowned. "If your story is true, that's horrible."
"See, there isn't anything I can do to prove otherwise unless I can find the shit who's responsible." He stopped, giving me a depleted look. "Even then, I don't know if that's enough."
"Then how do you expect me to help you if you can't prove it?"
"I have a plan."
