Haze Bois

Chapter 24

Caleb called in the boys, telling them to gather boxes to take down their new home at the gym. He was running out of space and getting sick of the comments from his mother and brother about how hoarding was genetic. He’d offered to give them all a twenty for helping, and as he handed out the cash he told Kenny to get a haircut.

“I dunno,” Kenny said, preening himself in the living room mirror. “I think this look is working for me.”

“Huh?” Caleb frowned.

“He just kissed your cousin,” the voice told him.

‘What!’ Caleb’s first reaction was shock and anger, quickly replaced by confusion. ‘Why?’

“She’s never had a kiss before. I would guess she wanted to practise before her meeting with Peter,” the AI suggested.

Caleb couldn’t make comment without admitting he had some sort of clairvoyant ability. Doing so would be as stupid as admitting to having healing powers, attracting too much attention and scrutiny. In all honesty he wouldn’t mind Kenny and Katie as a couple. Kenny could protect her and wouldn’t hurt her, unlike Jamie.

They loaded the boxes carefully into the back of Ryan’s brothers van, before jogging down to meet him at the gym. With it being rush hour traffic, the guys managed to beat the van, taking shortcuts through alleys, and cutting through the carpark.

“Bloody heck, me lungs are killing me,” Ryan said as he reached into his pocket and lit up a cigarette.

“Yes, smoking will help,” Caleb said.

“You sound like me mam,” Ryan told him. He had a point.

Caleb waited for the goods to arrive and hauled them in, carrying as much as he could while still able to see over the pile. The others couldn’t carry as much and as Jade turned up, he told her just to wait by the van.

“I can do some heavy lifting,” she pouted. She had even dressed for the occasion, wearing leggings and pumps instead of heels and skirt.

“I’d rather you keep a look out. Be a shame if someone nicked this stuff you worked so hard to collect,” Caleb said. He didn’t want her putting her back out trying to lift too much in a needless attempt to prove women were as strong as men. She was totally the type to do something like that, proving submissive girls could be feminist… sort of.

“Where’s your skirt?” he asked her. “I thought I made the dress code pretty clear.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you would want my help and… lifting in a skirt,” Jade bent over as example, earning a wolf whistle from one of the lads.

“That’s why I won’t let you lift,” Caleb said. “You’re meant to use your knees not your back, like this.”

Caleb showed Jade how to lift a box properly; a life skill that was bound to come in handy at some point in her future.

She smiled and nodded, demonstrating a couple of times to show she had understood. Caleb passed her one of the lighter boxes and she followed him inside.

“I thought you lost the fight, so… how come you have this place,” Ryan’s brother asked.

“You thought wrong,” Caleb told him, not sure what else he could really say about it. Having an attitude with people was pretty much his norm, so hopefully no one would say anything else about it.

“Oh, Kyle I heard your girlfriend is pregnant,” Jade said to Ryan’s brother, chaining the subject. Jade smiled politely as Kyle filled her in on all the details of the impending birth, inserting the occasional “aww.”

‘Good girl,’ Caleb thought, watching her carry the conversation as the men carried the boxes. When everything was inside, they paid Kyle and sat in the upstairs office, trying to find some kind of heater.

“I’m sure there is a heater in one of those boxes,” Jade pointed out, but it turned out they didn’t need it when Kenny found the thermostat.

“We should have a party,” Jade cried enthusiastically.

“You mean we should sit up here and drink?” Caleb asked.

“Pretty much,” Jade shrugged. She texted Haley and Katie, but Katie declined, busy with the task Caleb had set for her. Haley said she would come, having little else to do while her bestie was busy, and no love life of her own.

When Caleb went to text Jamie, he noticed a f******k message from an account he didn’t recognise.

“I know it was you who cured Eleanor Digby,” the message read. It was from an account named Jane Doe, with an image of an idyllic landscape as the profile picture. A fake account that wasn’t even attempting to mask itself.

‘s**t,’ Caleb thought. ‘They wouldn’t have told anybody. Surely. They know what I did to Johnny.’

“I agree,” the AI spoke up. “But whoever this is, we need to deal with them fast.”

“I have to nip out real quick,” Caleb told the others. He rang Jamie as he descended the staircase, leaping two or three stairs at a time.

“Meet me at mine,” he told Jamie and hung up, hoping he’d demonstrated the urgency of the situation. Running the distance home took only a few minutes but Jamie was already there waiting.

“What’s up? You sounded odd on the phone,” Jamie asked.

“I need to know where a f******k message came from. Can you do that?” Caleb asked.

Jamie shrugged. “I’ll need my computer. You need to do it now?”

“To my house then,” Jamie suggested, and led the way to the posh end of town, down tree-lined avenues with large, Victorian houses and professionally preened rose bushes.

Jamie’s house was huge, stylish, and spotlessly clean. It was one bowl of potpourri and a pile of leaflets from being a show home. The smell of citrus bleach and furniture polish lingered in the air, but aside from that the house had no distinct smell of its own.

A woman looked up from the kitchen floor, wearing an apron and marigolds, and holding a scrubbing brush. “Oh,” she cried. “Sorry about the mess,” before returning to her work.

“Your mum is like… the polar opposite of mine,” Caleb commented.

“That’s Linda. The housekeeper. My parents are both away,” Jamie told him as he led the way to his bedroom. The hallway was lined with paintings where most families hung family portraits and school photographs. Well… most families he knew. Caleb got the feeling Jamie’s upbringing had been very different from the rest of his friends and indeed his own.

The bedroom was large and filled with anything a teenager could want. Instruments, every games console on the market, a better computer set up than Caleb had managed to acquire and, and a mounted TV with surround sound were neatly arranged about the queen-sized bed.

After typing what looked like random words into Google, Jamie arrived at a webpage full of images that made even Caleb’s stomach turn. He turned away as Jamie clicked and typed, waiting for him to work his magic.

“Okay, log into your f******k and open the message,” Jamie said at last.

Caleb obliged as Jamie looked over his shoulder, then reached round and began to type. Jamie wrapped his arms around his sides and rested his chin on Caleb’s shoulder as he worked. When finished, he turned to Caleb, so close that their lips were almost touching.

“Agnes Shearman of 11 Grove Way, Kettering,” Jamie reported. “Ring any bells.”

Caleb shook his head, but as he scrolled thought the woman’s profile pictures he did recognise her.

“Of course,” Caleb sighed. “The nurse from the hospital.”

“Hmm? What nurse? What hospital?” Jamie pried.

“Never mind,” Caleb said. Now that he knew her address, he could go and deal with her. “The others are drinking at the gym if you want to hang out there.”

It was an obvious hint, but he could tell by Jamie’s face that he wasn’t going to get away that easily. Caleb considered pulling rank or using his intimidation voice. He was supposed to be in charge, after all.

"Aren't you coming? I wanna hang out with you," Jamie pouted. When he leaned in and made big sad eyes at Caleb he noticed how enormous his pupils were. The look was pleading and submissive, yet there was something predatory about his eyes.

'Tiger's eyes.'

“The nurse can wait,” the AI told him. “There’s no way she can have actual proof of your healing abilities. Keeping Jamie happy is more important.”

‘Great,’ Caleb thought, ‘Now I’m answering to a freaking computer and Jamie.’