The Exclusive One

Chapter 4

Day 1

8:00 a.m.

Parker:

I get into my Expedition and I drive off to Head Quarters while I silently pray that my car won’t break down.

It’s really old- it used to be Tom’s car and he had it for at least ten years before me. I didn’t feel like buying a new one, so I took it from him whenever he wanted to upgrade. I should probably just suck it up and buy a new one though it’s not like I can’t afford it. Tom pays us for every mission we do, and we make bank doing it.

I know the others make a lot more money than I do considering they have powers and are capable of having more assignments, but I know that I have at least 50 grand in my bank account because I never touch the money. I like to save my money.

Meanwhile the other girls love to spend it and since we are all roughly the same size, they will give me their old clothes that have only been worn a handful of times.

I get to Head Quarters and get in the elevator and hit the button for the top floor. I lean against the wall with my arms crossed as I wait to be able to get off. As soon as I get to the top floor, I exit the elevator and not even a second later someone is pulling my arm. I look up to see Tom and he mutters, “Finally, you’re here.”

We get into his office and he gestures for me to sit down and hands me a new phone. I take it feeling relieved and he sighs, “It’s got all of the information and contacts you need on it. I’m afraid the only thing it doesn’t have is your high score in Tap Tap Revenge.”

He attempts to joke, and I smirk to appease him. He sits down and from his posture I can tell that something’s wrong; something isn’t right here.

“What’s going on?” I question and I brace myself for the worst.

“Nikki didn’t say where she was going this morning?” He asks me out of nowhere and I feel so confused and uneasy about this. I confirm, “No, not that I remember. I mean, I was pretty out of it by the time she got to me, but all I remember is her telling me not to leave.”

“Have you heard from Bella or Lorelei today?”

I check my phone to see the time and it’s only a little past nine a.m. so I scoff, “Tom, have you checked the time? Bella and Lorelei would just now be getting up so, no I haven’t heard from them.”

“Can you go to their house?”

“Why?” I ask giving him a bewildered look.

What’s going on?

What is he not telling me?

“Just do it!” He yells and I flinch away. Tom never yells. Especially not at me. He is the only one who knows everything I’ve gone through.

His eyes widen as if he just recognized he yelled at me and over something so stupid.

I slide out of his office and I don’t say anything though I hear him telling me to come back. I walk quickly down the halls wishing that I could disappear. I just have to make it to the elevator.

It seems like everybody’s watching me. Everybody wants to know if the human is going to cry just because she had a meeting with her boss.

I can’t cry.

I have to make sure these Originals know that I’m strong.

I’m just as strong as them.

I’m stronger than them.

I get to my car and speed out of the parking lot. I might as well do what he asked and check the girls house. I pull into the driveway where they share a small cottage. I knock on the door and nobody answers so I look at my key ring and find the key and walk inside.

I take my shoes off and lock the door behind me as I walk around the place. I check the rooms and neither one of them are here.

I leave the house making sure to lock it back and drive towards my house and about three miles into the drive when my car decides to die. Damn it.

“No, no, no, please, no! Don’t do this! Not now!” I yell as I bang my head against my steering wheel.

Could things get any worse?

I put on my hazards and get out of the car to check underneath the hood and smoke pours out. I groan and grab my phone and have to search for Ryan’s number because my speed dial isn’t set up in this new phone I am shivering from the cold as the phone rings. I mutter to myself, “Come on, Ry, pick up.”

Towards the last ring I finally hear an irritated Ryan answer, “Hello?”

“Ryan?” I squeak out… I should’ve called someone else. I can already tell he’s not in a good frame of mind.

“Parker?” He questions in a calmer tone. I sigh, “Yeah, it’s me.”

“What’s going on?” He sounds worried now.

“Can you come and get me?”

“Is something wrong?” I can hear the worry in his voice any sign of aggravation has been erased now. I answer, “My car broke down I just… need you to come and get me.”

“Ok.” He answers and hangs up. I know he will track my phone to find me. I sigh as I get back in my car- now all I can do is wait.

Thankfully these backroads are pretty much always deserted so I didn’t have many worries and it didn’t take Ryan long to show up considering I was only like two miles away from the house. I put my hand up in a small wave towards him. I can see his concern written across his face. I hope he doesn’t push for me to talk about everything too much.

******

Day 1

11:43 a.m.

Ryan:

The sound of my phone ringing makes me groan. I try to ignore the ringing, but it becomes obvious that whoever it isn’t going to hang up.

I haven’t been asleep for long. At least I don’t think I have… it doesn’t feel like I’ve been out for very long. And it took me forever to be able to fall asleep that whoever this is better actually need me. I answer the phone irritably, “Hello?”

“Ryan?” I hear Parker’s soft voice. I immediately sit up feeling alarmed. She doesn’t usually sound so timid, so I’m concerned that something bad has happened.

“Parker?” I ask and I force myself to have a calmer tone and she sighs, “Yeah, it’s me.”

“What’s going on?”

“Can you come and get me?”

“Is something wrong?” I ask and my irritation is dissipating by the second and I go ahead and start to put on my socks and I hear her hesitation before she says, “My car broke down I just… need you to come and get me.”

“Ok.” I hang up the phone and start looking for her coordinates. As my phone is thinking I grab my jacket and run down the stairs quickly.

It’s not at all surprising to me that her car broke down. That thing is an old piece of junk that has needed to be replaced for a while now, but she has always refused to do it.

Just… something about her voice seemed off and I can’t shake the feeling that something must be wrong with her.

I grab my boots and start to put them on and I see in my peripherals that Jasper and Ava both look away from the TV because of all the sound I made from coming down the stairs and Jasper jokes, “Where’s the fire, man?”

“I got to go.” I mutter.

“Where?” He asks me in a demanding tone.

I huff under my breath and resist the urge to roll my eyes. I hate when he gets like this. He randomly decides to act like a dad and that we need to tell him every single thing we do.

I’m 19 damn it, not some little kid.

I grind my teeth debating whether or not to tell him and to be honest a small part of me wants to just piss him off. I respond as I grab my keys, “It’s not a big deal I just have to go.”

“Why don’t you see if Ashton wants to come with you? He’s in the-” I cut him off, “No, I’m leaving alone. I’m an adult I don’t need a guardian.”

I saw Jasper’s face contort into one of confusion as he tries to defend himself, “I wasn’t saying it in the way that you need a guardian, Ryan, I know you don’t. I just think somebody should go-” I cut him off again, “Well, nobody’s coming with me, so I’ll see you later.”

I hear Ava yell, “Now Ryan-!”

I don’t wait to hear whatever response they would’ve given me, and I run out the door. I might be acting like a child right now, but I’m sick of them always sending a chaperone with me.

It happens all the time and I feel like I’m not allowed to go anywhere by myself. I haven’t even done anything for them to act this way. I feel like they think just because I’m Nikki’s brother that automatically means I’m wrapped up in some mischief.

I get into my Jeep and set up the GPS with the location my phone had received. I took off before it even had it fully in the system because I don’t want to get stopped by anyone else in the house. And I had seen that the location wasn’t far away, so I wasn’t too concerned about getting lost.

I clinch the steering wheel feeling frustrated that they all still treat me like a child.

Parker and I are some of the younger ones in our group and I turned nineteen about two months before she had. The only one younger than her is my sister Nikki who just turned eighteen and honestly, I’m close to being 20! My birthday is only a couple of months away now.

Honestly, to me we seem like we are the most mature out of all of them. It might not seem like it at the moment considering I ran out without an explanation, but Parker needs me. The GPS starts to give me directions and that is able to snap me out of my thoughts because I came to the realization I actually need to listen to where it told me to go. After a few minutes it tells me I have arrived at my destination. I’m in the middle of nowhere and Parker’s car is here, but I don’t see her.

I roll down my window and yell as I look around for her, “Parker!”

She stands up from a ditch and says, “Hey…”

“What are you doing here? What’s going on? Get in the car!”

“I was at Head Quarters.” She answers with a sigh as she gets into the car. I turn the heater up because I noticed her slight shivering.

She keeps fidgeting and I don’t know if she’s doing that in an effort to keep herself warm or if it’s because she’s nervous. She keeps moving her hands and bites her lower lip; something’s definitely bothering her. I ask again, “What’s going on?”

“Tom made me mad and I needed to get away and my car broke down and you were the only one that I thought wouldn’t yell at me for running off.”

I chuckle softly at her response as I turn the car around to head back home. I pull out my phone and call Tom to let him know that Parker’s car died and to send someone out to get it.

I glance over at Parker she seems nervous the whole drive home. I try to drive a little slower in case she wants to talk to me, but she never says a word.

******

Day 1.

12:18 p.m.

Parker:

I’m grateful for the warmth in Ryan’s car. I wasn’t in the cold for long, but ever since this morning I’ve had trouble keeping warm.

Ryan calls Tom for me to inform him that my car is completely dead and for him to do something, but that he was going to get us home. I appreciate that he did it for me. I still wasn’t in the mood to speak with Tom.

The drive home wasn’t long and once we get there I go straight to my room. My body is aching from this morning and I need sleep. I plop down on my bed and close my eyes and drift off into a dreamless sleep.

I hear a knock on my door, and I groan as I lift my head up and grab my phone to look at the time. It’s now six in the morning, how on Earth did I sleep that long?

I mean it’s the next day!

I glance up when my door slowly squeaks open revealing Ashton trying to peek inside my room since I never told him to come in. He smiles timidly at me as he asks softly, “Can I join you?”

I nod as I push myself up to sit on my bed I ignore my screaming muscles and force myself to sound normal as I say, “Of course, come on and sit.”

He sits on the edge of my bed and faces me as he asks, “How’d you sleep, baby girl?”

I ignore the urge to correct him on his nickname for me. He knows that it bothers me but continues to call me that anyways. I respond, “Really well, how about you?”

“Fine…” His voice trails off and I subconsciously lean closer to him in concern as he asks, “Do you know what’s going on?”

His eyebrows knit together in concern and anytime he does that there’s a crease right in the middle of his forehead. I ask ignoring the creeping feeling that things are horribly wrong, “With what?”

“I haven’t seen Nikki in the last two nights and Ryan hasn’t heard back from Bella since then as well and I don’t think Travis has heard from Lorelei either. Well, I’m not positive about that one, but he seems to be in a worse mood than normal.”

I try not to giggle when he says that about Travis. He has a point Travis always seems to be in a foul mood.

But… none of that seems right the girls always talk to the boys. I don’t really know what’s going on, but I know that last I checked Bella and Lorelei’s house is vacant. I’m not allowed to tell anyone that though. So, I say, “I’ll uh I’ll call Tom.”

I hope Ashton didn’t catch my minor stutter. Anytime I stutter it’s because I’m really nervous or I’m lying, and I know that he knows this about me.

He shakes his head, “You don’t have to do that, Parker. I was just curious if you knew anything.”

“No, I don’t, but now I’m curious so I will cal-” My sentence gets cut off by my phone ringing. I look down at the caller ID and see that it is Tom. I joke, “Speak of the Devil.”

Ashton chuckles softly before he says in an urgent tone, “Answer it.”

“Hey Tom, what’s up?”

“Get everybody ready I’m about to send you the details; ya’ll have a mission.” He rushes the words out so quickly that I almost didn’t understand him.

Immediately I take a professional tone as I answer, “Yes sir.”

Ashton’s eyebrows raise up and I can tell her already knows what I’m about to say, “We have to go. Can you tell the boys to get ready?”

“Yes ma’am.” He answers leaving me so we can both get dressed in proper attire. 

I get changed into black jeans, a black t-shirt, and my leather jacket and I take my hair out of the bun and put into a high ponytail and grab my tennis shoes. By the time I got done every one of the boys are already rushing down the stairs. I yell out all of the boy’s names to make sure everyone is here, “Ashton?”

“Present.” “Jasper?” “Here!” “Ryan?” “Visible.” “Travis?” “Yo.”

I throw the keys up in the air not knowing whom it was going to as we all ran out the door. Turns out it was Jasper who caught the keys and he is driving us while I am in the passenger seat reading the assignment and all of the boys are patiently waiting for me to tell them what was going on. I mutter, “Shit.”

All of the boys look at me in surprise since it’s rare when I curse. I grunt, “They have them.”

Everybody knows who I am referring to, but they need clarification which is why Ryan asks me in a quivering tone, “Who are them?”

“Bella, Lorelei, and Nikki.”

I hear everyone grumble out their anger and I understand why.

It was probably Nikki’s fault; it almost always is her fault. But the fact that she got Bella and Lorelei mixed in with her isn’t cool.

It makes me uneasy thinking that all of these may lead back to me. If I hadn’t gone out two nights ago would the girls all still be at home?

Then again, Nikki found me, but was she ever intentionally searching for me or was it a coincidence?

Nikki always has good intentions when it comes to her schemes in trying to take down the Aberrations. And I’m sure she’ll have a great excuse for this like she always does, but when it comes down to it she really needs to stop putting others’ lives at stake because eventually her luck is going to run out and it will be all her fault.