CHAPTER 22

When Casper's dad steps into the room, Casper is fast asleep.

He's a tall guy with a beard and mustache, but both are close-cut, neatly trimmed, like for an office setting. He seems out of place in a t-shirt and jeans. Probably more at home in button-up shirts, ties, and slacks. Come to think of it, I have no clue what Casper's parents do for a living.

He stops in the doorway and stares at us. Casper is curled up against me, sleeping away, and I've spent the last thirty minutes studying the ceiling like I'm now studying her dad and hoping he doesn't rip me a new one for finding me in bed with his daughter.

"She's sleeping," I say lamely, as though he can't already see that for himself. I untangle myself and slowly get up, rather glad I didn't doze off, too. Nothing says awkward like waking up to a girl's dad glaring down at you.

Casper's dad tips his head. "I'm Robert, Caitlin's dad. You must be Vincent."

At first I think he knows me! And then I think shit, he knows me, because I have no clue how he knows me or what Casper might have said. Then I think, her real name is Caitlin and I should have known that by now.

I stiffly take the hand he offers. "Yeah. Sorry, we were just...talking. And I mean, we talking in the sense that we were actually talking and not..." God, Vincent, shut up.

He cracks a smile, gives my hand a squeeze, draws back, and gestures for the door. We step into the hall so we don't disturb Casper. "I've met Adam already, so I figured you had to be the other friend she's been sneaking out with."

I freeze. Instantly my mind begins running through the consequences the two of us could be facing for helping Casper sneak out of her house. She's still seventeen, a minor, and her parents know she's been sneaking out to sleep at my place. "You...know about that?"

"I do now."

Oh, shit.

Robert gives a soft laugh and leads me down the hall. "Don't look like I've just sentenced you to death. We know she's been sneaking out, but..."

"You don't feel like you should punish her?" I ask, and instantly wonder if I shouldn't keep my mouth shut.

"Guess that's about right." He glances at me. "Like I said, we've met Adam a few times. Seems like a good kid. Is he a good kid?"

I think of Adam at the hospital right now, needing a machine to help him breathe. I swallow the lump in my throat and nod. "Yes, sir."

"And are you a good kid?"

The question catches me off-guard. Am I? I don't know. Maggie said I was, but she was the only one. She said I was good, just confused and lonely and angry at the world. I can say in all honesty, "She's safe with us."

At least, she will be until she decides she wants us to help her jump off the bridge. Guilt chews at my insides like a hungry rat. I stare at my feet as he heads into the kitchen.