Novels by Steph White

Marissa Elias and I stayed on the call for thirty minutes. It would've been longer but he seemed in a hurry to leave after I told him about Zayne's visit on Saturday. It was minutes after the call I realized I didn't get round to telling him about Bree's suspicions and asking him questions about Zayne I needed to know. He'd promised to call back as soon as he could get a reception again though. I was going to ask him then. I spent extra time putting the twins to bed because they'd had cake and candy at Miss Quincey's and had become too wound up to sleep. Miss Quincey didn't usually give them candy but she'd hosted a small birthday for her niece, Rebbs, who was staying with her now for some reason. I let the twins run around till they were tuckered out before tucking them into bed. Exhausted by the thought of returning to work the next day, I dropped into my own bed. ******I was running again. Through a forest again. My feet pounded into damp soil, moving faster than I had

Elias, " You'd better be dying or already dead in a ditch somewhere." Marissa's terse voice said immediately she picked up the call. “Hi to you too , Rissa." I managed to choke on my voice only a little. “Hi? Really?!" She was trying her best to sound angry but I could tell she wasn't. Or at least she wasn't just angry. The anger was doing a good job of covering up the relief she felt. I could still sense it regardless. “I'm sorry. I should have let you know about my trip before taking off…” " Ya think?!” " Rissa, come on….” " Do you know how worried I've been? How worried the twins have been? They're not used to not hearing from you for long stretches at a time. And I'm not either…." Something else was coming through in her voice; Hurt. I sighed deeply,”I'm sorry Rissa. I really am. I'm really sorry." There was nothing but silence on the other end of the line and my heart broke into tiny fragments as the full extent of the hurt and worry that I had caused her flooded

Marissa, The woman stopped a few feet from our table, the smile falling off her face to be replaced by a confused frown. Brown eyes moved from me to Bridget and back again. Then she shook her blonde curls as though clearing a fog. " Oh…um. Hi. Sorry." She smiled again, with embarrassment this time. “I err..I honestly thought you were someone else. I'm so sorry." “It's okay." I smiled back warmly. “It happens I guess. No harm done." She nodded, wiping her hands on her jeans, “I guess it does. Um,...I'm Dawn." She stretched out her hand for a handshake and then pulled it back when she noticed my fingers coated in sauce, “Oh,.. Sorry." I laughed, “Yeah it's cool. I'm Marissa. This is my friend Bridget." Bree gave a friendly wave, “Hi. Nice to meet you, Dawn." “Pleasure's all mine. Sorry I interrupted your lunch. You just looked a lot like my friend Mary. Although, silly me for thinking she'd be here. She lives in Florida for Christ's sake." Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her

Marissa Sleep eluded me for the rest of the night. I laid awake replaying the dream over and over, wishing I could go back to sleep and maybe continue the dream from when it stopped. But I stayed wide awake for hours. When sleep finally came, dawn had begun to peek over the horizon. And ten minutes later, two small gremlins were crawling into my bed asking me to wake up and face the day. “It's Sunday. Go back to sleep." I mumbled, dragging the covers over my head. They took that as an invitation to play get under the covers with mummy the quickest. I had no other option than to get up. By the time chores were done and four hotdogs were sizzling away in a pan, my eyelids were so heavy it was a miracle I was still standing on my own two feet. I yawned for what felt like the fiftieth time that minute and transferred the hotdogs into a plate. As I turned around to grab some eggs, I heard someone yell out, very clearly in my head, " Catch!” I swiveled around and dived for the p

Elias, Well." Kimara blew out a breath. " Is she always like this?” I hadn't taken my eyes off the front door. " Yes. And we'd better get off her porch. The last time we didn't, We got sprayed." She took a step back, eyeing the door like something was about to jump out. “With what?" “Some sort of tick repellent." She answered through gritted teeth like she was replaying the memory. She sniffed and turned around to head back to the car. " Tick repellent? What's with all the canine insults anyway?” I followed behind Kim. "Marlene has some sort of resentment towards us……” " Yeah, that much was clear. Question is why.” I opened the car door and turned to give the house one last glance. Kim shrugged, " beats me.” The house looked still but I could hear faint movements from within. The children creeping around and whispering, waiting for Kim and I to leave. The soft rustle of curtains drew my attention to the upstairs window facing the street. Peeking through the tiny

Elias “Sure this is the place?" I asked Kimara, squinting at the old semi detached house. “Yep. Marlene has not been welcoming these past few days. Not sure today would be any different." She sighed.“Let's hope it will be." I smirked, combing my hair out with my hands. Diana's cousin, Marlene, used to have a really bad crush on me as a teenager. With me being said teenager and she being in her early twenties. She would call me handsome and discreetly send me little gifts and openly flirt. But it never went past that because for one thing, I was never attracted to her. And for another, I found it creepy as hell. Most of the other boys didn't though. They thought I was lucky. Marlene was hot. Deep brown hair,grey eyes, perfect hips, perfect height. What was not to like? Her personality. She was more saucy than Diana. I hoped time had mellowed her out but somehow managed to keep that soft spot for me. We walked up the porch steps. I could feel Kimara bristling behind me. No doub