Page 76 of Veiled in Brick

“Someone,” I looked at Liam pointedly, “pulled off a fuck-and-run a few months back and she did not take it well.” Liam groaned as I continued, “She was on his ass; I pretended to be his girlfriend—”

“Pretended?” Cassie interrupted me.

I stuttered, “Ah, I—um—”

“Not the time for that, Cas,” Liam remarked in a high-pitched voice.

“And then she smacked me,” I concluded rapidly, shifting the conversation with, “Other people we’ve pissed off…”

“Kelsey,” Liam noted.

“Who the fuck is Kelsey?” Cassie asked with a pinched brow.

“Do you want to take this one?” I asked Liam with a smile.

He grumbled, “No.”

“No need,” Cassie spoke to Liam, “I get it, you’re a whore.” She looked to me with a wide grin. “All whoring done before you two started doing whatever the hell this is,” she gestured between the two of us grandly, “I’m sure.” I chortled, Liam smacked a hand to his forehead, and she asked, “Anyone else have you guys on their shit list?”

I stated in a sigh, “James.”

“Who’s James?” she inquired curiously.

I grimaced. “Long story…ex…thing.”

Cassie asked, “Potential suspect?”

I snorted at the insinuation. “Jay’s harmless.”

She looked back to her brother in silent confirmation, and he nodded. She muttered, “Okay…anyone else?”

“Nope,” I said. “Just—”

“Carter and whoever the hell he’s been working with,” Liam interjected. “And, we’re back to why I need to go to North Carolina.”

I sighed. As much as I hated the idea of Liam confronting his father, his reasoning was too solid to ignore—it gave us a route of questioning for this gigantic mess that I desperately needed. However, I wasn’t entirely certain if his vehicle was up for the ride.

Liam’s car was a small, gold-colored thing that was decorated with rust. Neither the air conditioning nor the heater worked. Despite its four-doored nature, the back seats were only accessible by folding down the front. On top of all of this, I had never seen a day in which the check engine light was not shining brightly on the dashboard. And, weeks ago, the car had begun to emit a noise that could only be described as a grinding ratatatatata-tat-tat-tat when Liam would press his foot on the gas pedal.

I asked gently, “Will your car even make the drive, Lee?”

Liam shook his head and looked at his sister with pleading eyes. “Cas, can I take your—”

“Nuh uh,” she stopped him before he could even finish the question.

“Why not?” Liam whined.

“Because I have a job all the way in Roanoke to drive to!” she exclaimed. “Five days a week. Sometimes six. I only started a month ago and, unlike you two, I’m not looking to piss people off everywhere I turn.” Cassie offhandedly reached into her pants pocket and glanced at her phone. “Jesus—speaking of.” She stood abruptly. “I gotta run. Liam,” she pointed to her brother, “If you can stand it, try not to kill Carter while you’re back home, ’kay?”

Liam grumbled, “If he’s looped in with all this shit, no promises there.”

Cassie bobbled her head from side to side as if she were considering the lesser of two evils.

“You make a fair point,” she noted quickly. “Buy me a beer when you’re back? Or call me if you need me to bail you out of jail, yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he replied, sighing as if the latter were a possibility. “I will.”

Cassie strolled past me, whispering a quick, “Later, Zoey, nice to meet you—stay outta trouble,” as she walked, and she was out the door.

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