Page 66 of Lady Killer

“Well,” I hedged, “he had to get the drugs from someone, right?”

“Fuck,” she said wearily. “I knew that, obviously, but I never thought about it that way. I just—I’ve been avoiding thinking about it . . .”

“Do you remember, did Aaron have any other friends with him that night?”

Simone seemed to think. “Umm, he arrived with another guy, although he didn’t hang around. James? Jackson?”

“Jason?”

“Yes, that was it!” She frowned. “Do you think he was in on it?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

Jason was definitely getting bumped up the list, after I crossed Simone off.

Her phone buzzed with a message, and she smiled when she saw who it was.

“So . . . you really like Autumn?”

Her cheeks popped as she burst into a wide, closed-mouth smile. “I do.”

The woman went to rave about my bestie, her unbridled affection for my friend clear for anyone to see.

Simone was good for Autumn, and I made a promise to myself to keep them safe.

If anyone deserved a happily ever after, it was the two of them.

Chapter twenty

Luz

“ . . . and then we’re going to finish the evening with cocktails at the Pierre, where we’re staying,” Autumn waxed almost rhapsodically about her upcoming date with Simone.

The two of them were heading to the city for Valentine’s Day.

Technically, the holiday fell on a Tuesday this year, so they were celebrating the weekendbefore.

“Do you think a carriage ride in Central Park is like too cliché?”

“Mmm, does Simone like the cold?”

Autumn rolled her eyes. “Not everyone is as cold-blooded as you, Luz. Simone knows how to dress for winter in NYC . . .”

“Cold-blooded?” I said, stiffening.

“Yeah, like, lizards and stuff. They’re cold-blooded, so they need to be in a warm environment to like, stay warm. Right? Yeah, that’s definitely right.” She turned to look at me, her brows angled as she bit down on her lip. “You know that I like, still know stuff. Just because I like clothes and TikTok and I speak in a way that feels natural to me doesn’t mean that I’m dumb.”

An icy sensation surged in my chest. “No, no,” I rushed to say. “I thought . . . I thought you meant that I was cold—frigid, heartless. . . Merde. Sorry, Autumn.”

Why was it this hard for me to get my words out?

“Oh.” Her expression shifted instantly. “No, of course not, Luz. Now, I feel like the jerk . . .”

I held up my hand to stop her. “How about we both stop apologizing and call it what it was? A misunderstanding.”

Autumn smiled and nodded before returning to painting her toes.

She had chosen a classic ruby shade to go along with the many Valentine’s Day themed outfits she’d selected for their celebration.

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