Page 85 of I Can't Even

“Ah!” Soph leapt out of bed. “Should we call the police? Oh, my god, what could have happened to Em?”

“She’s fine,” I said.

“How do you know?”

“Well, I sort of put an app on her phone that tells me where she is.” I peeked at her from under my lashes. “Yours, too.”

Soph blinked. “Genius.”

“Yes, I am, now you go stall Paisley, while I drag Em back here,” I said.

Soph nodded, so I raced to my room to get dressed. Quickly, I pulled my hair back into a tie, changed into the first things I could grab, baggy skateboard shorts, slip on Vans, an orange tank top, and my favorite oversized hoodie. Surveying my options, I knew there was no way I could go downstairs without Paisley seeing me. It was going to have to be the window.

Sliding open the pane, I glanced down. On the upside, if I broke my neck, I would not have to deal with the fallout from Em being gone. On the downside, I’d be dead and even worse, it would probably hurt really bad. Okay, then, no falling.

I sat on the sill and sent another quick SOS text to Em, letting her know we had an uninvited guest in the house and that I was coming to get her right now. Then I put one leg outside and leaned out, trying to determine if I could reach the roof or not. Just glancing up made my hands sweat and my heart race.

“Blumer, what the hell are you doing?”

My head snapped in the direction of Liam’s house. He was leaning out the window of his workout room, shirtless, of course, and glaring at me.

“Shh!” I put my finger to my lips.

If Paisley heard him and caught me, I was doomed. I gestured with my hand up to my ear for him to use his phone. He growled in response and disappeared from the window. I took my phone out of my bag just as it buzzed. It was him.

I wondered what it meant that I was still in his contacts. Probably nothing but my foolish heart clung to it anyway.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he asked.

“Language,” I snapped, just because.

“Blumer.” Liam’s voice held a warning note. Whatever.

“Mahony,” I returned. “If you must know I’m on a search and rescue mission.”

“Through the window?”

He’d moved back to his own window so I could see him. He was still glaring and shirtless. Damn, that did not help my concentration, not even a little.

“It’s complicated,” I said.

He said nothing as he waited, looking at me with one eyebrow raised higher than the other. He was not going to let me jump or climb or anything until I explained myself. Fine.

“I told you Babs put in her will that my sisters and I had to live here for three months and if we don’t, she cuts us out of the will and our horrible cousin Paisley inherits everything. Well, Em never came home last night, and Paisley is here, looking for her. I think she’s been spying on us and that’s why she’s making her move. I have to get Em back and upstairs before Paisley gets our attorney here.”

“You’re joking.”

“I’m about to jump out of a window to avoid admitting to my cousin that Em didn’t come home last night—does that seem like joking to you?”

“It’s official,” Liam said. “You Blumer women are bat shit crazy!”

“That’s not fair. I’m not really in a position to argue that point right now.”

“Do. Not. Move.”

He disappeared from the window. Oh, man, what was he going to do? Storm the house? Threaten Paisley? None of that would help me. Yes, it was incredibly macho in a Neanderthal-helping-the-little-female sort of way but, yeah, the feminist inside of me was gagging on her Wheaties. Still, it was kind of hot that he wanted to help.

I couldn’t risk it, however. If he made a scene and Paisley figured out Em was gone, we were boned and not in a good way. I shoved my phone back into my pocket and heaved myself up until I was standing on the windowsill. With one hand I clung to the window while I stretched and tried to reach the roof above with the other. I was ten inches too short. I couldn’t even jump up or I’d surely fall.

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