Page 109 of Best Served Cold

“Well, I don’t rightly know where that is, but I hope she has herself a good time there.”

“Sir,” Hannah says, hurrying over to him, out of breath from her gymnastics around the yard. “I would be ever so grateful if you could take a video of Jonah discovering the mess and text it to me.”

“He done you dirty too?” he asks her.

“Yes,” I say. “All of us.”

“And more besides, I’m sure. You’ve got it, honey.”

Hannah gives him her number, and we pile back into the car, breathless, a little dirty, and agitated.

Or maybe that’s just me.

“That felt good, didn’t it?” Hannah asks as Briar pulls away from the curb cautiously, the way she always drives. Not at all like we’re in a getaway car.

“It did,” Briar agrees. “I didn’t realize those things were weighing on me, but I feel lighter. Sophie?”

I just swallow and nod. “Yeah.”

Hannah gives me a curious look but doesn’t press me. Just as I haven’t pressed her for more information about the situation with her brother Liam, which is obviously more complicated than she’s wiling to let on.

Hannah’s phone chirps when we’re halfway back to my house. “It’s from that cool old guy,” she says, excited.

“Don’t watch it until we get back to Sophie’s aunt’s place,” Briar says. “We need to watch it together.”

She actually goes three miles per hour above the speed limit to get us there. As soon as we arrive, Hannah leans in from the back seat and presses play.

We watch together as a car I don’t recognize pulls up to Jonah’s house. Jonah gets out in a burst of energy, swearing loudly enough to be picked up by Alfred’s phone camera. Hannah snickers as we watch him weave his hands through his hair.

Then a woman exits the car and joins him, placing a hand on his arm.

I can hear Alfred laugh. “Damn. Got himself another one. She’ll be the next to toilet-paper his house.”

Jonah must have heard him, because he comes stomping over. “Are you filming this?”

“It’s still a free country, last I heard,” Alfred says as he lowers the camera. “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

“Who did this? Was it a little redheaded bitch?”

Briar gasps, but Hannah only laughs, shaking her head. “He couldn’t conceive of you playing a part, Sophie.”

But I’m barely paying attention anymore. It feels like all my muscles have seized and I’m in fight or flight.Fish. Breaking the rules. Getting caught…

“I need to go inside.”

Hannah drops the phone and wraps her hand around my arm. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re not upset about the woman, are you?” Briar asks.

Honestly, no. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I should feel upset.

“Nice to meet you,” a woman’s voice says, tinny from the phone’s speakers. “I’m Nora.”

Hannah’s eyes widen, and I know she’ll do an internet search as soon as she can.

“I don’t care about her,” I insist. “And you shouldn’t either. We have to let this go.”

“But she looks familiar,” Hannah says. “I’ve seen her somewhere before. I need to know if she’s GingerBeerBabe. And if she knows the whole truth.”

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