Page 66 of Look at Her and Die

“Yep.” My eyes turned to the guy on the fence, who wasn’t looking at me at all. “She’s ready for you, dude.”

The man on the fence turned to me, and I watched him do a complete once-over of my person before twisting around and dropping to the ground beside me.

“You’re cute,” he said. “Don’t break his heart.”

Before I could say something like “what does that mean?” he took off, heading toward the house.

“What did he say?” Posy asked as he came over to the fence that separated us.

He climbed up one rung so he could see me clearly, then leaned his large arms against the top rung and leaned in.

His baseball cap was once again turned backward, and a frown tipped the corners of my mouth down as I said, “You lost that last night. You didn’t have it when you walked me home.”

“Had to go back for it in the ditch.” The corners of his mouth tipped up, displaying pearly white teeth.

So he was thinking about the same thing that I’d been thinking about.

I refused to squeeze my legs together, even though I really wanted to.

It’d definitely help with the ache between my thighs.

“Get everything figured out?” he asked when he realized I wasn’t going to comment anymore.

“I’m gonna keep that ticket in your safe until we get everything in place, then we’re going to claim it anonymously and hopefully keep it under wraps.” I paused. “I have to figure out a way to do this that I’m not going to tip off my mom or my sister, though.”

“Your brother and sister will keep the secret?” he asked.

“I think so.” I shrugged. “Kent understands the importance, at least. Anders is a bit flighty since she’s so young. She’s a dreamer. Doesn’t see a single thing wrong with this world. So I have to stress the importance of keeping quiet with her tonight, but I think we’ll be fine. The kids have good heads on their shoulders. They’ve had to grow up a hell of a lot faster than most kids their age.”

He studied me with his dark eyes, scanning my face for so long that I felt like squirming, before he said, “What time do they go to bed?”

I frowned. “I don’t know. Whenever they want, I guess. I’m not really that big on harping on their every move.”

“Open the door for me when I stop by later,” he ordered.

That’s when I fully understood where his thoughts were headed.

“I’m on my period,” I pointed out.

His eyes gleamed for a few seconds before he said, “And?”

Seventeen

What the fuck, over.

—Text from Searcy to Posy

SEARCY

I was a multi-millionaire.

It was official.

I stared at all the zeros in the bank account that I’d created not only out of town, but out of state as well.

$327,999,934.78

The number seemed unreal to me.

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