Page 58 of Pretty Secrets

Her shoulders slump. “I went through the dresses we bought the other day, but nothing screamedruin someone’s life for the time being, so I went looking through her things and found this.” She curtsies, and I spy her throat working in the reflection of the mirror.

“But,” she says, slipping a piece of paper toward her that’s lying on the dresser, “I also found this.” She hands me a square card with writing on it.

Thinking about you.Getting ready for your big day. Trust me, I’ve memorized every part of your body, Delilah Astor. I’m ready.

“Keegan?”I ask, thinking it looks exactly like a note one would leave in a bouquet of flowers or something. Maybe he and Delilah had made up.

“I thought so at first, but ‘your big day’? What does that mean?”

“Graduation to the Knights? Wedding…?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t like the feeling I get when I read this, though. It sounds stalkerish. I don’t see Keegan leaving her a note like this.” She sighs, reading from the card. “‘I’ve memorized every part of your body.’ ‘I’m ready.’” She shakes her head. “I don’t think it’s his style.”

“I don’t know,” I tell her. “I wish I did.”

“I’m wondering if it means something,” she says, taking it back and hiding it in her dresser. “After finding this, I really have to go through her boxes. If there are more things like this in there, I’m just sitting on them.”

“It could be a love note,” I suggest. “Maybe she’d found someone else? Maybe that’s why Keegan looks so fucked up.” She shrugs lifelessly but I trudge on. “I say we ask him. What the hell? See if he knows anything about the note. It’s the only way we’ll know for sure.”

“We’ll have to do it without them,” she says, switching her gaze to the door. “They can’t know we’re asking questions about Delilah. They’re still Knights.”

The part where she wants to bang them must be implied. Even the mention of them makes my skin crawl. When it’s the two of us, I can almost forget they’re even here.

Her suggestion works in my favor, though. “Absolutely. Just the two of us. We’ll figure out a way.”

She smiles at me. “Are you…mad about last night?”

“I’m not mad,” I say hesitantly.

She raises her brows. “Is this the part where you say you’re not mad, you’re disappointed, so I feel like shit?”

God, this woman drives me nuts. I’m supposed to be mad, but how can I when she says things like this? Stepping forward, I slowly reach for her. She doesn’t stop me, so I keep going until I curl my fingers around her ear, taking some of her blonde strands with me. “I made it clear how I felt the other day. Now, it’s up to you.”

“It was easier to choose him,” she murmurs. “And probably not for the reasons you think.”

My stomach tightens. Right now, what I think is that she wants to fuck him more than she wants to fuck me—if she even wants to fuck me at all.

She wrings her hand in front of her. “It’s just that I don’t know what this is yet, Ollie. If I chose you, it would be like telling you I was sure, and the last thing I want is to hurt you. So, it was easy with him. I know where I stand.”

I bring my hand back, letting it drop to my side. In a convoluted way, her reasoning makes sense. “This was never going to be easy,” I tell her honestly. “We’ve been one thing for a long time, and I’m asking you to see us differently. You weren’t going to magically catch feelings for me. And I know you find his hardness attractive, but I can be a dick too.”

She chuckles. “You think I’m…” She makes a disgusted look. “Ugh, well, I don’t like that self-assessment. Can we change the subject?”

I hold my elbow out to her. “We have to get going, anyway. I’m sure Professor is down there checking his watch.”

“And the other one’s head will probably explode if we make him wait.”

She loops her arm through mine, and we head for the door. Once we reach the landing, I lean over and whisper, “Are you up for this?”

Her face clouds over. “Bitch has no heart. It’s not like we’re fucking over innocent people. Her father’s scum, and she’s a caustic skank.”

“Caustic skank, huh? I don’t know why, but I kind of picture that as a good boat name. You know, instead of, like, Waverunner III.”

“You want to captain Caustic Skank?”

I shrug. “I wouldn’t say no to the idea.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

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