Page 24 of The Tip-Off
Gabby squeals and then covers her mouth to keep quiet.
“You’re going to draw attention to us,” I whisper.
I’m not really afraid of getting caught. The baseball guys aren’t going to stumble on us unless someone makes a beer run and every house on this street is occupied by college kids. Still, I play along because that’s what Gabby is really after with this prank. She wants to feel the adrenaline and rush of doing something sneaky and wrong. The girl couldn’t be on the other side of right. I don’t think it’s in her to be anything but pure and good.
“One more good throw. Aim high.”
Focused, she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and cranks her arm back. When she lets it go, the toilet paper meets its mark and the last of the roll unravels.
Lifting her arms in victory, the shift in weight momentarily causes me to lose my grip and we both overcorrect at the same time. Her body slides down until we’re chest to chest. Hers rises and falls, eyes gleaming in the moonlight with mischief and excitement. I’m frozen, body tensed and heart battering in my chest like I finished a workout.
“Now what?” she rasps.
Her words bring me back to reality and I set her on the ground. We step back and eye our handiwork.
“We go back inside and pretend to be shocked when someone notices.”
The guys barely glance in our direction as we rejoin them. They’re deep in sports talk, which might normally interest me, but the grin that Gabby can’t keep off her face keeps pulling me to look at her. She’s chomping at the bit for them to find out.
I lean over and whisper, “Want me to make an excuse to leave and come back so I can stumble upon our handiwork all surprised-like?”
Her eyes get big with possibility and I’m wondering when exactly I went from keeping an eye out for her to being a co-conspirator, when Stephens – the catcher for the baseball team – waddles out onto the patio, pants down to his ankles, holding a towel around his waist.
“What the—” Shaw asks, seeing him before the rest of the guys.
Stephen’s eyes are wide with panic and mistrust. “Dude. Who the fuck took all the toilet paper?”
11
Gabby
“I’m perfectlycapable of keeping myself entertained for a week.”
Blair’s sunburnt face looks remorseful as I deliver the beginning line of my rehearsed guilt trip.
“I know, I’m sorry. I just felt bad I was leaving you. You haven’t gone out much by yourself yet.”
The truth is I haven’t gone out by myself at all until she left for the week, but I’m glad she softened the blow. The rest of my rebuttal falls silent because I know Blair had good intentions and I could never stay mad at her. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.
“I forgive you, but no more setting up babysitters for me. I left two overprotective parents at home; I don’t need another.”
“Deal.” She leans back in a beach chair and the sound of the wind whipping around her makes her next line hard to hear. “So, what have you been up to this week?”
“Work, mostly, and hanging out with Nathan. Oh, and I convinced Zeke to help me TP the baseball house.”
“Where do you come up with these things? And also, really? Zeke did that?”
I smile, picturing the gleam in his eye as we tossed the toilet paper rolls up into the tree. He was having fun. I doubt he’d admit it, but I saw it.
“It really didn’t take a lot of convincing. I just told him I was doing it with or without him. Actually, I have you to thank. You told him to look out for me and in true Zeke fashion, he’s given it more dedication than necessary. Especially since you asked. Everyone knows he likes you better than anyone else.”
She rolls her eyes, but her smile is pleased. “Well, go easy on him.”
“No way,” I say with a laugh. “If he wants to act as my protector then I’ve got plenty of items on my list that I could use back up for.”
“Oh God, I’ve created a monster.”
Wes appears on screen, dropping a kiss to Blair’s forehead and settling into the chair next to her. “Hey, Gabby.”
