Page 56 of Stealing for Keeps
I place a hand over her mouth and fight my own laughter despite the situation. I can feel her lips moving under my palm. She then wiggles her body to get free and trips on my feet. I catch her a second before her mom calls out, “Claire? Are you home?”
She squeaks, a tiny little noise. I haul her to me. Now her back is to my chest, and she’s crushing me into the hangers and shelves. We hold still, listening closely. Our cover is definitely blown.
“What do I do?” she asks, turning her head.
“Tell her you’re changing.”
“Good idea.”
“Yeah, it’s me,” Claire yells. “I’m just changing.”
She starts to giggle again. My heart beats so fast in my chest. The last thing I need is to get caught in this closet with a half-naked Claire by her mother.
My hand drops to her side, and I lean my head back to keep from eating her hair.
Everything is quiet, and then the closet door is wrenched open. Claire’s mom stands with her arms crossed and a death glare aimed right at me.Oh shit.
“What is this?” her mom asks.
We stumble out, and I’m very aware of how bad this looks.
“I give you a little bit of independence, and you bring some boy back at two o’clock in the morning?”
“It’s not like that,” Claire says.
“I was just helping her up to her room,” I say, running a hand through my hair.
“Helping?” her mom asks, incredulous.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
She steps closer to Claire and sniffs. “Have you been drinking?”
I’m caught between wanting to sprint out of here and staying to make sure Claire doesn’t get in too much trouble. But the looks her mom is giving me make it clear that my presence isn’t helping.
“I should go,” I say, glancing at Claire. “Are you going to be okay?”
She nods tentatively.
“You shouldn’t be here to begin with,” her mom says coolly. “Do your parents know you’re sneaking into drunk girls’ houses late at night to take advantage of them, or should I give them a call tomorrow?”
“Mom!” Claire’s voice rises, and her eyes widen with disbelief. “He didn’t. He wouldn’t.”
“No?” Claire’s mom waves a hand in front of her daughter’s half-naked body. “So you’re not drunk, and he wasn’t just feeling you up in the closet?”
Claire blushes and pulls a pillow from her bed to hold in front of herself. She looks a lot like her mom, but where Claire’s features are soft and inviting, her mom’s are hard and harsh.
Her mom narrows her gaze on me and points. “If I catch you anywhere near my daughter again, I will call your parents and the school. And maybe the cops.”
Claire shoots me an apologetic look as I head toward her bedroom door.
I think I mutter “sorry,” but I don’t know which one I’m apologizing to.
Chapter Sixteen
Claire
On Saturday, I meet up with Lacey and Andie at the school. We signed up for dance cleanup duty, which sounded fine before the events of last night. I feel better than I should. I think my mother walking in on me half-naked and Austin about to kiss me flushed the alcohol right out of my system. I had the slightest headache when I woke up, but I’m nursing more of an embarrassment hangover than anything else.
