Page 53 of Hiss and Make Up
Sierra sighed. Then, she told her. She told Liz everything that happened after she dropped them off at the park. All the gory details.
Well, not all of them. But most of them.
“Let me get this straight,” Liz said, her voice deep and tight. “After I dropped you guys off—which was after some wacko person planted a bunch of snakes at this guy’s sister’s house and sabotaged his car—you picked up a stray dog, made nasties in his dad’s welding shop, and the wacko person burned down the sister’s house. Did I get that right?”
“Mostly. The details aren’t important, so we’ll go with yes.”
Liz exhaled. “Aw hell.”
“Exactly.”
“So, wait. Why are you here? I thought Mr. Overprotective would have his eye on you like a hawk after all that. Especially after he did the man equivalent of peeing on you right before the fire.”
“He did not pee on me.”
“Sure. Why aren’t you with him?”
“He sent me home.” The words burned as they left her mouth. “Last night during the fire.”
Liz’s eyes widened in surprise, but she nodded. “Good.”
“This is not good. This is way far from good.”
“Look, I know you don’t like this kind of white knight stuff. I don’t either. But in this case, it’s good that one of you is thinking clearly and worried about your safety.” Liz sighed. “I know you don’t want to hear this, and I’m the last person who would normally tell you to stop getting your freak on, but maybe staying away from this guy is a good thing. At least for a while.”
Sierra shook her head and covered her face with both hands. “No, none of this is good. The whole thing.”
“Why? Because it scares you?”
“I’m not scared.”
“Liar,” Liz said. “I know you aren’t scared of the potential danger. I’m talking about you and him. You’re terrified ofthat.”
Sierra rubbed her face.
“I know you before today, Sierra Menard. You’re afraid of giving him another chance to hurt you.”
“Fine,” she said, drawing out the word. “I’m scared of letting Marc hurt me. Again.”
“Oh, honey, it’s already too late for that.” Liz frowned at her, but her big brown eyes were warm and understanding. “If this goes south, because of either one of you, it’s gonna hurt like hell.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Thankfully, Sierra’s phone beeped.
Yes.You?
She exhaled. He was safe.
Yes.
She waited for more questions. A hint of what was happening over there. Something. Anything. But the phone didn’t beep again.
“Everything all right?”
“Well, I have proof of life,” Sierra said. “That’s it.”
Liz took the phone from Sierra’s hand and put it face down out of Sierra’s reach. “Tell me what you think is going on at this place.”
