Page 85 of Carved in Ice (Made of Steel 3)

I shook my head. “No, he didn’t have time. You guys…you…you saved me.” The only problem was that I didn’t want to be saved. I wanted revenge. I wanted justice. Damn it. My chest ached. What if I never got another chance to kill him? I should have taken more time to find the broken bottle. Why had I run after my friends? What the hell was I thinking? I was so close.

“That’s what best friends are for,” Kins said and squeezed my hand.

Liza glared at her. “Excuse me?”

“I said that’s what best friends are for.”

“Oh, no, I heard you. But I’m her best friend. Not you.”

Kins laughed. “I’m pretty sure that I’m her best friend.”

“Keep dreaming.”

“I met her first!”

“Well she shared all her secrets with me,” Liza said and folded her arms across her chest. “Tell her, Summer.”

I hadn’t shared my secrets with Liza. She had just done a ton of research on me behind my back. That was completely different. But it was true, she did know more about me than Kins did. I had purposefully kept Kins in the dark.

My mind was foggy. What was I even thinking about? Was I seriously debating who was my best friend right now? It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. I laughed. My life was over. I started laughing harder.

“Great, you just got her drunk,” Kins said. “Now she’ll never tell us what happened. All we’ll know is that she stole a bathrobe and dyed her hair red for some reason.”

“As her best friend, I know that her natural hair color is red. Ha! I win.”

“Oh my God, you’re relentless, Liza! There was no way I could have known that. When I first met her she was a brunette.”

“Same. But as her bestie I knew that she was originally a redhead. Therefore I win. You lose.”

“You’re insane, you do realize that, right?”

I laughed again. “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters.”

“She’s right,” Kins said. “Just drop it, Liza. It’s not important.”

“It’s important to me,” she mumbled.

Ignoring them, I slowly stood up and walked into our command center.

“What are you doing?” Liza asked. “We’re trying to talk to you.”

I grabbed a gun off the wall.

“Whoa, calm down there, killer,” Kins said and ran over to me. “You’ll regret shooting that. Trust me.” She tried to take it from me but I pulled it away.

“Mr. Crawford isn’t my father,” I said. “At least there’s that. One positive on a list of a million awful things.”

“How do you know?” Liza asked

“Who’s Mr. Crawford?” Kins asked as she tried to grab the gun away from me again.

“An old family friend. He was being held in the hotel room next to mine. I finally got some answers.” I cocked the gun. “I’m going to go get him out. And then I’m going to end this.”

Kins grabbed my arm. “That hotel will be swarming with cops now. You’re not going anywhere.”

“Plus you’re still wearing a bathrobe,” Liza said. “I’m sure they have a warrant out for your arrest. You won’t make it 5 blocks.”

“I have to try. Don’s down right now. I need to get him while he’s down. It’s my only chance.”

---