Darker Days (The Darker Agency #1)(71)
Both of us did.
He pulled away as the lights flickered back on, leaving a chill where his hand had been. Just under the edge of my shirt, above the waist of my jeans. I’d purposely sat us in the back row, determined to get him to kiss me again. After how hot things got in the office, and how ashamed he’d looked afterwards, I was sure it would be a fight. But all it took was my hand resting just above his knee and a simple nuzzle of his neck, and he was hooked. We’d barely seen half the movie.
Around us, moviegoers were rushing the aisle, determined to be the first out of the theater. We stood and joined the back of the line. The credits were still running, and an explosion rocked the screen, catching Lukas’ attention. He jumped, caught off guard by the action, but smiled despite it. “And it’s all fake?”
“Yep,” I said, taking the empty popcorn tub from him and tossing it into the trash as we passed. “They get paid crazy cash to pretend. We get pennies to do the real thing. Go figure.”
“That seems…backward.”
“It’s a crazy world.” I looped my arm around his. “We should hit the ice cream place down the road. They have this frozen cappuccino slushy thing—you haven’t lived ’til you’ve tried it.”
“That sounds great,” a deceptively delicate voice said behind us. “Are you buying? ’Cause I find myself a little short on cash these days…”
Lukas’ expression morphed from happy to holy hell in an instant. “Meredith?” he breathed, whirling around.
“Lookin’ good, Lukas. Real good.” She took a step forward, eyes appraising. “This century’s clothing accentuates your…assets.”
He didn’t answer. Then again, she didn’t give him time. Blowing a kiss, she turned on her heel and bolted in the opposite direction.
Lukas didn’t hesitate. He took off after her.
And I took off after him. I called out several times for him to stop. This was exactly what she wanted us to do. But Lukas ignored me.
Down the street and around the corner, Meredith ran like a cheetah on crack. Either the chick was rocking some serious training, or she’d mojoed herself into channeling a professional sprinter. I managed to catch up to Lukas with little trouble, but catching Meredith was another story. She kept her generous lead, seeming to slow only when we were in danger of losing sight. She really wanted us to follow. Knowing that, I should have stopped. Should have grabbed Lukas by the back of the shirt and hauled his ass back to the office. That was what the logic bird perched on my shoulder chirped in my ear, anyway.
Of course, it wasn’t what I did.
We followed her into the new real estate development at the edge of The Ledges. A cheerful billboard showing off a very PC interracial couple lounging on their front lawn at sunset greeted us as we approached. The picture showed swanky houses sitting on perfect, plastic looking lawns, and behind them, fluffy white cloud-lettering read Heaven’s Gates. Sometimes, the people of Penance took the whole biblical thing just a little too far.
Most of the homes were still empty. They’d only finished the first round and had just broken ground on the second set.
“You think she went inside one?” We stopped running to get our bearings and scan the area. There were several squawking black birds on the lawn to our right, but other than that, everything was still.
Lukas bent over, trying to catch his breath. “I lost sight of her just after she turned the corner.”
I glanced down the street. Six houses. Three on each side. It was getting dark, and there weren’t as many streetlights out this way—not yet—but the white house on the end caught my eye. The door was open. A big walk this way sign. Meredith obviously wasn’t one for subtlety. “That one.”
We raced over the lawn and stepped across the threshold. At first, everything was quiet. The white marble entryway spilled seamlessly into a sprawling living room, carpeted in lush royal blue. The walls were accented with gold trimming, and the baseboards had thin strips of delicate, blue-flowered wall borders that went around the entire room.
Empty.
Cautiously—and to Lukas’ irritation—I took the lead and steered us toward the kitchen. A few take-out bags on the floor in the middle of the room, half a six-pack of Pepsi, but no Meredith.
The rest of the first floor played out the same. Each room was empty but with small signs that someone had been there. An empty soda cup. A handful of dirty napkins. Half a cheeseburger…
“Let’s check upstairs,” I whispered. Stupid, really. The whispering. She’d left the door open on purpose. She already knew we were there. Trying to be stealthy had no advantage, but it was habit. Mom had ingrained it on my soul at an early age. Besides, I needed the practice.
Up the spiral stairs, we finally found Meredith in the master bedroom. She was all smiles, wearing tight black jeans and a blue shirt that looked like she’d painted it on—and she wasn’t alone.
Against the far corner of the room, a guy—probably in his early twenties—sat bound to a rickety looking chair. He struggled against his bonds, eyes darting from Lukas to me like he was trying to decide if we were there to help—or make things worse.
“It certainly took you long enough,” she said, patting her friend on the head like a good puppy.
I gave her a casual shrug. “We stopped for Chinese on the way. I never deal with crazy on an empty stomach.”