Down to the Liar(15)

Dani stews in silence the whole drive back to Bryn’s house, which is where we picked up Murphy for our cracker-fishing expedition. I know she’s mad, and I know why she’s mad. But she’s just going to have to get over it.

When I get out to let Murphy out of the Chevelle’s backseat, he glances between Dani and me. “Want me to drive you?” he asks.

It’s a gentlemanly offer, but I’m even less scared of Dani than I am of Tog, though not for the same reasons. Tog is all posturing and no teeth. Dani is the reverse. Her teeth are razor sharp, and she’d never give an enemy advance warning. But I’m pretty sure she won’t bite me, no matter how much I might deserve it.

“Nah. Thanks, though. I’ll text you if I make it to the office.”

He nods. “All right. Just try not to piss her off any more tonight.”

“Come on, Murph. This is me we’re talking about.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”

I push the passenger seat back into position and slide into it, shutting the door with the soft slam unique to muscle cars. Dani pulls away from the curb. She waits two whole minutes before laying into me.

“It makes me crazy when you do that,” she says as she shifts gears.

“It makes me crazy when you act all overprotective. I was playing him, and it went perfectly.”

“What if it had not gone as you planned? I counted three guards at least. Not to mention his thirty acolytes. It was an unnecessary risk. You always gamble as if your life is worthless.”

“Look, I didn’t pick a job baking cupcakes. What I do is lousy with risk.”

“You think I cannot tell when you are working and when you are being recklessly self-destructive?”

Okay, I might have gone a tiny bit off the rails back there, but I’m not confessing that to her.

“I wasn’t being reckless. I needed his help and I got it.”

“It is as if you are trying to punish yourself, or prove some sort of point.”

“I’m not punishing myself.” Though I deserve it, and then some. “I’m just doing my job. And anyway, you’re the one trying to prove something.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” she growls.

My heart is hammering, and some part of my brain is screaming at me to shut my stupid mouth. But I’m not famous for doing the right thing. I’m about to say something I know I’ll regret. I say it anyway.

“You saved me from Petrov. Your promise to my dad is done, finito, over. But you’re still here. And you still think it’s your duty to protect me. Just so we’re clear, I never asked you to.”

She’s silent for the rest of the trip to the Ballou, which to be fair is only a few minutes. But still. You could melt an iceberg with the heat scorching the car. I’m mad at her for being mad at me, but there’s a significant amount of guilt churning in my gut as well when she pulls up to the door.

“You are right,” she says, sounding resigned. “You did not ask. But I was not doing it for you.”

“Dani—”

“Enough. It is your life to risk as you want. Just as it is my life to risk in your place.”

“That’s not—”

“All I am trying to say is that you do not have to suffer to earn forgiveness.”

My breath seizes in my lungs like I’ve been tackled. She has no right to say that to me. No right and every right. She’s the only friend I have left who’s not just sticking around because she owes me a favor. How much longer until I drive her away, too? Or worse, get her killed?

I mumble something and bolt out of the car. I pass Yaji again without a word and climb the stairs to my office. When I get to my desk, my history book is still open to the textiles chapter. I put my head on my arms and cry like I haven’t since Tyler died.

—

The next day after school, Bryn and Murphy and I reconvene at the Ballou office to lay the bait for the honeypot. Bryn and Murphy read over my shoulder as I type a private Facebook message from my own fake account to one of the bully accounts:

Psst. You really want to go after that skank Skyla? I found her boyfriend’s phone and downloaded some naked pics. Check out this link….



“Can’t you say ‘boobs’ in there somewhere?” Murphy asks.

“No, I cannot. Perv.”

“I’m just saying it would sweeten the pot.”