Made You Up(87)
“Fine.” He hesitated a second, then turned to go.
“Wait!” I caught his sleeve between my fingers. “Are you angry?”
He only turned halfway back. “I’m a lot of things,” he snapped. “I don’t know.”
“You could . . . you could hang out here for a while. You don’t have to go home.”
“I shouldn’t—” he began. Then my mother’s Firenza turned down the street and pulled into the driveway, boxing in Miles’s truck. Charlie bounced in the passenger seat. My mother got out and called for help bringing in the groceries.
“Well,” he said, and I swear he sounded relieved, “I guess I could stay for a while.”
Chapter Forty-eight
The day before the spring sports awards, Tucker picked me up just as the shadows of the trees began slanting the other direction. I ran out to his SUV as fast as I could, ignoring the perimeter check, so my mother wouldn’t have time to see who was driving. The Hannibal’s Rest phoenix soared overhead. I didn’t mention it to Tucker.
“I didn’t need anything, right?” I asked, checking myself over. Converse. Jeans. Striped T-shirt.
“Nope. Richter said he knows a quick way in.” Tucker pulled out of the driveway and started toward Lakeview.
“Why do you still call him ‘Richter’? You’ve called him ‘Miles’ before.”
Tucker shrugged. “Habit, I guess. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to call him anything else.”
We made it to Lakeview in ten minutes. Tucker passed Miles’s street and went two more, to a cul-de-sac where rainbows and unicorns came to die. Miles’s truck was already parked along the curb. Tucker pulled up behind it and pointed to a house a little farther down.
“That’s his.”
The place had probably looked good once, but now unchecked ivy grew up its sides. The house must’ve been red and white, but the white was peeling and yellowed, and the red had been bleached to a Pepto-Bismol pink.
We got out and met Miles.
“He hasn’t been home since I’ve been here,” said Miles.
“How long do you think we have?” I asked.
“An hour—Evan and Ian said they could hold McCoy at the school until at least four. Should be plenty.”
“Are you sure you can get in?” Tucker asked.
Miles scoffed. “Have some faith, Beaumont. I got into your house, didn’t I?”
Tucker rolled his eyes. “Fine then. Lead on.”
The two of them started down the sidewalk. But as soon as I took a step, a flash of red behind the driver’s seat in Tucker’s SUV caught my eye. I looked back, wondering if it was some sort of hallucination, and then realized—I knew that shade of red.
“Hold on.”
The two of them stopped as I marched back to the SUV and threw open the back door. Charlie crouched in between the seats, curled so tightly I hadn’t seen her there on the drive over. She stared at me, eyes wide and frightened. The black king was in one curled fist, shiny with spit and dented with teeth marks.
“Charlie!”
“Sorry!” she whined. “I thought you were going to your school and I wanted to see it! You never take me anywhere with you!”
I tugged on my hair. “Seriously? Ugh—I can’t take you home now.”
“Let me come with you!” She tried to jump out of the car. I shoved her back into the SUV. I didn’t want her walking around in the middle of the crappy side of Lakeview Trail.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Stay here. Are you listening to me? Do not leave this car.” I fixed her with my most searing gaze. “Do. Not. Leave. This. Spot. Got it?”
She nodded, but still tried to get a better look outside. I got the feeling that she hadn’t actually heard a word I’d said.
“What is it?” Miles called.
I pointed a warning finger at Charlie and slammed the door closed. She sat back in the seat and crossed her arms, pouting.
“Charlie hitched a ride,” I said. “I never even saw her get in. I told her to stay put while we’re in there.”
Miles and Tucker glanced at each other, but said nothing.
We walked up to McCoy’s front door. I did my perimeter check, glancing back at the SUV to make sure Charlie didn’t sneak out. Miles went straight for a ledge created by the edge of the porch roof. He felt around for a second, then pulled down a key.
Francesca Zappia's Books
- Where Shadows Meet
- Destiny Mine (Tormentor Mine #3)
- A Covert Affair (Deadly Ops #5)
- Save the Date
- Part-Time Lover (Part-Time Lover #1)
- My Plain Jane (The Lady Janies #2)
- Getting Schooled (Getting Some #1)
- Midnight Wolf (Shifters Unbound #11)
- Speakeasy (True North #5)
- The Good Luck Sister (Wildstone #1.5)