Set Me Free (A Fugitive #2)(36)

He tried to look bored and non-plussed by it all, but couldn't help throwing a few dark glares at the blond kid. The friends at his table were falling over themselves as they watched their buddy chat to the leggy brunette.

My leggy brunette, Zach seethed as he took them in.

They looked to be about freshmen, maybe sophomore at a push. If Billy got in with this older girl, he'd be a legend among them.

Lucy tipped her head with a blush as Billy's hand grazed her arm. He looked over her shoulder and I turned away before he could catch my eye. He looked a little nervous at flirting with a girl who was obviously taken, but if he'd been a peacock his tail would've been in full bloom.

Zach ground his teeth together. He spent the painful minutes shaking the sugar packets and rearranging them into color order. He flicked one more glance over his shoulder, just in time to see her grab his bicep and look all impressed as she gave it a squeeze. Zach inwardly groaned, but couldn't take his eyes off the scene. She patted him once on the chest then turned with a flirty grin.

Her hips swayed as she made it back to the table. She acted like a superior bitch with her nose in the air until the guys had left the diner. Each of them waved at her and she tinkled her fingers back at them one by one.

As soon as they were out of sight, she let out a breath and reached for a piece of paper in her back pocket.

"He gave me his number."

"No shit." Zach couldn't help his dry tone. The last ten minutes had been torture.

She tipped her head, her blue eyes softening. "I'm sorry, I know that was hard, but..." She winced. "It's gonna get worse."

Zach's lips parted, letting out a disgusted sigh.

"I know, but it's a really great chance to get in."

"To the Tenner's place."

She nodded, pushing a piece of paper over the table. An address was scribbled below the phone number. "His Dad's out of town and he's having a party at his place tonight. We just got invited."

"We? Or you?"

"We, of course." She reached across the table and squeezed his arm.

"How did you swing that?"

Her shrug was nonchalant. "I basically indicated that I was seriously thinking of ditching my boring-ass boyfriend, if I could just find the right guy."

"And that would happen to be a blond kid with pimples?"

She snickered. "His skin was pretty good actually."

Zach's scowl made her wink. "He's an arrogant little prick who thinks much more highly of himself than he should. Pretending to be into him totally bolstered his confidence...not that it needed much." She made a face. "He told me to come to his place and he'd fix all my problems." Her fake deep voice had Zach chuckling.

"I told him I couldn't come without you and then he got super flirty and said, 'Bring him along; I'm sure we can find a quiet little corner when he's not looking.' Bluch! Can you believe that? It will almost be a pleasure bringing this guy down."

The gagging noise she made restored all of Zach's faith in her...but it didn't quiet the clatter stirring within him. They were going into William Tenner's home. It didn't matter that he was out of town. Things could still go seriously wrong.

Zach tried not to let his anxiety show as he fidgeted with his fork. "So, what's the plan? We go to the party and then what?"

Lucy drew in a breath and slowly released it. "Well, I'll ditch you for Billy and then get him to take me upstairs."

Zach's head jerked back, the fork clattering onto the plate. "Excuse me?"

She reached for his hand. "I won't do anything with him, I just need to make him think I will."

"And how are you gonna do that?" He flinched away from her touch.

"Zach, you're just really gonna have to trust me." Her expression was so sincere, he knew he could. He wanted to, but...

"I do trust you," he clipped.

"You don't sound like you do."

He grit his teeth. "I do, of course I do. I just don't trust him."

"That small fry?" She pointed to the door he'd left by. "If I can handle that creep Miles Filmore, I can handle Billy Tenner. I just need to convince him to get me into his father's office."

"And then what?"

"That's the tricky part." She rubbed her earlobe. "We'll have to think of some way of knocking him out so we have time to search the office. I don't want to physically hurt him though." She nibbled her lip. "But we need him to be spaced out long enough for us to do our thing and get out of there. He'll wake up in the morning, hopefully thinking that he's hung over and only have vague memories of the girl who wouldn't even tell him her name."

"He didn't want to know your name?"

"I told him he could call me whatever he wanted to." She stuck out her tongue, obviously disgusted by her flirty persona.

Each time she gave away her self-disgust it settled Zach's nerves that much more. Maybe he could survive this party. Logically he knew he could trust her. What choice did he have?

"So how do we knock him out then?"

"A roofie?"

"Yeah." Zach cringed. "But how would we get one?"

"I don't know." Lucy shrugged. "We could get him really drunk, but that would take too long. We want him to assume he's had a lot, but he'd have to have a ton to really knock him out, wouldn't he?"