by S Doyle
“Elizabeth!”
“Good night, Dad,” I said with my own sneer. “Actually, no. You don’t deserve the title anymore. I think I call you Roger from now on.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
I walked toward the study door and opened it. Looking back at him, he didn’t look so distinguished now. His eyes were red from the bourbon, his shirt wrinkled. In fact, he looked like a hot mess.
“Try me, Roger.”
Lunchroom
Monday
Fitz
“What the fuck is happening?” Ed asked me. Loud enough that students sitting at other lunch tables turned in our direction.
Our lunch group was together for the first time since the events of yesterday. Minus two, of course. Reen was at school but had chosen not to eat with us.
Heath, however, was gone.
This had been the first opportunity I’d had to tell Ed everything. Between telling my parents, then heading to the Earnshaws, only to find that Heath hadn’t gone home, it all seemed to happen so quickly.
“Quiet,” I said.
“Why? You think it’s not going to be pretty obvious that Heath is fucking gone?”
I could feel Beth tense next to me. When I saw her this morning, she looked exhausted. I didn’t ask about her father because I knew it wasn’t something she would want to talk about at school. We made plans to meet up at my house to study after football practice. I would find out then what story her father had given her.
For now, we all just needed to come to terms with the facts.
Heath had been behind the Freshman Bait List.
I’d called the hospital and had Wick confirm it. When I told him Heath had seemingly disappeared, Wick had seemed relieved.
The Earnshaws, however, were not relieved at all. They’d filed a missing person’s report with the police, but so far, the police hadn’t found a trace of him.
“Where could he have gone?” Janie asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But if he had access to all the money from bets that had been placed, he’s got enough of a cushion to see him through for some time.”
“Yes, but what about school? What about college? What he did was unforgivable, sure, but it doesn’t mean he has to sacrifice his whole life, does it?” Ed asked.
I sighed. “He hit Wick with a car, Ed. That’s a crime. Maybe a good lawyer would have gotten him off, I don’t know. I suppose Heath wasn’t willing to take the chance of doing time in juvie.”
“No, he wouldn’t have taken that chance,” Janie said quietly.
“What?” Ed asked.
“He would never have gone to juvie. I can’t pretend to tell you I know Heath. Obviously, none of us really knew him. Not even you two. But I can tell you from the time I spent with him in Thornfield Home, he wouldn’t have let himself be arrested. He would have run away before he ever went to any kind of detention center.”
“Janie,” Ed asked her quietly. “What the hell happened to all of you in that home?”
“It’s not my story to tell,” she said. Then she looked at Beth. “Are you going to try to talk to Reen?”
“I tried this morning before class,” Beth said dully. “She’s avoiding me.”
“Well, she can’t avoid us forever,” Janie said. “It’s a small school. We’ll talk to her. We’ll find out what kind of trouble she’s in and then we’ll help her.”
“You’re assuming she wants to be helped,” Ed said grimly. “Twenty thousand dollars is a lot of fucking money.”
“Indeed, it is. Mind if I join you?”
I turned to find Locke standing there with a lunch tray in his hand.
“Seems you’re down a few people,” he added sarcastically. He knew damn well what had happened yesterday at The Woods.
I shrugged. “Sure. Have a seat.”
“Maybe you can help us,” Janie said. “Beth said you’ve been following Reen. So you must know what kind of trouble she’s in.”
“Sadly, I do not. She’s proven to be rather adept at giving me the slip. It’s almost like…no, it’s not possible. If Irene decides she needs help, I imagine she’ll let her friends know first.”
“I’m not counting on it,” Beth said sadly. “It’s like everything has suddenly flipped around and nothing makes sense. Where did Heath go? Why would he set up his best friend like that? Is Reen into something criminal? Oh, and did I mention my dad’s back home?”
“Beth!” Janie gasped. “When did that happen?”
“Yesterday. He just showed up like nothing happened. My mother is…so happy.”
I reached for her hand under the table. Our fingers linked and I squeezed gently to show her my support.
“We’re going to get through this,” I told her. “Whatever this is. Together.”
She smiled at me then. “Promise?”
“I promise,” I told her.
I said it like it was a solemn vow. Because it was.
I would promise Beth the world if I thought I could deliver it.
Locke
Question: Did watching the cheerleaders practice from beneath the bleachers make me a creeper?
Answer: No. Not if I was in pursuit of a suspect.
I watched them go through some kind of dance routine. Watched as Reen did three handsprings sequentially, so quickly I could barely see her skirt drop down toward her head.
Barely.
But she was wearing hipster boy shorts underneath so did it really matter?
She knew I was here. I’d caught her eye at one point, but it hadn’t impacted her focus on her practice.
So I waited patiently until she was done. Finally, Star called an end to their drills and the girls dispersed into the gym. Reen, however, made her way across the football field to the bleachers where I was currently not being a creeper.
At least not intentionally.
“I saw you. I know you’re there,” she said, her arms crossed over her chest.
It was cold, not freezing, but cold like a fall day should be but she was only wearing a short skirt, long white sleeved shirt and a red vest. She once told me Star had them practice outside in the cold sometimes so they would get used to it. Since it’s how they would be dressed on game night.
I thought the idea utterly preposterous. Then again, I thought the idea of a bunch of girls standing on the sideline of a football field, in a costume, flipping about also preposterous.
“I wasn’t necessarily trying to hide. From you,” I said as I came out from behind the bleachers to confront her.
“So is that how it’s going to be from now on? You following me where ever I go?”
“I like answers to questions,” I admitted. “You’re a question.”
“A question,” she laughed, Then pouted in a way I was forced to look at her mouth. “I thought I was more than that to you.”
“Don’t,” I warned her. “Don’t play your games with me. Not after what you did. I’m too smart for that and you know it.”
She lost her pout immediately. “What do you want, Locke?”
“I want to help you,” I said honestly. Because it was the truth. I knew she was in something over her head. What, was still a mystery, but it didn’t take much to realize she was barely a step ahead of real trouble.
“I didn’t ask for it.”
“I know. That’s something I’ve learned about you. You would never ask for it. You would never ask for anything, would you? Which is why I’m going to do it anyway.”
“Do what?”
“Save you.”
Laughing again, she tilted her beautiful head, her dark heavy hair falling down her back. Her throat exposed, which made me think of biting in a suddenly disturbing way.
Irene Adler was too much. Too beautiful. Too sexy. Too vibrant.
Too…alive.
Reaching for her, touching her, holding on to her…it was like trying to hold on to a live electric wire. Sure you knew you were going to get burned in the end, but the electri
city coursing through your body was so exhilarating at the time.
I knew from experience.
Finally, she said. “I can save myself, Locke.”
“Why do I think you’re lying. To both of us.”
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from me. You said it. I’m nothing but a tease.”
I had said. I’d meant it. I just didn’t know if I was right.
I took a step toward her, answering the challenge. “Is that really what you want?”
She hesitated. Ever so briefly, but it was there, and I heard it.
“Yes,” she said eventually. Then she started to walk backward away from me, back across the football field. “Stop following me or I’ll report you for stalking.”
I watched her turn and jog into the gym. Where, hopefully, she would warm up.
“Liar,” I said to the now empty field. “I’m coming for you, Irene. For you and all of your secrets.”
Later That Afternoon
Beth
I was sitting on the couch in Fitz’s playroom with a book in my lap, while my legs were sprawled over Fitz’s. He also had a book open, which he’d propped against my thighs.
I watched him for a minute and realized he was completely spaced out.
“I don’t think we’re getting any quality studying done today.”
He blinked. Then looked at me. “No,” he agreed. He shut his book and tossed it on the floor. “Let’s stop then and make out instead.”
I laughed but held up my book. “Absolutely not, I see a weakness in your game and now is my opportunity to pull ahead.”
“You’re not actually competing for Top Academic still. I’m your boyfriend now.”
“My second-place boyfriend if I have anything to say about.”
He used one arm to hold my thighs still in his lap while he leaned over and began the most ruthless form of torture known to humankind.
He tickled me.
I shrieked and laughed and squirmed. Dropping my own book to the floor. Somehow in the melee, because he was just that strong and could move me around like a big bag of flour, I ended up face down in the couch with my butt in his lap.
“Now this is an awfully nice position,” he mused.
I could feel one hand on my back, the other pressing against the back of my thighs. I wiggled but couldn’t move. Turning my head, so I could see him, I glared at his wicked smile.
“You wouldn’t dare,” I said.
“We did agree that next time we would see to my needs. I believe I did warn you…”
“Fitz,” I shrieked.
He laughed hysterically even as he brought one hand down firmly on my jean-covered backside.
“One!”
“You bastard!” I shouted up at him. Without any real anger or heat. Because he was laughing again and I…well, let’s just say I didn’t mind my punishment for giving Fitz a little sass. It was more than worth it.
I didn’t know what our future held, but I knew what we had now was real. So strong, almost as strong as Fitz himself.
In an uncertain world, where everything was still shifting beneath our feet, I was going to hold on to it, to Fitz, as long as I could.
Hello readers! I hope you loved Fitz and Beth’s story as much as I did. Ready for Locke and Irene? Check out A Scandal in Homeroom.
a Scandal in Homeroom
Pre Order Now! Release Date September 9 2021
Also by S. Doyle
The Bride Series
My Secret Boyfriend Series
The Boss Series
Alaska Hot Series
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