A bundle of fear knots up in my gut. “No.” I wince. “Okay, I’m lying.” Nearly a month ago, the night that Chloe submerged me in deep waters for old times’ sake—we found out that Chloe had risen to the top of just about every most wanted list—for questioning by the CIA. Nevertheless, over the last few weeks, her face has been popping up like unwanted blemishes all over the island in poster form—cited as a suspicious person. Hell, the peeps on Paragon have known that from the moment she was born. Well, thankfully, Ezrina looks so different she isn’t in any danger. That little angel of hers, Alice, needs her mama to stay out of any and every federal holding facility. But Chloe, my God, the feds have amped up the search for her. She’s been on the national news, all over the Internet, and in every grocery store rag you can think of. You’d think she had robbed the world vault of all its gold the way they’re laying the heat onher.
“I’ve told her to lay low,” I whisper as I glance to the evergreens skirting the property. “I even offered to send her back to the Transfer, but she hates the Kres and Wes dynamic duo so much she’d rather fry in a thousand electric chairs than listen to their primal grunting. Chloe’s words, not mine.” Laken’s features soften, and I gasp at the realization of what I’ve done. “I’m sorry,” Imouth.
“No, God no, don’t apologize. She’s been sort of a godsend. And honestly, she’s one of the reasons we didn’t kill him—but mostly it was Tobie. Anyway, there’s been a new plan in action for months, and Coop and I will be implementing it soon—and before you ask—it’s nothing I want to talk about on your birthday. So don’t even try to wrangle it out of me.” She sinks her forehead into her palm. “I can’t believe I actually contemplated the murder of another human being.” She shakes it off. “I wasn’t actually going to go through with it, but my God, it felt good to plan it out to the very lastdetail.”
“Don’t I know it!” Bree pops her head over Laken’s shoulder. “I totally felt that way about you—but I’m ready and willing to bury the hatchet.” She wraps the crook of her elbow around my neck and nearly decapitates me. “Go ahead and apologize, and we’ll start fromscratch.”
You can hear the copious amounts of air getting sucked into Laken’slungs.
“Brielle.” I untangle myself from her stranglehold. “You can’t be serious. Laken has done nothing to apologizeover.”
Laken combs her fingers through her long caramel waves as if she were readying to pull every last one out in frustration. “Actually, I do owe you an apology.” She offers a stiff smile at my self-proclaimed bestie’s way. “You and I never really got off on the right foot. I sort of barreled onto Paragon and snatched your best friend away from you without giving it another thought. It was inconsiderate ofme.”
“Damn straight, it was.” Bree is quick to glom on to Laken’s line ofthinking.
“And for that I’m sorry.” Her shoulders compress with the uncalled for mea culpa. “Let’s start over. Hi, I’m Laken Flanders. I happened to have married my best friend in the whole wide world. I can see that Skyla is yours,” she says it sweetly enough, and yet her hand hangs there an unordinary amount of time without any reciprocallove.
“I see what you did there,” Bree squeezes the words out nice and slow. “Well, it just so happens thatImarriedmybest friend—twice!” Her eyes twitch over the circumference of the yard. “In fact, I’m going to jump him right freaking now and prove it.” She bolts off in the direction of the mobilehome.
“Never mind her.” I dismiss Bree and her antics with a wave. “Guess who is going to spend the night in her new house for the very first timetonight?”
“I’d say me, but considering the fact Coop and I are still in the rental phase of our existence—oh my God, Skyla!” She wraps her arms around me and sways the both of us to the rhythm of her squeals. “That is fantastic!” She pulls back with tears glittering in her eyes. “Coop and I are so very happy for youguys.”
“Thank you. And I know it’s genuine.” I pause and give her hand a quick squeeze. “And I know it’s not easy—considering the fact my husband’s face looks more than slightly familiar toyou.”
She gives an anxious look just past me, and I turn to find Gage chatting with Wes while Tobie toddles around hislegs.
“Trust me, I know the difference between Gage and Wes.” Her voice grows soft. “The funny thing is, all those years ago in Cider Plains, there really wasn’t much of one. Gage’s personality is sort of the before to Wesley’s after.” We watch as Demetri heads over and completes their circle, and my blood runs cold with an ironic thought. “What if Gage is the before and Wes is the after—as in Gage’s afterlife?” I shake the thought loose. “Gage would never behave like Wes, dead or alive. Leave it to my errant thoughts to kill off Gage right before hisbirthday.”
Laken and I share a nervous laugh. “At least have the decency to kill him once he’s had hiscake.”
“Amen to that,” a cool voice hums from behind, and we spin to find America’s most wanted right here in the Landonbackyard.
“Chloe.” I reach out to embrace her, and she holds up her hands as if I were about to shove a viper in herface.
“That’s okay, Skyla.” Those dark eyes of hers zero in on mine, filled with venom, brimming with hate. “We don’t have to pretend anymore. It was so damn exhausting parading around like freaking unicorns with their butts welded together by a rainbow. I don’t live in Bree’s little bestie la-la land, so let’s just call a spade a spade. I’ve always hated you.” She scowls at Laken. “What the hell are you staringat?”
Laken lets out a tired sigh, and a white plume escapes her nostrils, alerting me to the fact we should probably move this party inside. “I think I like this side of you, Chloe. It’s honest and raw, and brutal around the edges the way God intended you to be. Don’t put on a mask around people—you’re the only one who’ll beconfused.”
Bree pops up with an unwilling Drake just as Chloe is readying to knife Laken’s lady ballsoff.
“You know”—Chloe wraps an arm around Laken’s shoulders, lithe and smooth like a tiger readying for the kill—“I think I like you, too. Maybeyoucan be my newbestie.” She says that last word with all the sarcastic inflection only Chloe canafford.
“What’s this?” Brielle staggers back as if she were sucker punched, and Drake makes a run for it while he can. “First, you infiltrate Skyla, then you call out my man, and now you tackle theBishop?”
“The Bishop?” Both Chloe and I say in unison before glowering at one another amoment.
Brielle scoffs at the thought. “Well, you can forget it. Skyla, Drake, and Chloe, they all belong to me, so you can just walk your pretty little self back to Tennessee or wherever the hell you’re from and take that smart-aleck attitude withyou.”
Laken’s lips twitch as if she’s holding back a laugh. “I’m from Kansas. And trust me, a part of me wishes I can rewind each day all the way to the time of my death—and before that, just so I could start all over again. But I can’t.” Her tone sharpens as do her features. Bree is in for it now, and I completely think she deserves it on some level. “And you know what? I happen to like the way things turned out for me. I have a wonderful friend in Skyla, a gorgeous sweet, smart, funny husband”—Coop comes up from behind and wraps his arms around her, showing off that handsome as hell smile—“and as for Chloe and me?” She looks to Chloe, puzzled as to what might come next. “We’re still feeling things out. And you know why? Because I have a heart for the disenfranchised. I happen to care about people. Unlike you, Brielle, I welcome them. I care about how they feel, and I want to make them comfortable. It’s called being a decent humanbeing.”
Brielle chokes on her words, and Laken holds up a finger as if to stop her from eventrying.
“Furthermore, I’m not going to abandon any friendships because of your insecurities. In the event you haven’t noticed, none of us are in high school anymore. Both Skyla and Chloe can have more than one best friend. Skyla and Chloe can both bemybest friends.” Coop shoots me a look as if to askwhat the hell?“And simultaneously they can beyourbest friends, too. You and I can be friends if we took the time to water a relationship and watch it grow. All it takes is a little careful attention. But to get to the starting gate, we need to be civil to one another, let down our guard, stop accusing one another of snatching people out from under us, and be as amicable as possible. It’s not rocket science. It’s just commonsense.”
The fog blows in thick between us as if celebrating Laken’svictory.
Just as I’m about to congratulate Laken on a speech well done, Brielle starts in on her chicken bone in the throat routine onceagain.
