“Dude.” Marlin gives my arm a quick pat. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” I look to Serena. “And you?”
“Well, I’m just fine and dandy, too.” Her eyes burn like fire as she leans in and seethes, “Is this the part where I’m supposed to fake my feelings just to keep up with you? Well, I’m not. Someone wasmurderedright here in Hollow Brook, and I’m the one who found the body! I feel like crap. So, if you’ll both excuse me, I’m going to collect my things.” She looks to her brother. “I’ll be right out so you can give me a ride back to my dorm.”
We watch as she stalks off, angry, livid even—and why do I get the feeling all of that pent-up rage was directed at me? It seems nothing can cap those feelings of animosity she has toward me. I brush it off for the night. She’s had a hell of a trauma, and I’m not about to add to it.
“Tempest in a teapot.” Marlin rocks back on his heels. Marlin is a scruffy male version of his sisters with the exception of darker hair and masculine features. He’s a brick wall of a man with enough brawn to deter any criminal thinking about going against him, and right about now, I’m thrilled that he’s Serena’s brother. I’ve always had the notion I should stay on his good side.
“That she is, but she’s shaken, and it’s certainly understandable.”
“What are you doing here?” He folds his arms across that enormous chest of his, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say he was getting ready for a beatdown in the event my answer swerves in a lane he doesn’t approve of.
“Relax. I was supposed to meet up with a colleague of mine. In fact, he’s probably in there right now wondering where I am.” I’m not sure referring to Eli Gates as a colleague is the correct term, but in truth, my brain is fried from this boiled in oil night. “He’s the TA in the class I’ll be teaching come Monday. We were about to go over a quick game plan. He’s the same kid who’s interning at Collins and Associates this summer with my dad. My brother left quite a gap when he married your sister and ditched the firm.” I blink a smile, but Marlin’s hard edge doesn’t soften. “Okay, well, Axel is actually part-time now that he’s running his own place and helping Lex out with her business, so it’s all good. Anyway, I’ll be hanging out at this end of town for the next six weeks at least.”
“Good,” he grunts it out rough as if I had just agreed to whatever punishment he was about to inflict upon me. “I want you to keep an eye on Serena. The kid is a firecracker.”
“Dynamite,” I correct and finally get a chuckle out of him.
“All right. She’s taking a class this summer, too, so it looks as if you’ll be running in the same circles.” He nods back at the body and sniffs. “I’m not feeling too good about this mess. Hollow Brook hasn’t had a homicide in eight years. The last person to get killed was a—”
“Lawyer.” I know it well. He was an acquaintance of the family, my father’s longtime colleague.
His lips curve into a demented smile, and if I didn’t know better, there’s a threat layered in there somewhere.
“Good. You’re up on the law. I like that, and I expect that out of you.” He leans in. Those dark brows of his look menacing, like twin black snakes wiggling their discontent at me. “I expect alotout of you, like making sure my sister is safe. And I’m not just talking about keeping her out of the hands of some homicidal maniac. I’m talking frat boys and bar trash and whoever else might be looking to get into her pants. You make sure she steers clear from trouble. I can’t be here and neither can Lex, but you’re the next best thing to family. Axel would want you to. You and I both know how much he loves my sister.”
I stare at this gruff and tough version of Serena. Lex is just as tough as nails. Serena is a pistol. The entire family is nuts in their own right. But I’m no fool. That entire diatribe he just spewed was laced with one threat after the other.
“I get it. You want your sister safe. And I will certainly do my best to keep an eye on her. But I’m telling you—I am not her favorite person. If I say go right, she will most certainly go left.”
He lets out a howl of a laugh, and just about every living, breathing body in the lot turns to glance our way.
His affect falls flat, and he gets that stony look back in his eyes. “You keep Serena safe. There’s a killer out there.” He slaps my arm hard like he means it. That shiny badge of his reflects off the red and blue lights spasming in the night air around us. “Stay safe yourself. I’ll drop by and check on things now and again.” He leans in with that brotherlyI’m going to kill you if you make a wrong move with my sisterlook gleaming in his eyes. “Treat Serena as if she were your own kid sister. That’s all I ask.” He takes off, and I can’t help but glare at him a moment. I had a sister once, older, and she certainly didn’t treat me the way Serena does. Serena has a bite to her. She’s as feisty as that fiery hair suggests.
The coroner nods my way before tending back to his duties. The body of that poor guy sits there for all to see. His eyes still opened as he looks blankly to the sky.
Someone out there did this. And I will certainly do my best to keep an eye on Serena, to keep her safe. Like it or not, I’ve always felt damn protective of her. It only took a corpse to make me realize it.
Whitney Briggs Universityis alive and bustling—as much as the student body can bustle during the summer session. The sky is blue, the air hangs heavy and damp, and it feels like heaven to be in a crispy air-conditioned classroom. The students file in two by two as if this were the Noah’s Ark of scholastic achievement, and I can’t help but shed a tight grin when Serena walks in.
Her jaw unhinges. She lets out an indignant huff as if the very sight of me offends her, and I have no doubt it does. I knew she was in here. And, believe me, I had the very same reaction when I saw her name glaring back at me on the roster like some dark harbinger of dismal things to come.
“Hey.” Eli Gates nods my way and shakes his head. “No leering at the coeds. I’d hate to see you fired your first week on the job.”
“I’m not leering,” I say as I watch her take a seat down front. Her arms fold tightly over her chest as if I had just infuriated her with my evil plan to hijack her summer.
“You’re right. You’re grinning like a loon.”
I lose the smile and nod for him to take a seat. Eli reminds me of a younger, far more athletic version of myself. Same dark hair, sharp wit, same ability to draw a second look from the ladies. He’s been a great help in getting me keyed into the minutiae of the university.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Shepherd Collins, and I’ll be instructing this class alongside Dr. Miller. And since Dr. Miller prefers golf to standing by my side, he’s generously gifted me all of his students to do with as I please.” I can’t help but glance to Serena when I say it, and she covertly gifts me the finger. “As you know, this isn’t a traditional classroom setting. You’ll be assigned your internships, and I’ll be working the rounds as field supervisor. A number of facilities have generously agreed to allow you to work alongside them for the next few weeks where they will delineate the roles you’ll partake in. Each of you will be asked to develop and implement something that will enhance the environment you’re in. It must have a business application. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. We’re not talking about reinventing the pencil sharpener, or designing a koozie for everyone’s laptop. We’re talking innovation—we want to demonstrate that these are bright minds from Whitney Briggs ready to set the world on fire. This is the first class of its kind offered at the university, so you yourselves will set the tone and precedence of what happens next. Set the bar high. We expect big things, as should you.”
I spend the next twenty minutes fielding questions before I divvy out assignments and watch as the students take off looking, in the least, content with their placements. Serena is up last. She doesn’t bother getting out of her seat. She’s too busy glaring and pouting my way to move a muscle, so I bring it to her.
“Special delivery, princess.” I hold out the master sheet with her assignment and contact info on it. “You get the Black Bear. I figure no one knows the place like you do. Welcome to the class. I guess I’ll see you around, kid.”
She snatches the page out of my hand and glances at it before shoving it into her bag and springing to her feet.
