“Smooth move.” Those sea green eyes of hers widen, and I can’t help but notice how long and natural her lashes look. So different than the girls I’m accustomed to, with their thick caulked on fibers that don’t resemble anything close to human hair. Serena is a natural beauty. She looks as fresh-faced, fresh-scrubbed, and coincidentally pissed as the day we met all those years ago. “I guess you really do want me to get picked off by that madman stalking the Black Bear.” She leans in until we’re all but nose-to-nose. “Don’t get yourself too excited, sweet cheeks. I’m still working there. This internship will be as easy as chewing gum and walking. And as for the business aspect, maybe I’ll invent a special radar that detects obnoxious lawyers who seem to enjoy wiggling into the nooks and crannies of my life.” She gives a little wink. “Seeyouaround, kid.” She takes off, and I stand there, unsure of how to process it. A part of me thought we’d circle back to the body we found. One might think that would be a bonding experience of sorts. The discovery of a corpse could surely mend a fence or two, but not in this case. Not shocking, considering Serena is at the other end of the fence.
It turns out, his name, the corpse, the dead guy, was Barry Larson, a welder who lived in Jepson. The cops don’t have a clue what happened other than the fact he was shot twice point blank to the chest with a .45.
Eli comes up and slaps me over the shoulder. “Dude, you look as if you’ve just had your ass handed to you. Don’t let these kids get to you.” He winces because he happens to be one of them, grad student or not. “You know what you need? You need to do something to loosen up—something that will take your mind off all the seriousness you carry around like a corpse. No pun intended.” He shoots me with his fingers as he walks backward out the door.
“What do you recommend?” I’m positive it will be the Black Bear. That tiny bar has been the panacea to a myriad of troubles as far back as when I attended this inglorious university.
He grimaces. “I don’t know, man. I’d say the Black Bear, but I saw that look Serena just gave you. I suggest you lay low. She can be a spitfire. Jepson’s got a new club that just opened up.” He gives a dark chuckle. “It’s called Anonymous. I’ll let you figure out why when you get there. If you check it out, be sure to report back to me. I’m dying to hear what you think.”
He evaporates into the humidity before I can refute the idea.
Dying to hear what I think. Dying seems to be a theme these days.
Poor Barry did die. And I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I’ve felt an undue amount of stress ever since that night. If I’m losing sleep over it, I can’t imagine how Serena must feel.
Anonymous. New club down in Jepson.Huh. Maybe that’s just what I need. If I’m up for it, I’ll check it out next Friday night.
It’s going to be a long, hot summer at Whitney Briggs any way you slice it. Serena bounces through my mind with those pouty lips, that feisty attitude, and something in me relishes the thought of getting in her air space for the next six weeks.
Let’s just hope the body count doesn’t rise because of it.
If Looks Could Kill
Serena
I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be free from my sister’s stronghold on me, free to see and speak to whomever I wish, gender be damned, and deep down, I thought that Whitney Briggs would be the answer to that. As much as I love Lex, and I do, her version of mothering me very much involves smothering. No sooner did the mortarboard leave my head after my high school graduation than Lex marched me over to Barnes, the all-girls university down the road, and signed me up for classes. If it wasn’t crystal clear before—it quickly became painfully apparent, my overprotective big sis didn’t want me anywhere near a potential sperm slinger. I’m not quite sure if it was the real fear of me getting myself knocked up—and, my God, it was sweet Sunday who actually filled those nightmarish shoes! But I digress. Lex has always feared me wandering away from my good senses when it came to boys, and, personally, I was insulted that she thought so little of me and my hormones. Yes, I like boys. Ilovemen. But more importantly, I love myself, and I would never degrade myself in any way. I care about my body and my heart too much to do so, which is exactly why I’m presently scowling at Harley Shelton as we sit in the Black Bear.
“No,” I say it plain in the event her tingling ears want to misconstrue it for any other answer. “There’s no way you’re dragging me to some seedy place called Anonymous that’s opened up shop on the wrong side of Jepson. Especially not when there’s a deranged killer on the loose.”
Harley winces as if I’ve just struck her, and, oddly, she looks all the more stunning. Harley and her sister, Harper, are a level above the rest of us mere humans when it comes to their looks. They are abnormally good-looking in every capacity, and thus make me feel like a hairy, crooked big toe whenever I’m in the vicinity.
Harper is dating Knox, one of the hottest guys on campus, and the thought makes my stomach sour. Not because I want Knox for myself, God no—because it seems all the hot guys at Briggs are taken—case in point, Knox, Rex, Grant, Lawson, and yes, I’ll even throw Seth and Rush in there, too—they’re all armed with the eyes, bodies, and personalities any girl would kill to be with. Not that I’d want anything from Sunday’s baby daddy, Seth—or my cousin, Rush. But I don’t mind utilizing their trifecta of hotness just to prove my point.
Eli Gates comes to mind, and I twitch my nose at the thought of him. Yes, he’s gorgeous—captain of every team that requires a ball and he happens to be the TA in my summer class, but he’s never done it for me on a sexual level. And, believe me, he’s one of the hottest males to grace this planet, but the reason for my sexual pause is that I’ve had to listen ad nauseam how much Harley can’t stand him. I may not be an expert on the male species, but I’ve got a lock on girls, and this one in front of me has the mad hots for that boy. She could curse him all she wants in the open, but behind closed doors, I’m betting that girl is experiencing the female version of a wet dream about that boy, one night after the other.
“Yes.” She tilts that dark head of hair in my direction. Harley reminds me a bit of Lex in that way. Both of them are all hair and boobs. Not that I have anything against either, but as far as the hair goes, it’s as if they have this whole living entity floating above their heads with its own emotions and gesticulating responses to whatever life has to throw their way. Her eyes glow greenish yellow like a cat’s. “You are going. And we’re going to have a damn good time. It’s the beginning of summer. You have to do something out of character and totally insane to unwind. Besides, we have to do something crazy at both the beginningandend of summer. It’s in the rules.”
“I’ve yet to read those dicey rules, and for your information I happened to have done something completely insane just a few nights ago. I found abody, remember?” I can’t help but hack those words out with a panicked aggression. “While you’re having lust-filled dreams about Eli Gates, I’m busy stumbling upon rotting corpses as I traipse through my own nocturnal wanderings. It’s a living hell, I tell you, and a wild time I never want to repeat, especially not in a few short weeks.”
A low growl emits from her. Eli Gates is a hard line, and I’ve crossed it. “I can promise you, no such heated dreams are steaming up my sheets, and if they are, they certainly aren’t starring that asshat who struts around like the campus peacock, emphasis oncock—as in prick!” The veins in her neck bounce, and I’m amused by how fast this got visceral. “Besides, you’re the only one I can take. Harper has everyone on campus looking out for me, and I can hardly make a move. I’m the pawn, and she’s the queen. And don’t think that her minions aren’t above snitching on you, too. I promise, Harper can give Lex a run for her overprotective money.”
“Did someone call my name?”
We look up to find none other than my famous—or rather infamous big sis and her dapper husband by her side. I can’t help but twist my lips a moment at how closely he resembles Shep.
“Lex!” I spring up and offer my sister a hearty embrace.
Harper springs up herself and shouts something about a book fair while giggling off with a wave.
I pull back to get a better look at my sister and her handsome hubby. “What’s going on? Let me guess. Checking out the competition?”
Lex’s dark brows narrow in on me. “More like checking onyou.” Lex has a cutthroat beauty about her, sharp as a razor’s edge, and don’t think she won’t cut you with it. Lex is notorious for not sugarcoating so much as a smile.
“Ah, yes.” I can’t help but roll my eyes like a thirteen-year-old whenever I’m around my sister. “I told you over the phone. I’m fine, I promise.”
The three of us fall into the booth, with me sitting across from the two of them.
Axel nods to me. “You look well-rested.” He looks to Lex. “That means she’s sleeping at night. Which probably means you should, too.”
