“I have the kind of headache that’s never going to go away,” Kellen said and sank down on the couch, putting his head in his hands.
“Want to split a bottle of ibuprofen?” Riley offered, joining him.
“There isn’t enough ibuprofen in the world to make me feel better about my life right now,” Kellen lamented.
“Okay, now that we’re all caught up except Weber, who is on need-to-know until he can prove he’s not a narc, everyone go home and get some shut-eye,” Nick announced.
“What’s the point of sleep? I’m just going to wake up to a life that’s still shit,” Weber complained as he stood up to go.
“If you’re not gonna sleep, then at least take a shower. You smell like a nightclub floor after a Saturday night,” Jasmine suggested helpfully.
“Let’s go get some sleep and have some sex,” Josie said to Brian.
Brian practically burned rubber wheeling them toward the door. “Later, losers!”
“I’m not going back to my place. I don’t want to miss out on any of the fun,” Jasmine announced.
“You can sleep in Sesame’s room since everyone using it went missing,” Riley offered.
Nick crossed to her and tugged her off the couch. “Good work, Thorn. You bribed a lab tech, defeated a bully, saved someone from a fire, and survived running into my parents all in one night. I’m impressed.”
“Under these circumstances, I’m not sure if that’s a compliment,” Riley admitted.
The front door burst open, and Lily galloped inside. She had curlers in her hair and a fussy, pink house coat flapping in the breeze. She took one look at Nick and stomped her foot. “Double darn it!”
“What are you doing here so early?” Riley asked. “Is everything okay?”
“Josie texted me a Code Man Fanny,” Lily said, brandishing her phone.
“Where’s the fanny?” Mrs. Penny huffed into sight, leaning hard on her cane. She was wearing men’s boxer shorts and a sweater that saidGrammy Hugs Are the Best Hugs.
“We’re too late,” Lily said sadly.
“I gotta work on my cardio,” Mrs. Penny lamented.
35
4:32 p.m., Wednesday, October 30
Riley woke with a start from a dream about the creature with glowing eyes again and glanced at the clock. She groaned. “Nick?”
“Mmm?” he mumbled, his face buried in her hair.
“We should get up. Everyone’s going to be here in half an hour.”
“Mmm. Don’t care. Let’s sleep for another fifteen hours and then have sex until we can’t feel our sex parts.”
She yawned. “As great as that sounds, imagine how many windows they’ll break if we don’t let them in.”
He groaned. “I thought moving in here was going to give us privacy. We were supposed to have Naked Tuesdays and kitchen sex.”
“I blame your dimples. They draw people in,” she said, extricating herself from his grasp. “Come on. Let’s go solve this mystery and go buy more stupid candy.” She gave him a slap on his very firm, very naked butt. And then giggled.
“Are you laughing at my ass?” His voice was now muffled by the pillow he’d pulled over his head.
“I didn’t know you had dimples back there too,” she teased. He clenched his butt cheeks, making the twin dimples deeper, making her laugh again. “You’ve practiced that in the mirror, haven’t you?”
Nick rolled onto an elbow, looking sleepy and sexy. “After your timeout in the Smelly Closet, we’re going to the beach and not telling anyone where we are.”
