For the first time, the open expression that I was coming to associate with Lacey shuttered. “I trust them with my life, but as I said, they’re not very welcoming to outsiders. The fact that they moved you into Bluebell House with them…they would have had a reason, of that I have no doubt. But I don’t think it’d be the same reason they’d keep you there now. Does that make sense?”
It didn’t really because I didn’t have enough answers to believe what she said. “Connor never told you?”
She shook her head. “Yeah, he doesn’t tell me that much. We grew up together, you know. Our families run in the same circles, sort of not dissimilar to Drew and Sandy-cunt. It’s acomfortable relationship, but…” She cleared her throat. “Anyways, I was actually looking for you in the courtyard earlier to ask if you’d like to come dress shopping with me on Friday. I’ve got this huge event with my parents coming up, and I have nothing to wear after months overseas.”
“I’d love to,” I said, trying not to overthink what she’d almost said about her relationship with Connor. Now that I’d met Lacey, I had to stop thinking of him as anything to me other than an annoying housemate.
He wasn’t mine. He belonged to this kind, generous, caring woman, and I would never betray her trust by trying to steal her boyfriend.
Lacey’s face lit up as she bounced in her chair. “Oh, that’s so exciting. I don’t always love shopping, but if it’s with a great friend, then it changes the whole vibe.” She held out her phone to me. “What’s your number? I’ll figure out a time and let you know.”
I input my number quickly, and she shot me a message almost instantly so I had hers.
“And if you have any issue with Laura again,” Lacey said when we got to our feet, trays in hand, “let me know. I may not look scary, but trust me, she doesn’t want to mess with me. I will destroy that vapid bitch.”
I laughed. “I’m really happy you returned from Africa.”
Weirdly, I meant every word of it.
39
EVELYN
My lungs burned, my legs ached, and I thought for sure my head was about to explode simply from how hard my blood was pounding through my brain. Surely this wasn’t survivable. Something must be wrong. Maybe I was dying?
“Come on, brat, you’ve barely done two miles,” Connor drawled, catching up to where I was currently bent double and wheezing like a pack-a-day smoker.
I gasped a few times before summoning the breath to respond. “Fuck you, Connie.”
Lacey snickered, not even slightly out of breath as she waited for me to catch my wind. I was sweating so freaking much, and my face was hotter than the surface of the sun. Was running always this awful? When Lacey asked if I wanted to go “jogging,” I had pictured a nice casual outing barely any faster than a brisk walk where we could chat and enjoy ourselves. Not this military-level marathon-trainingbullshitwith Connor tailing us the whole way.
A sharp smack on my rear end made me yelp and straighten up with shock. “What the fuck?” I exclaimed in astrangled voice, glaring at Connor. Did he seriously just smack my ass in front of his girlfriend?
He shrugged. “Told you not to call me that. Come on, we’re not even halfway, get moving.”
My eyes narrowed in a glare. “Why are you even here? No one invited you.”
“And yet, the last time you went wandering the grounds surrounding Meadowridge, you got kidnapped. So consider me your safety blanket, trauma bestie.” He folded his thickly muscled arms over his chest and I tried really hard not to check them out. His armsorhis chestorthose ridiculous amount of abs. Why wasn’t he wearing a shirt for fuck’s sake?
Lacey sighed and handed me a water bottle from the little backpack she’d worn. Apparentlysheknew what sort of endurance we were getting into and had failed to inform me. “Here, drink some water. We can take it slower from here, okay? I just got a bit caught up in the zone.”
“Fuck that,” Connor disagreed. “It’s about time Evelyn learned how to run as though her life depends on it. Someday, maybe it will.” His hard look my way made me shiver, reminding me I’d recently been kidnapped.
“Maybe,” I mumbled, dropping my gaze to my feet with embarrassment. “It wouldn’t hurt to lose a few pounds anyway. Let’s keep going, Lacey.”
She frowned, glancing between me and Connor for a moment, then nodded and put the water bottles away. “Okay, just let me know when you want a break.”
She set off once more, but Connor grabbed my wrist before I could follow her. “To be perfectly fucking clear, brat, you donotneed to lose any weight. You just need better survivability. That’s all. If anything, you should eat more.”
Scowling and a little off-balance, I jerked my wrist free of his grip. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
His lips twisted in a smirk and his gaze turned borderlineseductive. “It means—” He cut himself off with a headshake. “Nothing. Just…let’s catch up to Lacey.”
Withthatconfusing interaction, he gestured for me to run ahead and followed from the rear, just like he had for the last two miles. As if he thought something was going to snatch me right off the path. Or Lacey, for that matter. Maybe since her family was in a similarbusinessas Connor’s, she could also be in permanent danger from creeps like Elijah?
Somehow, I survived another two miles trailing a long way behind Lacey’s perfect activewear-clad ass before I tripped on a rock and fell face-first into the dirt. Instinctively I put my hands out to try and catch my fall, but that just resulted in a jarring pain through my wrist and multiple lacerations on my palms and knees.
“Ow,” I moaned, lying still for a moment to mentally curse my own clumsy feet. Also, my whole damn body hurt from that tumble.
