I swallowed hard as my eyes drifted from that confident smile to the glimmer in her gold-flecked eyes. This game was trouble, and we both knew it. But what had playing it safe ever gotten me?
40
KIERA
My heart thunderedin my chest as I held Leo’s gaze. Was this a terrible idea? What did she even want to know about me?
I swallowed hard as I considered the proposition.Maybe I should take it at face value. She clearly has a crush on me…maybe this is her way of trying to bond.
But even given what little Ididknow about her, I knew that it was a naive thought. My roommates — all three of them — clearly had a host of secrets they didn’t want me digging into. And if this quid pro quo was what it took to get a peek into Pandora’s box, did it really matter what she was looking for?
It’s not like I have any real secrets anyway.
“Okay.” I nodded. “I’ll bite.”
The smirk on her face turned into a full-on grin “That’s what I like to hear.”
She grabbed a smaller wrench from beside me before heading back to her workstation. “Shoot. What do you wanna know, Princess?”
I bit my lip as I considered it. There were so many things I wanted to ask, but now that each inquiry invited Leo to pry just as hard, I wasn’t sure how far I wanted to take this.
After a moment, I settled on a softball question.Something that would let me test the waters while still digging up some useful information.“How’d you become a doctor so young?”
Leo hummed her approval, arms flexing with each twist of the wrench. “Well, like I said, I’ve always been a bit of an overachiever. Mom was Navy and Dad was Army, so when I graduated high school early at sixteen, they were happy to sign off on my enlistment papers.”
“Sixteen?” My eyebrows shot up. “At sixteen I think I was busy shoplifting at the mall.”
“And that’s why you’re not a doctor yet,” Leo winked.
“Okay, so at sixteen, they just handed you a scalpel?”
“Sorta,” she laughed. “I took an ROTC educational delay and became a combat medic.”
Noticing the way my brows had furrowed, she elaborated. “Essentially I was active duty, but able to put off some of my active duty requirements while I was still learning. I finished undergrad at nineteen, and then med school at twenty-two. Had a year-long residency, and then they shipped me out to combat to be a real doctor.”
“Wow, that’s…”
“Intense? No kidding. The medical stuff comes in handy every now and again, though.” She flicked her eyes down to my hand, before smirking up at me. “Now if you’re satisfied, it’s my turn.”
“Ask away.” I swallowed down my nerves as she pursed her lips in thought.
“Okay, Miss Kiera, I’ve got something. What’s the deal with you and your mom?”
“What deal?” I frowned. “There is no deal.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You’re a terrible liar, darlin’. The fact that you’re hiding out in the woods with a bunch of strangersand haven’t taken one of her incessant calls tells me that there most certainly is a ‘deal.’”
“I’ve takenoneof her calls.” I crossed my arms before Leo tilted her head. “Ugh, fine. I don’t know, it’s complicated. She’s bored and desperate to feel like a better parent than she was, so she calls to check-in and tell me what a terrible job I’m doing with everything.”
“How sweet,” she muttered through gritted teeth as she worked a particularly tough bolt.
“No kidding,” I scoffed. “I think she thinks it’s constructive? But it just makes me spiral out. I love her, but she’s the last person I want any life advice from.”
“Why?” Leo asked, but I waggled my finger at her.
“Uh-uh, that’s a second question. It’s my turn now.” Rocking side to side on the work surface, I decided to push my luck a bit further. “What’s the deal with the house renovations? Like, why is someone like Dom wasting her time and money on that decrepit old thing?”
Maybe learning more about it would make the place seem less creepy. Or at least explain why it felt so familiar.
