He pets Ellie with one hand and slides his scarred one onto my thigh. "Never, Angel."
Atticus flips open the first folder and shifts to the edge of the sofa, spreading documents across the table. "Okay. We need to dig in. There isn't a lot of time. I need you all to pay closeattention. If we only have one shot at this, I want to make sure we don't fucking waste it."
When his dark eyes lift to mine, there's a playful softness in them that makes my stomach flip. "And someone's got a Halloween party to get to."
44
MONSTER SMASH
AURORA
"Ithought you were joking!" Maisie's heels click against the sidewalk as she rushes over to me, taking in my costume as I step out of the Uber at the Alpha Sigma Phi frat house.
"Nope. Not joking."
I show her the purse shaped like a nineties landline phone and mime putting it to my ear as if I were receiving a call. I put my hand to my mouth and pass it to her. "Oh no, it's for you."
She pushes the phone away and laughs. "Ha ha,sofunny. Just so you know, there are probably about fifty Ghostfaces in there who are going to want to play-kill you all night long."
Yeah, this is what I get for letting Seven dress me up as one of Ghostface's victims, phone, blood-stained dress and all. He thought it was hilarious, and since I opened the package he ordered last night, he's been making jokes about all the ways he wants to 'stab' me repeatedly and make me scream.
He even offered to put the mask on last night when he snuck into my room. The one he wore for the heist at the Matisse.
I peer down the road as the Uber drives away, catching sight of the black SUV that followed me here. I will Ambrose's man toleave, but of course he pulls up in an empty space down the block and puts the SUV in park.
"What are you looking at?" Maisie asks, and I clear my throat, forcing my attention back to her.
"Nothing. I like your costume," I say, giving her the nod of approval as she does a little spin.
"Cher fromClueless," she announces as if I didn't recognize the yellow plaid.
"Iconic," I agree, and then sigh when the music booming from inside the frat house gets obnoxiously louder as the beat drops.
Out on the lawn, there are already several groupings of students in various states of intoxication. Smoking, kissing, pissing…oh, and vomiting, apparently.
Why did we come here again?
"This is going to be so fun!" Maisie chirps, oblivious to my disgust as she pulls a small bottle of flavored vodka from her purse. She shakes it, holding it out to me. "A little pregame?"
What the hell…
It's not like I'll trust drinking anything in there, and her cap is still sealed.
I take it and down a couple of small swallows, coughing as the chemical taste of artificial bubble gum burns in my throat.
Ugh.
Maisie takes a long gulp when I pass the bottle back, and I blink at her when she doesn't even make a face.
Damn.
She giggles and takes me by the purse, dragging me by its strap all the way up to the front door.
As the vodka makes its way to my stomach, I shiver, and some of the tension in my body uncoils. I have until tomorrow afternoon before I'll need to reach out to Ambrose and accept his invitation to Spain.
I suppose I could at least try to enjoy it.
I've been thinking, and when this is all over, maybe I could go back to school for real. Possibly even continue with these classes, here in Boone, so it's within driving distance to get home. Or the guys could come here? We could get a bigger apartment. I could get some experience apprenticing with a music label.
