“We better go.” Dizzy drags Ivy to the stairs and then comes back to grab me. “West is going to kill me if we get caught. And I don’t mean metaphorically.”
I’m at the bottom of the steps when a man appears in the shadows. A breathless squeak escapes me as more figures come out of the darkness behind him.
Holy shit. This is my worst nightmare.
40
Summer
“It’s me, kitten.” Rebel’s voice instantly dispels the fear that has me practically immobile. I’m not good at doing bad things.
He touches me, and it’s like a live wire.
I jump into his arms, my legs wrapping around his hips. “What are you doing here?”
“Recognized the rental, and Owen said this place belongs to one of those pricks you saw earlier today. Figured you were up to something and that we better check it out.”
I glance over his shoulder at the other man. His features are obscured by the low light, but now that I’m not scared out of my mind, I can make out Owen’s stature.
“You shouldn’t be here, little,” Owen says. “What were you thinking?”
“We need to go,” Dizzy insists, pushing past my brother to get to Ivy and Kelsey. She’s lost that carefree and dizzying edge.“He said he called the cops. I... we cannot be here when they arrive.”
She’s almost too freaked out. It’s weird for her.
“What happened up there?” Rebel looks to the top of the stairs.
“Summer was a bad ass,” Dizzy grins. “But we really need to get gone.”
Rebel raises an eyebrow.
“Total bad ass,” Kelsey agrees.
“I wrangled a confession out of Kurt.” Too bad I don’t think I have quite enough of a confession to take it to the cops. At least not locally.
“We should get moving,” Owen says. “You know Kyle’s the sheriff now.”
This time I can’t suppress the shudder that goes through me. I want to be sick.
“Come on,” Rebel takes my hand and we follow the others out of the garage and into the street, which is vacant.
“Where’s the rental?” It’s not where I parked it. “How did you get here? How do we get out of here?”
“Jett took my truck to Violet’s,” Owen says.
Rebel takes my hand and leads me in the other direction as a vehicle turns onto the street. “Storm took the rental over there too so there was less chance of placing it or us in the vicinity if we had to leave fast.”
“Violet’s shop is a two-minute dash between buildings from here. And it makes sense for the cars to be seen there,” Rebel says. “I don’t think there’s a person in town that doesn’t know Violet has been working out at the Heart Ranch lately.”
“It’s an alibi.” I mentally face palm myself. I should have considered that.
“How do we get out of here?” Dizzy asks.
“Over the back fence,” Owen says.
Kelsey, Ivy, and Dizzy sprint through the long grass behind the garage. Dizzy scales the fence in a matter of seconds. She reaches down for Ivy’s hand and pulls her over before reaching for Kelsey.
Owen gives Kelsey a boost to make it easier on her.
