Her gaze settled on the keys and her eyes widened. Then she snatched them before I’d even truly processed the fact that I was no longeralone.
Busted.
* * *
Kaci closedher bedroom door and leaned against it, glaring at me through beautiful hazel eyes. “What the hell are you doing?” she demanded in a fiercewhisper.
Stalling for time to come up with an acceptable answer, I let my backpack slide off my arm onto the floor while I studied her room. It was messier than I’d expected, though I’m not surewhatI’d expected, considering I’d only ever seen the outside of her window and herdoor.
Again, I wasnotstalkingher.
Dirty clothes lay scattered over the floor, a couple of books stood open on her desk, and her unmade bed looked like she’d tried to wrestle her covers intosubmission.
With a fleeting and unexpected bolt of jealousy, I realized she might have had help destroying the bed. But then a quick sniff confirmed that she’d probably never had a guy in her room in her entirelife.
Untilnow.
The thought that I might be the first guy ever admitted into her personal space triggered a satisfied rumble deep in my throat, but I swallowed it before the sound couldescape.
“What are you looking at?” shedemanded.
“Nothing.” She’d mistaken my curiosity for a critique of her housekeeping skills. But it wasn’t like I could criticize. The only reason my apartment in Jackson hadn’t been condemned by the city was the bi-weekly cleaning service my brother had paidfor.
My gaze landed on the iPad open on her desk, and I ran one finger across it. The screen woke up, showing a movie app paused in the middle of a black and white scene I recognized. “You’re watching The Twilight Zone without me?” Not that I would be around to watch with heranymore.
Kaci snatched the tablet and flipped the cover closed. “Don’t change the subject.” She dropped it on the bed, then glared at me with her left hand propped on her hip, Chris’s keys dangling from her right index finger. “What the hell are you doing withthese?”
“Would you believe me if I said I found them?” Phrased in the form of a question, my answer wasn’ttechnicallyalie…
“I’d believe that you found them after a deliberate and unauthorized search. Where are you going? Your trial is— Oh!” She slapped her spare hand over her mouth, muffling her next words. “You’re running. You can’trun!”
“I’m not running.” I felt even guiltier about lying to her than about lying to Vic. “I’m taking avacation.”
“Right. Because everyone who’s about to be tried for murder and infection decides to go hang out at the beach for a fewdays.”
“Not the beach. Las Vegas.” She opened her mouth to start yelling at me, and that time I covered her mouth withmyhand. “Wait. I can prove it. Are you going to bequiet?”
She shoved my hand away from her face. “Like you could do anything about it if I sayno.”
“Okay, look.” I slid my cell phone from my pocket and opened my email, then showed her the electronic boarding pass. “See? My flight to Vegas leaves in less than three hours. I’m just going to chill for a few days, before they decide to lock me up. Or execute me. One last hurrah, youknow?”
“You’re serious? This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. What are you going to do in Las Vegas? You’re not old enough to gamble. Or todrink.”
“I am according to this.” I pulled my wallet from my back pocket and showed her my fake ID. Everything on it was true except my date of birth, which had been adjusted by two years. “Come on. They’re probably going to execute me. I just want to have a little fun before I die, Kaci,” I whispered. “Are you really going to deny a dying man his lastwish?”
“First of all, you’re not going to die.” But she didn’t seem to believe her own words. She may not have heard what Vic had said, but she knew even better than I did how steeply the odds were stacked against me. “Second, your last wish is Las Vegas? Aren’t you, like, a billionaire? You’ve probably been there a milliontimes.”
“My brother’s the billionaire. I’m not going to live long enough to actually access my trustfund.”
“Then how’d you buy theticket?”
“Airline miles. I have a ton of them.” I shrugged as I stuffed my wallet back into my pocket. “Titus sent me all over the world during school breaks the past few years, evidently to keep me from coming home.” From figuring out that he was no longer human, and that his house was full of shifter enforcers. He’d had no way of knowing how soon—or how traumatically—I’d discover all of that for myself. “And I charged the hotel room with virtually the last available credit on my one card. So see? I’m not running. I can’taffordto run. I’m just trying to have a little fun, one last time.” I gave her my best pitiful look, well aware that my future now depended upon how much sympathy Kaci felt for a doomed murderer she had no reason to help. “Are you going to turn mein?”
“No.” Her sexy pout grew into a smoldering grin, and I caught my breath, suddenly bowled over by the urge to kiss her. After all, there’s no exit like a dramatic exit, and frankly, I was running out of chances. “I’m coming withyou.”
Yes.
Wait, what? “No. Ican’t—”
