The party livens up once Arlow’s mom takes the twins inside to bed. Calli turns on some music, and everyone does a shot for Arlow’s birthday. Afterward, I hand him a hundred dollar bill. He accepts it quietly, with a smile and nod.
“Men are ridiculous,” Lacey announces. I hadn’t evenrealized she was standing nearby. “Cash isn’t a gift. You could’ve at least bought a gift card.”
“That just limits where you can spend the cash,” Nick points out. It starts a whole friendly argument over whether gift cards are a scam, but I’m not listening. It’s clear Arlow has tuned out too, since he’s looking back toward his barn. The hundred dollar bill is a tradition between us. I’m not sure if he’s told Calli what it’s about and I wouldn’t be upset if he did. She isn’t the type to gossip. All three of us share some dark secrets.
Silver pours another shot, and I lean down to talk into her ear before she can drink it. “Don’t get too wasted to finish what we started.” I love how she shivers at the sound of my voice. Nobody’s paying any attention to us. They’re all talking and laughing, except for Trinity who has been typing on her phone a lot since we returned from the shed.
Silver grins up at me, the alcohol shining in her dark eyes. “You’d better finish it multiple times.”
“Something’s moving back there,” Arlow exclaims, still staring into the dark. It draws everyone’s attention.
“What? Did you see someone?” Lacey asks nervously, grabbing Nick’s hand.
Silver moves closer to me, peering into the darkness.
“No, I heard something and I think—” His words are interrupted by a loud bleat, quickly followed by another.
“The goats are out! I told you that one section of the pen needed to be fixed!” Calli scolds as everyone relaxes and laughs.
“Come on,” I tell him. “Let’s go see what they did.”Arlow and I built that pen and the shelter with it. We head over to check it out while the others go back to the bonfire. There’s no point in rounding up the goats until we patch the problem.
It turns out only one section has been knocked down. Arlow grabs some tools, and it takes us about thirty minutes to get it secured. “That’ll do for tonight,” he says. “I’ll get a better look at it in the light tomorrow. I know which goat did it. It’s that stupid one with the white stripe on his face,” he says.
“Don’t talk about yourself like that.”
“Fuck off,” he snorts. “Calli beat you to that joke. She calls it Arlow Junior. Little bastard loves to headbutt everything.”
When we return, Nick, Lacey, Calli, and her sister sit by the fire. “Where did everyone go?” Arlow asks.
“Your dad went to bed. Trinity gave Silver a ride home,” Calli says.
What? I pull out my phone to text her and see a message waiting for me.
Silver
Key is under the ceramic cat on the porch.
It’s followed by a picture of her submerged in a bath. A candle burning on the edge of the tub provides the only light, taunting me with all I can’t see.
Five minutes later, I’m in my truck. My thoughts are filled with everything I want to do to her and in a blink, I’m turning onto her road. Ugh, I smell like the bonfire. At least,that’s what I assume the scent is until it worsens when I roll down the window.
It isn’t until I park behind Silver’s truck that I see it. One of her windows glows orange and smoke pours from the others.
No! Pure fear and adrenaline take over. Retrieving her key never enters my mind. I’m prepared to knock the door down, but the knob turns easily, and the room belches out a glut of smoke when I pull it open.
“Silver!”
CHAPTER 3
SILVER
I’m lyingin a lounger beside the town pool, soaking up the sun. A splash of water nearly reaches me, and Mom’s voice rings out with a warning. “Stop it. You’ll get my phone wet.”
My brothers wear nearly identical grins. “Get in, Silver. Let’s dive for rings,” Simon calls.
“I’m trying to even out my tan,” I reply, rolling onto my back.
“You’re already crispy,” Sean says.
