Page 32 of My Worst Pucking Enemy

“Boo freaking hoo. Nick. What the hell is up with telling the cops that I was with you when you broke into the professor’s house? Which was an unbelievably stupid thing to do, by the way. Why did you say it was me? Was it Becca?” It had to be Becca, but I don’t want to make the accusation without any proof.

He looks around to make sure that nobody is listening, and then looks back at me with a pout. “Becca doesn’t have any reason to be mad at the professor. You do, and don’t try to deny it. If I say that it was all your idea and you dragged us down there, then they’re not going to go quite as hard on me.”

“Are you freaking kidding? I’m facing serious charges for something I didn’t do.”

He shrugs.

“Sorry, but if it’s a choice between you and me, I’m going to pick me, all day long.”

9

PAXTON

“My sister’s going to prison,” Rowan cries out, frantically pacing in the kitchen.

“She is not going to prison,” Mason tries to reassure her, but he looks just as frantic as she does.

“But she called me back when the detective was out of the room and she has no alibi for last night. And that little shit Prick Fuckton is lying about her, and...” Rowan makes a gulping sound.

“Rowan, Breathe.” Mason rubs her back. “I’m going to get her the best lawyer.”

Mason’s supposed to be doing an interview in a couple of hours to promote some charity event for a local children’s hospital. I don’t see how he’s going to do it when his eyes look like they’re about to bug out of his head. Rowan, as team publicist, is supposed to be with them. If she hyperventilates any more, we’re going to be calling her an ambulance.

“It doesn’t make any sense that she’d do something like that,” I say, frowning. “What reason did Nick give?”

“He claims that she had an affair with the professor and the professor dumped her, so she forced Nick and his friends to go vandalize his house out of spite. As if,” Rowan scoffs.

I chew my lower lip. A thought is occurring to me, and I don’t like it.

“What?” Rowan demands. “What’s the look on your face?”

“I will tell you later. It’s just a guess on my part.”

Rowan marches up to me and glares at me ferociously. “You’ll tell me now,” she snaps.

“Okay. I think there is a possibility that the professor is the mystery boyfriend. If Ruby says she didn’t break into the apartment, I believe it. But if she was dating a professor, I could see why she wouldn’t want to tell you, and also why she’d be kind of scared of what might happen if word got out.”

“But why wouldn’t she just tell me, if that was the case?” Rowan demanded plaintively.

“Well, she probably thought you’d flip out and demand that he be disciplined.”

“Of course I would have.”

I shake my head at her. “I get that, but it’s her call. She’d have been publicly exposed, he’d probably deny it and call her a liar, it would just turn into a big he-said, she-said...”

“But he needs to be punished, if he had an affair with a student.” Rowan looks at Mason for support.

“Well, we don’t know for sure until she confirms it,” Mason says.

Rowan glares and looks like she’s about to argue, but then her shoulders sag and she lets out a sigh.

“Damn it,” she says. “I guess you’re right about it being up to Ruby whether she could handle that kind of information coming out, but it infuriates me. If it’s true. It does make perfect sense, though. There’s no other reason she would have been so stubborn about keeping his identity secret. But where does that leave us right now? It leaves me with my sister going to jail.” She starts pacing again.

“Hmm. So, all she needs is an alibi?” I say.

They both look at me in confusion.

“Maybe I can actually be useful,” I say. “I also was alone last night, didn’t go anywhere, nobody saw me anywhere, and I didn’t even call anyone. Which means I can provide her with an alibi. I can say she was hanging out with me.”

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