Page 113 of Dust Storm

I stared her down. “Bree?”

Her eyes shifted.

I tapped my foot. “Want to tell me why you’re skipping school and risking getting in trouble after I went to bat for you?”

“You told me to shut up when I’m being asked questions that could get me in trouble,” she whispered.

Ray cackled.

I bent at the waist and crooked my finger, beckoning her closer. “You’re already there,” I whispered back.

“Don’t worry. I’m not actually a kidnapper,” Ray said. “I signed them out at the school office before I put the hoods over their heads and tossed them in the backseat of my truck.”

“Oh my god,” I muttered under my breath, shaking my head as I walked out.

It was the voices that started up after I slipped out the front door that made me pause.

“So, that’s her, huh?” Ray said.

“Isn’t she so pretty?” Gracie gushed.

“She’s a badass,” Bree said.

“You’re not supposed to say that!” Gracie shrieked.

“Hey, what’d I teach you, kid?” Ray said.

“Snitches get stitches,” Gracie chirped.

“She lives here with y’all?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Bree said. “I keep asking dad to ask her how she does her hair so she can teach him so he can do it for me, but he won’t.”

“Or you could just ask her yourself,” Ray said. “I don’t think she breathes fire. But maybe have a fire extinguisher just in case.”

The girls giggled, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“She doesn’t like kids, but we’re working on that,” Bree said.

Ray sounded truly appalled. “Doesn’t like kids? Who doesn’t like kids? Especially you two wombats.”

“We’re wearing her down,” Gracie said.

“What does your dad think?” he asked.

The girls giggled again, and I found myself leaning a little closer to the crack in the door to hear.

I couldn’t catch what they said because a deep voice echoed from behind me. “Wanna tell me why there’s a picture of the mayor on the dartboard?”

24

CHRISTIAN

Ipressed my fist to my mouth to keep from smiling. Cassandra looked so fucking guilty when I caught her with her ear to the door.

She pressed her hand to her chest, letting out a sharp breath. “You scared the shit out of me. How the hell did you sneak up those stairs?”

Trying to play it off all casual, I stroked my beard. “I know all the creaky spots. Stick around long enough and you’ll learn them.”

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