Page 74 of Tell Me Something True

Tabitha glanced at Miles.

She could relate.

“That’s the last of it,” Verity said, reaching up to take her hairband out of her hair.

“Does that mean you’re finally done?” Ian asked, getting up from his spot on the floor next to the dog, his finger marking his page in his book.

Verity put her hairband around her wrist. “All done.”

Then she finger-combed her hair, scooped it up again and twisted the scrunchie around it, which had several things happening in quick concession.

Her shirt lifted, showing another inch of her stomach.

Miles growled, low and dark, like an animal ready to rip out someone’s throat.

And Tabitha elbowed that someone—Reed—hard in the ribs, twice, to get him to stop staring at her like he was a man on death row and she was his last meal.

Or his last hope of salvation.

Ian crossed the room and tugged on Miles’s hand. “Are you going to arrest him now?”

“Arrest who?”

“Him,” Ian whispered, nodding at Reed.

Miles took off his sunglasses and hung them on the collar of his uniform shirt. “Not at the moment. But the day’s still young.”

“Ian,” Verity scolded as she moved to Reed’s side. “Of course, he’s not going to arrest Reed. Why would you even ask that?”

“Because he yelled at you. That day we got ice cream.”

“What’s he talking about?” Miles asked Verity.

“It was nothing.”

“Verity…”

She rolled her eyes. Mimicked his tone and the way he drew her name out. “Miles…”

He turned to Reed. “Don’t yell at my sister. Ever.”

Verity pushed her way between them. “First of all, I don’t need you fighting my battles. I was taught how to stand up for myself which includes not letting anyone treat me with disrespect. Secondly, don’t be such a hypocrite. You yell at me all the time.”

Miles looked affronted. And hurt. “I don’t yell at you all the time.”

“Fine. Half the time. And the other half you’re lecturing me, which is way worse.”

“I don’t lecture,” he grumbled. “I teach.”

“Yeah? Well how about you become the student for once and learn that I’m more than capable of taking care of myself?”

They had a stare down, much like the one Reed and Miles had had in the stairway, although even more tense and uncomfortable for the people not involved.

It really made Tabitha rethink all those years she’d spent as a sad, lonely child wishing she had a brother.

Grabbing her purse, she dug out the envelope of cash she’d brought with her from Philadelphia when she closed her bank account. Counted out the money she needed.

“Well,” she said, brightly, loudly, and so suddenly, Verity, Ian and the dog all startled. Both human males just slid her identical bland looks. “Thank you so much for your help,” she continued, handing Reed his money. She turned to Verity, holding out a hundred-dollar bill. “You, too.”

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