Page 90 of Wicked Dreams

“Are you going to spill, or what?”

“Spill about…”

“Everything, Margo. I think it’s time we talked about your secrets.”

I scowl. “Your bribery isn’t going to work.”

Riley rolls her eyes and reaches into her backseat, revealing a bag from the coffee shop. It’s Saturday morning, approximately two hours after I discovered Caleb had left sometime around dawn.

The fact that he left shouldn’t have surprised me. It’s not like I have a semblance of privacy. As a foster kid, the lack thereof kind of comes with the territory. But him leaving has left me off balance.

Unsettled?

It’s not so much that he came over and mademecome. Or that he drove me to the game. Or said there was only me. All things I’m latching on to in an attempt to reconcile this Caleb with the ten-year-old boy I loved.

No, it’s that he still does terrible things to me.

And God help me, but they’re almost forgivable.

Two orgasms and I change my mind about him.Thatcaused some panic. A full-fledged panic attack, actually, when I was in the shower. I gasped and scratched at my hickey-covered chest, trying to remember how to breathe, while warm water poured down on my back.

Once I was dry, I sent Riley an SOS. She showed up not long after, armed with a smile and an excuse for Robert and Lenora.

I open the coffee shop bag and eye the muffin.

“Okay, the bribery might work,” I say.

“Knew it.” Riley grins.

We’re on our way to school, which is hosting a farmers’ market in the parking lot. Apparently, the board of Emery-Rose Elite allows vendors to set up there once a month, and they donate most of the table fee profits back into Rose Hill.

Good visibility for the vendors, good publicity for the school.

“Out with it.” She taps her nail on one of the paper cups between us. “And this coffee is yours.”

See? Bribery totally works.

I shift. “I knew Amelie and Savannah in elementary school. And Caleb, of course.”

“Right. You knew more than just them, I’d reckon.”

“Well, yeah. But they’re the important ones. Amelie said she’s dating Caleb. That he’s her boyfriend. He never mentioned her, though.” I gnaw on my bottom lip. “He snuck into my room last night.”

She gasps. “Excuse me?”

“He’s…”Wicked.

“That’s devious,” she says. “To be one way at school and another after? What is he trying to do? Confuse the hell out of you?”

“I guess. The bullying is over the top, too. Sooner or later, Robert is going to notice.”

She winces as we park in the faculty lot. “Eh, teachers don’t heareverything?—”

“But they hear enough.”

Across the parking lot, Caleb and his friends walk toward the farmers’ market that’s spread across the student parking lot. There are rows and rows of stands, tents covering the different tables all different colors. It’s bigger than I would’ve imagined.

He’s absorbed in a conversation with Eli. As we watch, Amelie trots over and throws herself at him, a move he narrowly dodges. I’ll give him credit: he makes it seem like a happy accident.

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