Page 19 of Indigo Sky

I quickly glanced up to catch him holding up a dildo, roughly the size of my forearm.

"Bitch has her standards way too high if she thinks any dude's gonna live up to this monster—holy fuck."

I shielded my face with my palm. "Put it away, and let's get out of here. Before they come home."

"Okay, okay, I'll put it back.God," he muttered, like I was ruining all his fun.

Then, I listened as he rifled through another drawer and moaned lewdly.

"Dude, her panties are next fuckin' level. Hot damn."

He was looking through her underwear, and some perverse, curious part of me wanted to look too. But I didn't allow my hand to drop, didn't allow even the tiniest peek at little scraps of silk or lace orwhateverhe was finding. It wasn't my business, and it wasn't his either.

"I swear to God, if we don't get out of here right now, I'm going to leave your ass, and I'm going to—"

"You're gonnawhat?" His voice changed, a dark rage tainting his words. He barreled toward me, thrusting my body against the door and pinning me there with his. "You're gonna, what, Rev? Huh? You're gonna call Mommy and Daddy? You're gonna call thecops? And what are you gonna tell them, huh? That I broke into some bitch's house? And you know what I'd tell them? I'd say,He was right there with me, Officer. So, you might wanna think about what you're gonnado, all right? Because I already know whatI'mgonna do if you fuckin' do it."

I tipped my head, searching his crazed eyes for that piece of my friend that went missing during these moments of chaos. "You threatening me, Nate?"

"Yeah, I'm fuckin' threatening you, asswipe," he spat into my face. "Stop thinking you're better than me with your uppity, piece-of-shit attitude. We're thesame, Rev. We're the fuckin' same. You’re here too.”

He shoved against me, but I was unmoving, answerless, and he stepped away to dig through the drawers again. This time, I kept my stare pinned on him as he plucked a sliver of black satin from the drawer and stuffed it into his jacket. Then, he opened the jewelry box on the dresser and pulled out a handful of dangly, sparkly pieces and dropped them into hispocket. He threw the wallet into the open underwear drawer and barreled past me through the door and back down the stairs.

"Let's go," he barked from the door.

I swallowed at the burning, nauseating guilt rising in my throat as I swept my gaze around the girl's room.

She might've had a monster dildo in her dresser drawer, but she hadGilmore Girlsposters on her walls. There was a worn, old teddy bear on the lacy comforter, waiting for her return. There were framed pictures on the nightstand and a fuzzy pink robe hanging from the post of her bed. She was just a fucking girl, man, and she didn't deserve to come home to find her shit had been violated and stolen.

But Nate was right.

I was there too.

If I turned him in, I'd have to turn myself in also, and what good would that do?

So, I left her doorway and ran down the stairs, vowing to never speak of this moment again.

CHAPTER SIX

"Tonight, my friend, we arefinallygetting you laid."

I lifted my head from the bowl of cereal I was eating. "Why?"

Nate had walked into the kitchen from his bedroom, making the declaration like he'd just gotten the best idea since the invention of the hands-free can opener.

"You are twenty-two years old," he said, dropping down into the chair across from mine at the small table we’d dragged in from the curb.

"Uh-huh … and what's your point?" I pinned him with my glare as I shoveled another spoonful into my mouth.

"Chicks aren't into virgins past, like, the age of sixteen."

With a glance toward my stained coveralls and a gesture with the spoon toward the black eyepatch I wore daily, I said, "Do Ilooklike a guy who gives a fuck about what chicks like?"

"Oh, it's not how you look that's the problem." He snorted, pulling his pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket. "If you paid attention once in a while, you'd know this whole dirty, mopey pirate thing is a real panty-dropper."

"Good to know," I grumbled, standing up to dump the rest of my cereal in the trash.

Another five minutes, and I'd be late for work. Nate might not care if he strolled into the shop five, ten, fifteen minutes late, but I did.