Page 27 of Fall Into Me

I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. “Her dad came in while I was there, and apparently, they think that we never broke up.”

He gasped. “Carly, you sneaky bitch.” Ash’s giddy smile was back in place.

“Watch your mouth.” I stood up, covering his whole face with the palm of my hand and giving him a small shove. I doubled over in a wheeze after he stood up faster than I could compute and delivered a jab to my kidney. Ashton might have been leaner than I was, but that was only because where I favored cardio and weights, all he did was box.

“You’re so fucked. This is awesome!” He loitered behind me as we headed out of the room. He was always careful not to make contact with anyone if he could help it, and over the years it was something I’d adapted to, always making sure he had plenty ofspace. We were the last two, and he was my only other group member, namely because he was also the deputy manager of this project.

“Great, hold on to that feeling when I tell you what I need from you,” I said.

“I’m all ears.”

“I need you to do the scouting yourself this week.”

That stopped him in his tracks. “This week?”

“Yep.”

“What about the other weeks?”

“Probably. But I’ll do all the reporting. I just need your notes.”

“We’re here for like a month? Maybe longer?”

“Yep.”

Ash started at me, so I stared back. And then the jackass broke out into that same stupid smile. “You can tell me all about it after you buy me a coffee from our new favorite café.”

10

Fane

After

The plan had not been to include Ash in the plan.

“You’re not part of the plan.” I leveled him with my signature glare just outside of Sunshine Café.

“Sure I am.” He crossed his arms and widened his stance.

“No. You’re not.” I mimicked his stance.

He nodded like this was a normal conversation that two people had. “Okay, we’ll put a pin in this for later. Just clarify something for me. You’re being shown around Darling by a local?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“And that local is Candy?”

I didn’t dignify that question with a response because, no, it wasn’t fucking Candy.

“And she’s showing you around so we don’t fuck with the town.”

“Yep.”

“But we’re not fucking with the town anyway?”

“That’s right.”

“But you haven’t told her that.”

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