Page 29 of Treacherous

"Accomplished," I chuckled as I grabbed a spoon from the drawer and took a spoonful of ice-cream before Hope cleaned out the entire tub.

In the short time I'd known Hope I had to admit her appetite impressed the hell out of me. I'd never met another girl who could put food away like I could and not gain weight. Well, she was luckier than me in the shape department, being that she actually had one. Hope had killer curves whereas I had hipbones – not that it bothered me too much. I was happy in my skin – skinny or not.

"Well you should," Hope said with a grin as she hopped down from the counter and handed me the ice-cream.

Taking a hair-tie from her wrist, she pulled her hair back and tied it in a loose ponytail. "And hey, Colt already got himself suspended for exposing himself to the girls' swim-team which totally takes the limelight off you."

"What the hell was he thinking?" I asked through fits of laugher as I thought about Hope's baby brother being dragged out of the pool hall by Coach Johnson on Wednesday.

"He's Colton," Hope grumbled as she grabbed two cans of coke from the fridge and followed me out to the garden. "He doesn't think, period."

The weather was fiercely warm all day so Hope and I had made plans to laze around in the garden after school and hopefully catch some sun.

"We don't get enough days like this," Hope mused as she rolled the legs of her jeans up to her knees before sprawling out on the grass. "I'm gonna miss this."

"What, lazing on the grass?" I asked as I lay on the grass beside her and slid my sunglasses on.

"The sun," she replied sadly. "Winter's drawing in which means parkas, hats and scarves. I mean Halloween is tomorrow."

"I can't wait for winter." I sighed contently. "I've never seen snow before."

"You'll see plenty of it here." Hope chuckled. "Oh yeah, I meant to tell you earlier…" Hope yawned loudly and folded her arms behind her head. "I overheard Logan and Noah talking last night."

My ears perked up immediately.

Things had been quiet on the western front since my altercation with Noah over the tires. He hadn’t looked in my direction since that day and that suited me just fine. I didn’t care. Ididn’t.

"Noah told Logan that Ellie's throwing a party tonight for his birthday," she said with a lazy sigh.

"Don’t they have parents to wrangle them into line?" I asked in disgust. "It's Monday for Christ's sakes. Who throws a house party on a Monday night?"

"Apparently Ellie does." Hope sighed heavily. "And Noah invited my brothers to it."

"Isn't he a little old to be hanging with your brothers," I tossed out airily, desperately trying to keep my voice level even though the mere sound of his name caused my body to coil tight. "They're juniors, right? Shouldn’t Noah have some friends his own age?"

"Noah's closer to their age than mine," Hope informed me in a sleepy tone.

"How's that?"

"Dad suffered premature empty-nest syndrome the year I was supposed to start kindergarten," she told me in an amused tone. "He held me back, therefore I'll be nineteen before I graduate high school."

I turned my face to stare at her. "I've heard of mothers getting it, but fathers?"

Hope smirked. "What can I say about my dad," she mused. "He's an unusual guy."

"That he is."And incredibly hot…

"Anyway," she continued. "My brothers turned seventeen in early September, and Noah turned eighteen today, October thirtieth – the same month as my mom, who, by the way, is on a flight to New York with Dad."

"A belated birthday present?"

Hope nodded. "Apparently Dad couldn’t take time off work until this week – which means I'm stuck on my own with Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest until December."

"Until December?" I shook my head. "A whole month?"

"Yeah," Hope mumbled. "I know they're up to something else," she muttered. "I overheard them talking about letters and release dates, but they're so damn secretive it's impossible to figure out." She let out a weary sigh. "I swear my parents live in their own personal little bubble. They're so wrapped up in one another it's sick."

"It's rare," I mused.

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