Page 38 of You Don’t Kiss Your Brother's Best Friends

“Because these people lock the doors at night, for safety reasons.”

A chill ran through me. “Whose safety?”

“Theirs,” Andre murmured. “Look, these people have a lot of enemies. They live an underground life. They rarely come out, and when they do, they don’t trust anyone.”

“Who are you talking about?” I pleaded. “Which people?”

Andre only shook his head slowly, his gaze drifting inadvertently down to his forearm. I followed it there, to where the strange, scrolling names intertwined with the rest of his tattoos.

“Something happened a while ago,” he said distantly. “Something very, very wrong.” He looked back into the hallway again, then growled. “And we’re going to make it right.”

I was still staring at those names when he leaned forward, grabbed me around the waist, and pulled me gently against him.

“We’ll explain everything in the morning,” he whispered, pressing his lips against my ear. “Once we get you out of here. Until then, sit tight. Play along. And don’t make waves.”

With that he pulled back, looked deep into my eyes, and kissed me. The kiss was slow and comforting. Loving, even. It somewhat eased my tension, but did nothing to assuage my raging curiosity.

“We’re going to keep you safe,” he said. “I promise.”

“But—”

“See you in the morning, Emily.”

He pulled back, the door closed, and the electronic latch engaged with a heavy mechanical whir. When it finished, the smoky glass pane on my side of the door bloomed with a tiny red light.

That’s when I realized he never gave me the keycard.

~ 24 ~

ANDRE

She was a trooper, I had to admit. Jocelyn’s face registered no emotion, no surprise, not even a hint of the anger and confusion that undoubtedly boiled beneath that pretty blonde head. I knew on the inside she was screaming — especially after what she’d seen in the kitchen last night. But she’d boarded this morning without even a word. She’d spent the whole trip the same way, staring silently out at the white-capped sea. She hadn’t even asked why Kayden wasn’t with us.

For that, I gave her a lot of credit.

The two men who rode to town with us were Troy and Damien. They were security hires, but that’s all I knew about them. They stood there stoically, sizing us up, taking us in. After agreeing upon a time to meet back at the dock, they slipped into the streets and melted into the early morning crowd.

A full minute of silence passed before we finally spoke.

“Alright,” Jocelyn spat acidly. “Out with it.”

Bishop and I glanced at each other awkwardly. This time she wasn’t having it.

“Don’t eventellme you’re not telling me anything,” she seethed, “not after locking me in my room all night. I had no food. No water. No fucking idea what the hell was happening.”

“Jocelyn—”

“Not one of you came to see me, either,” she went on. “I stayed up all night! I drank from the bathroom tap, and ate half a bag of trail mix I scrounged up from the bottom of my bag, from thelasttime I packed for vacation.”

“We would’ve—”

“Called me?” she scoffed. “For some weird reason I had no phone service. I had service all week long, no issues, but last night — nothing.”

“That’s the signal jammer,” I said. “It went up yesterday.”

She blinked in even more confusion. “What? Why?”

“Because they’re taking every possible precaution,” said Bishop. “It’s what they do.”

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