Page 138 of On a Fault Line

Quickly, I look at my messages. “Angie’s with him.”

I throw myself off the bed and rush into the master closet to find something appropriate to wear.

Grabbing my phone, I dial Luke’s number.

“Answer, dammit.”

I pluck whatever outfit I can from the shelves and put it on, all while my phone continues to try to connect with my semi-useless roommate.

And he answers. “And you do exist…”

“I need you to tell my brother and sister-in-law that I’m running errands and will be right back. They are on their way to our place now.”

Luke chuckles. “You’re with Mr. Broody Booty, aren’t you?”

I shake my head although he can’t see, and without dropping the phone, I twist my hair into a bun using a tie I find on the bathroom doorknob. “Please. I will owe you. And don’t breathe a word of Mr. Broody Booty”—Why did I just say that?—“to my brother.Please.”

“I want double IOUs.”

“Okay, fine.”

“Yes!”

I can almost see Luke’s fist pounding into the air, like he just won something magical.

Slipping on sandals, I rush out of the room and down the hallway. “Just distract them or give them a tour or something. I’ll be right there.”

Collins meets me at the main door, smoothing out some flyaway hairs coming from my bun.

“Wish me luck.”

“If anything bad ever happens, I will take full responsibility for our actions. This won’t fall on you.”

My heart breaks a little with his need to always protect me. “That doesn’t seem fair.”

“We both know that I am old enough to know better.”

“I’m not a child, Collins.”

He closes his eyes, his fingers playing on my hips. “No. No, you’re not. But no one will believe that I didn’t take advantage of you. So I will accept any repercussions if that means protecting you.”

“Whatever. We can discuss that later.”

I grab my purse and rush out of the door and decide to take the stairs down to the lobby. I need to run a fake errand, so I use this opportunity to check my mailbox.

“Hey, Penny.”

I turn toward the voice coming from behind me, seeing Rex about to exit the building. “Oh, hi. What are you up to?”

“I’m going back to my place now, but Luke and I were just playing some video games together.”

“Oh, gotcha,” I say in a hurry, probably coming off a little rude. “Maybe we can all hang out soon.”

“That sounds fun. Let’s do it,” he says, giving me a wave goodbye.

Fishing out my key, I insert it into my box and pull out a bunch of junk mail and then a bubble envelope. Turning it over, I see the return address is listed as the prison.

What the hell?

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