Page 86 of Look at Her and Die

Scottie was right on my heels as we came to a stop next to Searcy.

“If you don’t step the fuck back, right now, I’ll make you,” I said softly, trying not to cause a scene.

Taryn’s eyes came to me, and he narrowed them. “Well, well, well. Isn’t it fucking perfect. The trailer trash meets the orphan.”

I gritted my teeth. “I still have a mother.”

“A mother that hates you,” he countered.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re really original. I don’t know what your issue is with her, but you need to back off. I don’t like it when she’s bothered.”

Searcy offered me a wink, letting me know that she liked when I protected her, and said, “It’s been fun, Taryn, but I have to go.”

She pulled away from him and moved to me, her hand coming out to me.

I took it, pulling her into my side, and whispered, “I’m glad you got his winning lottery ticket.”

She snickered and fell into step beside me, but came to a sudden halt when she saw a house displayed on the screen.

I checked it out and said, “What’s that?”

“A beach house in Florida,” she said. “Exit 13A.”

“Is there a significance to that exit?” I asked.

“I heard someone talking about it,” she said. “The owner of the house died, and the family decided to donate it to this auction. Something about the Y helping them when they needed it the most. They’re auctioning the place off because they don’t need it. They live on the East Coast and barely make it down this direction. The two siblings selling it were talking to the director about how much money they could’ve gotten if they rented it during the summer months and I was floored.”

“Buy it,” I suggested.

She looked at me startled. “What?”

“Buy it,” I repeated. “Get a passive income. Real estate isn’t ever a bad thing.”

She bit her lip, and I nudged her. “We have to leave soon, or I’ll be late for my shift. But seriously. Go put a bid in on it. If you win it, you win it. If you don’t, it wasn’t meant to be.”

When she still looked torn, I offered, “I’ll go put the bid in.”

She started walking with me, her eyes wide.

“How much do you want to put?” I asked. “Starting bid is five hundred thousand.”

She swallowed hard and said, “That. Exactly that.”

So that’s what I did.

I wrote the bid down, but made sure to put Searcy’s name and phone number since I wouldn’t be able to take any calls tonight while on shift.

After putting in the bid, I said, “Let’s go.”

“And we have a starting bid of five hundred thousand,” the man over the intercom said, but the rest of his words were drowned out by us exiting the building.

What we wouldn’t learn until later was that the man hadn’t just stopped at saying the bid. He’d said who’d placed the bid.

It wasn’t until that next morning when we became aware of the consequences of that man’s actions.

And fuck me, but I was stuck at work while she had to deal with it.

Twenty-Two

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