Page 18 of Honor and Claim

“My phone doesn’t have much battery left.” It’s the quickest way to get off the phone.

“Cosima, don’t leave the house without a full charge,” Dad scolds me.

“Sorry, I know.” I shake my head, pretending to be annoyed with myself. “But I’m going to get off and head back there now.”

We say ourI love yousandgoodbyesbefore I end the call. I spot Marks finally coming out of the store with empty hands.

“What the hell?” I ask, dropping my phone back into my purse.

“Shh,” she hushes me, walking right past me too. Okay, then. “You’re supposed to follow me,” Marks half-shouts over her shoulder.

“Right.” I rush to catch up with her. “What’s happening? Were they out of stock?”

“No, I got it.” Marks glances around before lifting the front of her shirt to reveal a pregnancy test stuffed into her pants. She's speed-walking up the hill that leads back to our villa.

“You stole it?”

“I didn’t steal it.” It certainly appears that way. “Okay, I kind of stole it.”

“Speed-walking makes you appear guilty,” I point out, making her slow her steps. Marks is used to doing most of her crimes behind a computer screen, clearly. As for me, I might have had a rebellious phase and stolen random things when I was a kid. I got in so much trouble when I was caught.

That led to my brother Ronan teaching me how to do it better. I’d only been ten at the time, but it’s those childhood, soul-bonding moments you remember tenderly.

"Is that what took you so long?" I ask when we're halfway up the hill.

"Do you always wear heels?" Marks asks, glancing down at my feet. "How do you not trip on these cobblestone roads?"

"I can do anything in heels." To prove it, I lift on my foot like a ballerina and do a spin.

"And you think you don't have any skill set. I would have rolled down this hill." I laugh, but it's not a skill set that matters. Except for me to appear pretty, and I'm starting to think that's all people see me as. I can't even give myself credit for that. I get it all from my mom.

"If you didn't steal the test, why is it in your pants?" If she wanted to be discreet, they would have put it in a bag for her.

"I like this town. I didn't want to steal it. So I bought an item that cost more, then I put it back and stole the test, but it's not stealing because I paid. Now no one thinks you're a whore or I'm cheating."

"You're a sweetheart, you know that?" I bump her shoulder with mine.

"I am not," Marks huffs. She can deny it all she wants, but her rambling the last part about cheating and being a whore was to mask the good thing she'd done.

I glance behind us and spot the man that lives around the corner slowly coming up the hill. I make a mental note. Every time we’ve left the villa to go into town, I have seen him.

It’s a small town, and it could be nothing—or they could be watching us. The thing is, I’m not sure if it’s me they are watching or Marks.

"You better have to pee," Marks says as I enter the code to get into our gate before pulling out my key for the door. We both wave over at Karen, who is tending to the flowers that hang from her window sills.

"I don't have to pee," I tell her. Marks rolls her eyes.

"You're taking the freaking test." We enter the house together, both freezing when we spot someone sitting in the living room. Not just anyone. It's Z, and he appears pissed. That makes two of us.

Thank all the gods that Marks still has the test shoved down her pants. I can only deal with one thing at a time.

Chapter Ten

Z

I'm running on fumes at this point. If I thought I'd get sleep on the plane, I was a dumbass. That was before Tova's little remark about Cosima having offers of marriage. As pissed as I am at myself for what I'd done, I also know Cosima, and she might entertain this idea if only to dig at me.

“How the hell did you get in here?” Marks throws her hands up. “I have the place on lockdown.”

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