Page 2 of His Pretty Little Lies
We shovel food into our mouths before we’re out the front door, after taking a million and one pictures.
“You’ll let me out at the gate?” Nix asks from the back seat of my Charger as we pull out of our own gate that wraps around most of the property, except the wooded area that is thick and leads to nothing but more land. It’s also loaded with censors and cameras.
“No,” Damon and I say in unison. You have to go through a gate to get into the school. Not sure why, when some of the most dangerous people are inside. It’s all the elite kids from families in the city. Hell, some move here for their kids to go to this school. Pretty sure school paid for a few athletes to move closer as well.
I don't get it. I never wanted to be an athlete, but Mom pushed us to do something. They have this whole thing about our family being more…I suppose the best word would be legal and normal-ish. It’s well-known that the Marinos weren’t always on the up and up.
I picked football so I could hit people. It was just my fucking luck that I could throw a ball better than anyone else. Damon got lucky, and he gets to keep hitting people while protecting my ass.
“You guys are going to ruin my whole vibe,” Nix huffs. The car grows quiet, and she leans forward, her head popping up between us. “Don’t forget I’m Mac’s favorite.” She smirks, sitting back in her seat.
The threat hangs in the air. Mac is our older cousin. She can take you down with a few strokes of her keyboard. Damon and I glance over at each other, but I end up calling her bluff.
“Marks would tell you to stay away from boys, too,” I point out.
“Yeah.” Damon partly turns to face our sister. “What happened to the bunker club?”
“What bunker?” she responds. I see in the rearview mirror that Nix is dead ass staring him in the eyes as she lies. Thewomen in our family are all part of a “secret” club, and they meet in an old bunker. It’s where our Aunt Marks grew up.
“The man-haters club bunker.” Damon shakes his head. “They should kick you out of the club.”
“Maybe it’s all a trap, and I’m planning to lure them back and sacrifice them.” I’m not sure if she’s joking or not. This is why our family will never be fully legal. I mean, Marks might be wanted in a few countries at this point.
“Back where?” Damon smirks. “To the bunker?”
“What bunker?!” Nix shouts back, making me grit my teeth. The fucking lungs on her.
The two of them go back and forth. I ignore them, my mind on Kinsley. It’s been too long since I saw her. Two days isn’t a lot, but it’s close, and she didn't know I was even there.
That’s going to change. No more lurking in the shadows. It’s time I pulled her into them with me.
Chapter Two
KINSLEY
“Kinsley!” I cringe when I hear Mary shout my name. She may be tiny, but that woman is mighty. I can always tell by the way she says my name what is coming.
A few seconds later, Mary is barreling into the kitchen, my bag in one hand, the other holding up my vape pen. Yeah, I thought that might be the case. Mary isn’t my mother, but she acts like she is, and I’m not mad about it. A teenshould notbe getting in trouble at home.
The thing is, my parents aren’t ever around to get in trouble with. Guess that’s what happens when your parents are fancy doctors. You can’t even get upset when they don’t show up to your fourth-grade play because your dad was in surgery and your mom was working in one of the busiest ERs in the country.
They were saving lives while I was trying to remember all my lines fromMatilda. I didn’t get the lead because I was a great actor. I got it because I could remember more lines than the others. For the record, I nailed them all. The lines, not the acting.
“Thanks, I was wondering where I put my bag.” I finish putting the strawberries onto my sandwich before I lick thepeanut butter off my thumb. I eat this every day for lunch. I need to work on being less predictable.
I grab my notebook off the kitchen counter and scribble that note reminder down. I’m sure if I tab back a few pages or peek into one of my hundred other notepads, I have that same note.
“Kinsley.” Mary hisses my name this time.
“It’s nothing.” I take the vape from her first and then my bag, which I stuff it back into. Mary says something in Italian that I only catch a few words of. Out of the handful of languages my mother made me learn, Italian hadn't been one of them, but having been around Mary for over three years, I'm slowly picking it up. Not that I'll ever let her know that. So I play dumb. "What?"
"You have asthma. Tell me it's for your tea."
I snort a laugh. "Yes, it's part of me getting the tea." I laugh more. I suppose you could call me the gossip queen.
I'm always keeping my ear open to what everyone has to say, even if I'm pretending to care less. I always care when it comes to information. The more you know. If only I wanted to know about medical things, I might be more interesting to my parents. Yeah, that’s so not happening. Blood is gross.
“What kind of tea?” Mary asks, making me smirk. See? Everyone wants the tea. Mary grabs my Stanley to fill up for me. I need to head out soon.
