I glanced at the doors. “Carter will be coming back.”
Beck moved another pawn forward, directly behind the first he’d moved. “Maybe.”
“The camera stuff is his. He’s at least coming back for it.”
“Are you filming an ASMR thing?” Beck glanced over at the camera. “Using you for content, is he?”
My fingers paused on a pawn, not lifting it from the board. “You haven’t told anyone… right?”
A flash of something genuine darted across his expression, almost like offense. “It’s not my secret to share.”
Surprise made my stomach feel tingly. The soft clack of wood against wood was the only sound between us for a few long seconds. When he moved his pawn into the right space, I swiped it up with my own. “You had a hand in it, didn’t you? Who called Carter?”
Beck examined the board with a lazy sort of pondering. “Lydia.”
“Lydia?” Carter had excused himself for a phone call fromLydia? “Why would she?—”
“How come you didn’t take Pebble Brain to the serenity garden’s chessboard?” Beck asked, cutting meoff again easily. “If Mr. ASMR wants to film it, wouldn’t that have been a better space?”
You know why I wouldn’t take him there, I wanted to say.You know that’s our place. “There aren’t any chess pieces for that board,” I said instead.
“You could’ve found some, like we used to.” He moved forward another pawn. “Rocks, flower petals, leaves—what did we use for the kings?”
“My necklace,” I answered him automatically, refusing to seem unsettled. “We used the charms on my necklace.”
Beck’s eyes dropped to my throat, eyeing the chain that hung there. The two pendants that were clustered together—the teardrop opal and the silver four-leaf clover. “Why do you still wear it?” His voice sounded strange. “I’m sure you’ve got prettier things.”
I looked down at the board, sliding my knight around without thinking, because I wanted to make a grand move that made me seem unshaken.Why?I wanted to echo.Because I could never bring myself to take it off.
“You never answer my questions,” Beck grumbled. He slid his rook up a space. A useless move. “Does Pebble Brain ask you all the right questions? Is that it? Does he say all the right things?”
I swallowed an inward sigh.Right, Beck said. In my head, I heard the word he actually meant. Not “right.”Perfect. “Carter is exactly what I need,” I replied, playing out moves in my head. “I don’t know why we can’t leave it at that.” I moved my bishop on a diagonal, a few spaces forward, and then glanced at the door. WherewasCarter?
Beck immediately moved his knight. He at least movedit the correct way. He remembered more than I thought. “Because I know you.”
The words made me shiver. Since he’d moved his knight, he left his bishop wide open to be taken by mine. I just needed to clear a pawn first. “You do not know me. Not anymore.”
“I’ve figured it out, though. Why you’re going after him. Maybe not because you want an in with his dad—or maybe notjustthat—but because you think it’ll impressyourdad.” Beck stared at the board, green eyes bouncing around the surface as if searching for his next move—or double-checking. “Right?”
It shook me how close to the truth he’d gotten so quickly. I tried to shake it off. “Why would Carter impress?—”
“Because he’s a Pembleton. Because they’re big in the law field. Because you think your dad is simple and easily impressed by a daughter gunning for a grand future.” Becktskedunder his breath. “Your dad didn’t seem that impressed to me.”
And just like that, Beck proved once again how easily he could find the gaps in my armor, his words like a blade slicing through me. No, more than just his words—it was the leveled expression he had to match. With amusement and something darker simmering in his eyes, his lips twitched as if they threatened to curve.
“It’s quite dark for you, though,” he went on. “Using Pebble Brain to get to his dad. Playing with his heart because you think it’ll make your dad proud of you.”
Even while I felt myself bleeding, I forced my gazesteady. “You’re wrong.” My voice was flat. “Take your turn.”
Beck smiled. “Morally corrupt is my favorite version of you, you know.” And then he moved his other bishop. It captured a pawn that was blocking my king diagonally, and now there was nothing in its way. Beck’s green eyes lifted to mine. “Check.”
The deep-toned word had my heart skipping a beat, and my breath caught as I scanned the board. His bishop was exactly in position to topple my king, but also in the perfect spot for my queen to swoop in and save the day. I moved the piece without thinking, knocking the bishop off its square and taking it to my side.
But I didn’t realize Beck’s knight would be able to slide directly to that spot—waiting, as if he’d planned for it. He dragged his knight over to my queen, taking the piece.
My stomach sank. Without a queen, this match just got infinitely harder. “Morally corrupt,” I scoffed, trying to appear unaffected and going back to the last statement he’d made before my heart skipped a beat. Holding my breath, I moved my knight into place to protect the gap around my king. “You make me sound like a villain from a movie.”
“Maybe you are.” Beck took a moment to really look at the board, and as I watched him, I could see—hedidknow what he was doing. He’d set up the trap for my queen almost expertly. “Do you remember I’d been crying before you came out that night?”
