Page 12 of Good Girls Beg

"Of course not, because I want the same for you," she said. She peeled a pickle off her burger and tossed it onto her plate with a grimace. "Besides, I'm never having children. I'll cuddle yours."

"What if I only have cats?" I asked.

"Then I'll cuddle your cats," she said, unruffled. "I don't want the responsibility of taking care of another living creature. I have a hard enough time looking after myself."

"I don't believe that," I said, but I wasn't going to argue with her decision. If that's how she felt, I'd support her, the same way she'd support me if I made a call like that.

My phone, which lay next to my plate on the table, flashed with an incoming message.

I was going to ignore it, except I realized it came from the crowdfunding app. Specifically from Hel6913.

It simply said

We need to talk

CHAPTER FIVE

TEDDIE

"Are you going to respond to them?" Lyra swung her bag onto her back.

I did the same with mine, and closed the door behind us before we headed out. Her to work, me to college. I'd taken the rest of the school year off from substitute work to finish my degree, putting in a few hours at Loams for extra money.

Money that was going to run out fast if I wasn't careful.

"I haven't decided yet," I said slowly. "I don't know who this person is. If they’re going to get pushy, I should block them." That was a given. I already had a social media block list thousands of names long. Most of them bots.

"Why haven't you blocked them already?" She glanced over at me as we walked down the stairs.

"I don't know," I admitted. "They said they want to save the bar. What if they actually do?" I'd be crazy if I turned down legitimate help. Whatever they had to offer, it could be exactly what my dads needed. It also might not, but would it hurt to hear them out?

"What if they're a psychopathic serial killer?" Lyra countered. "They could be trying to get you alone. They might try to meet you on some remote beach, strangle you, and bury you in the sand." She curled the fingers of her spare hand, miming wrapping them around someone's neck.

"I'm not that naive," I said, giving her a look as if I was more offended than I actually was. "If I was going to meet this person, it'd be in a public place, surrounded by people." They wouldn't be able to try anything without someone stopping, or at least filming it. Either way, there'd be witnesses.

"Besides, anything buried in the sand wouldn't stay buried for long. Any serial killer with a lick of sense would know that.” It might not act as a deterrent, but if they were going to all this trouble, it wasn't a spur of the moment thing. People who planned murders ahead of time didn't make mistakes like that. Did they?

“They might be harmless," she said, giving me a skeptical look. Clearly, she didn't think 'harmless' was the right word for someone who kept messaging me.

“They're probably an eighty year-old woman with too much money she wants to spread around," I said. "Hel might be short for Helen or Helga, or something like that."

"I feel like Helen or Helga would send you something more than, 'We need to talk,'" Lyra said. "Wouldn't they elaborate instead of leaving you guessing?"

"Maybe her computer skills aren't that good," I suggested.

Would an eighty year-old woman who wasn't good with technology have 6913 in her username? If she did, I wanted to meet her, but I suspected I was clutching at a whole bunch of straws here.

"Maybe you're hoping he's that guy from last night." Lyra gave me a sly look. Her sapphire blue eyes shone with suppressed laughter at my expense.

I started to flip her off, but then I stared at her for a moment. "I hadn't thought of that," I admitted. I hadn't put Blondie out of my mind entirely, but I'd spent more time thinking about the message than I had about our quick, anonymous cockblock.

"What are the chances I'd meet the same guy who wants to help me?" I asked. The question was mostly rhetorical. Stranger things have happened in this world after all. It seemed unlikely though, given he was more interested in helping himself. Would I accept money from him? That was a question I probably wouldn't have to answer.

"Never zero." She pushed open the door at the bottom of the stairs and held it for me to step out past her. "Saltgrave Cove isn't that big.”

"No, it's not, but didn't we agree they were tourists down for a night out?" I pulled out my keys and phone from the front of my bag. The message was still on my screen, unanswered.

I followed Lyra over to the bike rack next to the parking lot. Her bright pink bike was chained up on the end, waiting for her.