Page 65 of Pretty Lies

As lame as that sounded.

She could feel Cory watching her as she stepped away from the island entirely. He didn’t say a word, though.

“And I am done running errands for the day,” she told him.

His sigh echoed behind her.

She didn’t turn around.

•••

When thinking the rest of the previous day and then night away didn’t work, she decided to meet up with J. Because if there was anyone in the world who could look her in her face and tell Della all her shit without being scared, it was her brother.

She figured she needed it.

Della knew it really wasn’t safe for her to be wandering Chicago for the second day in a row when she wasn’t even supposed to leave her house, if possible. Even J had to point it out when she texted him to ask where he was going to be that morning. Nonetheless, she let her brother know that no wasn’t an option—she’d simply texted I need your time. That was their code for “drop everything, I need someone to listen to me.”

When she was a teenager chasing stupid boys and finding more trouble than they were worth at the time, her brother told her those exact words. She could still remember the way J had stood in the doorway of her bedroom’s bathroom while she puked in a toilet, spilling the liquor she poured down her throat. He had cleaned and sobered her up, and then let her know exactly what to do if she ever needed her brother after that moment.

“If you have shit going on or you need someone to listen, Della, all you gotta say to me is I need your time, J,” he’d told her, “and I’ll be there. That’s what brothers do.”

She didn’t forget it and had used it a time or two. It was good to know that silly little thing between her and J still worked after all this time. Because the moment she’d texted him that morning and didn’t give him the option to say no, she had an address to meet up with him in the shipping district where a new row of warehouses had recently been built.

Stepping out of her car, Della ignored the roar of a familiar engine pulling up behind where she’d parked on the side street. About thirty feet from the warehouse where she needed to meet up with J. She did dare a peek over her shoulder, but only to find a very pissed off Cory stepping out of his car before he slammed the door and made a beeline toward her.

Well …

Of course, he’d be pissed.

She hadn’t exactly explained much that morning, just left. He hadn’t been driving the vintage Mustang for a couple of days the past week, she’d noticed, so she hadn’t even thought to look for him when she figured he would just follow like he always did. Sometimes he changed cars.

Today, he did have the ‘Stang.

And the staple leather jacket.

As well as a scowl.

Mostly, Della didn’t want to explain to Cory she was going to see J when, undoubtedly, he would ask why. Since part of the entire reason why she wanted to see her brother was so that she could work out the nonsense she felt about Cory, she didn’t think it would be helpful to tell him that fact.

So, she said nothing.

Just left.

Technically, he followed right behind her, so it wasn’t like she broke the rules. That’s what Della was going to keep telling herself. Maybe she’d explain to Cory later, if she felt like it. And maybe she wouldn’t. What would it matter?

He didn’t know now.

Nothing bad had happened yet.

“Della, hey,” Cory shouted at her back.

Yep.

He was really pissed. The heat in his tone said it all. Okay. So, she would explain. Just after she talked to her brother. And gave Cory a chance to calm down.

Just around the corner was the warehouse with three bays that faced the road for trucks to back right up. Della blinked at the sight of a familiar woman leaning against the hood of her black Benz coupe. Even Jennika’s brow raised at Della coming her way, but it quickly faded into a smile as she pulled a burning cigarette away from her painted-red lips and exhaled the smoke to the sky.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Jennika asked. “Thought you were supposed to be hiding away at home this week until Frankie says otherwise?”