Page 42 of Five

But Rory stiffens and sits up, clutching the blanket loosely draped over us to hide her nakedness. “Who?”

That’s when it hits me. Where we’re at. In her pool house. On her family farm. In the middle of nowhere.

Her parents are out of town. Her little brother and sister are back in Fort Collins at Sparrow’s house.

And for a moment, I figure it’s Kate, come to check on us.

But then I make out the hulking body of a man as he presses his face to the window, trying to see inside. Trying to see us in the darkness.

“Oh, fuck,” Rory says.

“Who is that?” I ask.

She gulps air, looks at him, then me, and whispers, “My boyfriend.”

Chapter Thirteen - Rory

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Rory?” Cliff says from outside. “Are you in there?”

“Aurora Shrike,” Five growls back. “You’d better explain.”

“Shhh,” I say, cupping his mouth with my hand. “He can’t see in. Maybe he’ll go away.” It’s true, too. There’s no way he can see in. The pool house sliders are heavily tinted. It’s dark out and we have no lights on. I’m almost a hundred percent positive he can’t see us.

Five is glaring at me. And it occurs to me in this moment… I don’t think I’ve ever seen him angry.

He’s definitely angry. There’s no doubt about it.

I hold up one finger and whisper, “Please. Just let him go away and I’ll explain.”

“Rory?” Cliff tries again. Then he grabs his phone and presses the screen. Puts it to his ear. Turns around abruptly and walks over to the pool.

“Shit,” I say. “My phone is in my shorts pocket.”

I look up at Five and can just barely make out a smirk on his face. “It’s not funny,” I say. “He’s gonna see our clothes.”

“So?” Five says. “Do you like this guy, Rory?” I look back at Cliff for a moment. Five misunderstands and comes to the conclusion I’m thinking very hard about that question. Because he says, “Please tell me I’m not in competition with that guy.”

“Don’t be stupid, Five. We’ve been half-heartedly dating for two weeks. We’ve barely even kissed.”

“So you kissed him?” Five says, still growling.

I would laugh. Because I’ve never seen Five jealous before either. But it’s definitely not appropriate. “Would you just wait?” I say, pushing him away from me and grabbing a summer blanket off the back of the couch so I can cover myself up.

“You wait, Aurora,” Five says, grabbing my hand. “If you think you’re going out there naked—”

“Five!” I whisper-yell. “Stop it. I’m not remotely interested in seeing him right now. I’m just gonna make sure he gets in his car and drives away.”

“And then what?” Five asks, not letting go of my hand.

“Then I’m gonna grab my phone and break up with him, like I tried to do this morning when he called to tell me he was coming to Denver for some stupid internship.”

“How do you try to break up with someone?”

“Jesus,” I say. “Why are you still growling at me? It was just a weird conversation, that’s all. And I was just about to do it when he had to hang up really quick.”

“You mean… hang up really quick before you got those words out?”