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“I’m almost done here. I just need to test one more time…”
He hit the Enter key and looked up at the alarm’s control panel. The screen blinked, its message changing from ERROR to READY TO ARM.
“Damn, that was fast,” I said. “What did you do?”
He cleared his throat awkwardly, getting to his feet. “I may have overengineered it a little.”
“Meaning…?”
“I made a few changes,” he said. “Made it a little more difficult for anyone else who decides to try to get in here.” He shut the front door, went to the keypad, and typed in our code. The system chimed and the screen switched to ARMED.
“And how exactly do you know our pin?” I said. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“You can change it after I leave,” he said, glancing back at me. “Or don’t.”
“I’ll change it,” I said, pushing up to my feet. “Don’t want to make things too easy for you.”
“Brat.” He scoffed as he disarmed the system again and disconnected his laptop. “Your parents shouldn’t notice anything, although you may need to have them reconnect any key fobs they had for it. That’s how I did it, by the way. Your key fob.”
“You stole my key fob?”
“Nope, I intercepted the radio signal it sent to the security system,” he said. “Most of these systems don’t encrypt anything, so all the data I need is right there. Easy.”
“Most people don’t think that’s very easy.”
“I’m not most people.” I was standing by his side, and when he turned toward me, he brushed his fingers over my neck, over the slight red line the collar had left on my skin. “Your parents come back tomorrow, yeah?”
“Unfortunately.” The touch of his fingers gave me goosebumps over my arms, and I quickly rubbed them. “I’m sure my mom will find something to complain about the second she’s in the door.”
“She just got back from vacation,” he said incredulously. “What could she have to complain about?”
“Anything and everything.” He followed me into the kitchen, leaning against the island when I took a seat on one of the stools. “Let’s see. She’ll complain that there’s dishes in the sink, I ate all the cookies in the pantry, my nails need to be filled…”
He snorted. “Your mom gives a fuck about your nails?” Then he paused, looking off in thought. “Then again, my mom was always scolding me over wrinkles in my shirts.”
I’d seen his mom a few times when she’d drop him off at school. Where my mom did everything she could to be the glamorous center of attention, Mrs. Roth had seemed more like she was trying to blend in with the local retirement community.Uptighthad been her entire vibe and that had reflected in her son — at least, it used to.
Uptight was far from how I’d describe him now.Intensewas a far more accurate word.
“It sounds to me like you need to get out of the house tomorrow,” he said, finishing off his energy drink and tossing the can into the trash. “I have a competition at the Fairgrounds Speedway. You should come.”
“Competition? Like drag racing?”
“Drifting,” he said, meandering around the kitchen as he talked. “You’ve probably seen some videos Vincent posted.”
I hurriedly sipped my coffee so he wouldn’t see my guilty face.He couldn’t possibly know how hard I used to stalk their social media, could he? But he was smirking at me as I lowered the mug, and I said, “Is this an invitation, or an order?”
“Let’s say…an invitation you can’t refuse,” he said. “We’ll pick you up in the morning.”
Ididwant to get out of the house. But holy shit, having them show up here to pick me up meant having my mom see them. If she didn’t already have plenty to complain about, she definitely would then.
But I couldn’t always cater my life to my mother.
“All right,” I said, bracing my elbows on the island and leaning forward toward him. “As long as I don’t have to dress as a cat again.”
Despite my misgivings, my mom was in a good mood when she and my dad got back the next morning. She was sunburned as a lobster, but that only made her cheerier as she gushed about how tan she was going to be.
But of course, all that cheeriness flew straight out the window when she spotted my ride arrive.
