AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah,” I say. “Okay.”
People nearly trip over themselves getting out of my way as I walk. I guess I really do look bad.
The kitchen looks smaller with people running around in it, carrying out trays of blini slathered in caviar, golden pastries leaking garlic butter, and tiny cakes topped with crystallized lemon.
My stomach growls, surprising me. I shouldn’t be hungry after watching Anton be killed, but I’m starving.
Philip is standing in the back flanked by two burly men who appear to be restraining him. I don’t know if Lila brought him to the party or if Zacharov sent to have him escorted over from wherever she was keeping him.
When he sees me, his eyes narrow.
“You took everything from me,” he shouts. “Maura. My son. My future. My friend. You took everything.”
I guess I did.
I could tell him that I didn’t mean for it to happen.
“Sucks, doesn’t it?” I say.
He struggles against the bodyguards holding him. I’m not worried. I let Daneca steer me to the area by the pantry and sinks.
“I’m going to make you regret the day you were born,” Philip shouts to my back. I ignore him.
Lila is waiting with a bottle of vodka in one hand and a rag in the other. “Get up on the counter,” she says.
I do, pushing aside a bowl of flour and a spatula. Philip’s still yelling, but his voice seems to come from far away. I smile. “Lila, this is Daneca. I think you met Sam. They’re my friends from school.”
“Did he actually admit we’re his friends?” Sam asks, and Daneca laughs.
Lila pours some vodka onto the napkin.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the rest of my plan,” I say to Lila. “About Barron.”
“The notebooks, right? You fixed them somehow.”
When I look surprised, she smiles. “I lived with him for years, remember? I saw the notebooks. Clever.” She presses the cloth against my cheek, and I hiss. It stings like crazy.
“Ow,” I say. “You ever think you’re kind of a bully?”
Her smile goes wide. If it could, I think it would curl up at the corners. She leans close to me. “Oh, I know I am. And I know you like it.”
Sam snickers. I don’t care.
I do like it.
19
I SPEND THE NEXT TWO weeks slammed, making up all the homework I missed. Daneca and Sam help me, sitting with me in the library until in-room curfew, when I have to head home and they have to go back to the dorms. I spend so much time at school that Grandad gets me my own car. He takes me to some friend of his who hooks me up with a 1980 Mercedes-Benz Turbo for two grand.
It runs like crap, but Sam promises to help convert it to grease. He won some kind of state science fair with the conversion of his hearse, and he thinks we can make it all the way to an international science fair with the tinkering he’s got planned for my ride. Until then, I keep my fingers crossed that the engine keeps turning over.
When I go out to my car to drive myself home that Tuesday, I find Barron leaning against it, twirling keys around one black-gloved finger. His motorcycle is parked next to my car in the lot.
“What do you want?” I ask.
“Pizza night,” he says.
I look at him like he’s lost his mind.
