I was stunned. Unable to speak. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that she had a brother. Who? How old was he? And what type of person was he to let his sister pay back money he owed to a guy like Tank?
I allowed myself five seconds to take in the information, and then I piled it away in my back pocket for later. Piper was on the verge of tears, and I wasn’t sure if it was because she was angry with me, upset about her brother, or if it was the fear of some chick coming to scare her this morning. Maybe it was all of the above. Regardless, this wasn’t the time for me to ask questions or prod her more. She was crazy if she thought I was letting her handle this on her own, though. Blackmail or not, I wasn’t backing down where she was involved. She should have known that by now.
“Go to the girls’ locker room and stay there until I get back.”
Piper looked up from staring at the grass. “What? Where are you going? And I can’t just skip class!”
“I have it handled, Piper. Does your house have a code to get in? What is it? I’ll grab you a skirt and come back and bring it to you. I’ll handle Headmaster Walton.”
Piper looked ready to argue, and I tilted my head, silently telling her that it wasn’t going to work. Reluctantly, she obliged. “Top drawer of my dresser. I’ll text you the code. The cleaning lady might be there, but just tell her I sent you. Call me if she doesn’t believe you.”
“Okay, go.” I nodded my head to the side door of English Prep and turned around to head to the front to butter up Headmaster Walton with a believable story about why I needed to leave English Prep for a few. You couldn’t typically sign yourself out of school without a parent, but he loved Christian and me, and so did Ms. Boyd. This would be a breeze.
Before Piper disappeared inside the school, I called out to her, “You know this conversation isn’t over, right?”
She paused with her back to me, her ripped skirt still swaying with the breeze, but then she trudged herself through the doors without even sparing me a glance.
This wasn’t over, and she knew it.
Chapter Thirteen
Piper
Twenty thousand dollars. Those three words had been on repeat in my head since Saturday night. That, and the encounter with Sky earlier today. My life had done a total 360 in the last few years, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise that I barely recognized myself in the mirror anymore. My life used to revolve around the occasional family dinner that my parents would deem necessary after weeks of being away at work, leaving Jason and me with our nanny who, in a poor attempt, would try to make us feel loved by playing Scrabble with us each weekend. It worked for a little while. But as soon as Jason got a little older and he became distant, that was when I started to change. I became independent. Jason shut me out, my parents were gone more than ever, and soon, everything was flipped upside down. And here I was, a new person. I morphed into a girl that lied to everyone she cared about and contemplated breaking into her father’s safe to save someone who probably didn’t even deserve it.
My eyes traced over my reflection in the side of our spotless, stainless steel fridge as I stood there eating my organic, microwaved dinner that our housekeeper stocked the freezer with a few days prior. Sure, I had the same bright-green eyes and red hair. My nose was still lined with a few faint freckles, but the girl inside was vastly different than who she was a year ago.
Everything fell apart the second my parents tore me away from Wellington Prep. It was like they had a vendetta against that side of Pike Valley, as if Wellington Prep was the reason for my brother’s mistakes—not theirs. Not the fact that, instead of getting my brother help, they just turned a blind eye and buried themselves even further into their careers, acting like everything was okay—all just to keep their appearances clean and pristine. That was why they tore me away from my old school in the first place. Jason had ruined our name. Painted them as bad parents. It was why I’d kept it a secret for so long—that was what I was taught to do.
I turned away from my reflection with frustration as Ollie’s face popped into my head. Ollie knew. The shock that rippled onto his face earlier was blatantly apparent. I told him who Jason was. My secret was no longer a secret. And maybe it never should have been, but the mere thought that someone was getting a peek into my life made me uncomfortable. All I wanted was to fix my brother’s shit discreetly and go about my business, pretending that my life was normal. I only had a few more months until college. Once I got to college, everything would be better—at least that was what I had been telling myself since last year. I’d be several hundred miles away. I wouldn’t have to worry if Jason was going to pop up randomly one day, asking for my help. I wouldn’t have to feel guilty, either. Sorry, I’m four hours away from home. I can’t come get you.
Who was I kidding? I’d still feel guilty.
Placing my dinner on the counter, I pulled out a piece of paper and flung my damp hair over my shoulder. The clock on the stove read 8:58. My homework was done for the evening, I had already showered, and my linguine was half-eaten. This seemed like the perfect time to come up with a list of ways I could somehow make twenty thousand dollars within a few days without Ollie’s help.
My stomach continued to twist as my thoughts drifted toward him, and then it dropped completely when there was a knock on the front door.
I gasped as the piece of paper flew out of my hands and floated to the floor.
The first person to come to mind was Tank. He was like a bad dream that lurked in the dark shadows inside my bedroom before I fell asleep, reminding me that bad things were on the verge of unleashing. He’d already sent his girlfriend to scare me at school; I wouldn’t put it past him to send someone to my house, too. I tried taking a deep breath as I walked through the long hallway to get to my front door. I eyed the alarm on the far wall, noting that it said Armed. At least I did one right thing today.
My calves stretched as I reached up on my tiptoes to peek out the peephole.
“Open the door, Piper.”
My breath caught as I saw Ollie standing with his back against the side railing of the porch with a black hat backwards on his head, looking as casually hot as he always did. My feet fell flat to the hardwood with a slap. What is he doing here?! I brought my hands up to my damp hair and ran my fingers through the wet strands. Wait. Who cares what I look like?! I was pretty sure Ollie had seen me look much worse.
The heavy door creaked as I slowly swung it open, half hiding behind it. “Ollie, go home.”
A throaty chuckle left him as he flew past me, the door opening even wider. The beeping of the alarm was ringing in the background as I stood with my mouth gaping. Why I was surprised that Ollie just rushed into my house like he owned the place was beside me. It was Ollie, after all.
“You gonna get that?” Ollie nodded his head to the beeping coming from the side of the wall as I stared at him. He shook his head and gave me a chaste eye roll as he stalked over to it and punched in the numbers. At that moment, I knew I shouldn’t have given him the alarm code earlier in the day, but he did grab me a new skirt from my house and handled Headmaster Walton, so…
“Ollie, what are you doing here?” Ollie stood back along the wall with his eyebrows raised to the brim of his hat. His mouth was slowly creeping into a smirk, and I felt my face flame.
“What?”
His head tilted to the right slightly as his fist came up to rest on his chin. “Are you…?” He scanned me from the top of my head all the way to the tips of my toes, and I tried my hardest not to shift on my feet. I hated more than anything that Ollie’s stare did things to my body. His look heated me up from the inside out. “Piper, are you wearing my shirt?”