“Girl, I needed this pep talk.”
Arin smiled. “If you moved your ass to Ohio, we’d be able to cheer each other on like the good old days.”
“I wouldn’t fit in my uniform.”
Arin preened. “I can.”
“Bitch,” Jewell called her good-naturally.
“Blame yourself. You taught me how to be one.”
“You’re not allowed to outdo me.”
“I’ve been outdoing you since you taught me how to do a cartwheel. I bet I still do more than you.”
“Not unless you’re wearing a sport bra. I’d hate for you to knock yourself out with those tits of yours and have to explain to Hennessy what we’re doing.”
“Hennessy knows I used to be a cheerleader.”
“So, that’s how you know your uniform still fits.”
“You’ve not had sex until you turn your man on wearing a cheerleading uniform.”
Jewell widened her eyes in pretend amazement. “You mean I’m still a virgin?”
“Girlfriend, I seem to remember you in the back seat with Ty in high school. You were wearing your outfit that night.”
“Blowjobs don’t count.”
“You didn’t fuck him?”
“Nope.”
Arin stared at her skeptically, trying to get her to admit the truth. “You really didn’t?”
“I told you I didn’t.”
“Then I was mad at you for a whole month for no reason? I’m so sorry.”
“Well, I did give your ex-boyfriend a blowjob,” Jewell reminded her.
“That’s okay.” Arin shrugged matter-of-factly. “I was the one who ratted on you for cheating on our chemistry midterm, but in my defense, I really thought you had fucked Ty.”
That was news to her.
“I had to retake that fucking test.” Jewell scowled in irritation. “Mr. Rogers changed my seat assignment to sit in front of his desk and made me take a different test than everyone else in the class for the rest of the year.”
“I said I was sorry,” Arin reminded her.
Jewell gave her a steely-eyed glare. “You’re lucky I love you.”
“When we go to our high school reunion, I’ll tell Mr. Rogers I lied.”
“He retired the year we graduated. He probably won’t even be alive by the time our reunion comes around.”
“Oh well, I confessed to you; that’s the most important part.”
Jewell took out her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Searching to see if the miserable bastard is alive. If he is, you’re going to talk to him.”
Arin broke out in laughter. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack.” Googling the teacher’s name and where they had once lived, Jewell waited for the results. Reading the top result, Jewell laid her phone down on the table.
Arin looked at her expectedly. “Well?”
“He died a month ago.”
“Poor guy.” Arin gave a moue of sympathy.
“You owe me one.” Jewell started tapping the tips of her nails on the table, thinking of ways to get her friend back.
“How about we sneak out for beers and burgers without telling Hennessy?”
Her fingers stopped tapping. “Does hot stuff get mad when he can’t find you?” Jewell perked up.
“Furious,” Arin divulged.
“We can sneak out the side door of the basement.” Jewell got up from the table. “Wait here. I’ll grab us some jackets.”
Peeking around the kitchen door, Jewell saw the main room was empty. Hurrying into the room, Jewell went to the closet to snag a couple of the coats hanging there before rushing back to the kitchen.
She gave Arin the warmer of the two jackets, and they went down the steps. Before opening the door, Jewell moved to where the camera would pick up her image. Placing a finger over her lips, she then made a pretend motion of slitting her throat effectively, warning Moon, who was working security, to keep his mouth shut about their leaving.
They snuck out the side door, where Jewell took Arin’s hand so she wouldn’t move toward the front of the parking lot. “We need to go through the side of Viper’s yard until we reach the road. If we take one of the vehicles, they’ll see which direction we went. It’s not a long walk,” Jewell whispered conspiratorially. “We’ll call for a ride home when we’re ready to be found.” Dropping Arin’s hand, Jewell linked their arms as they started navigating their way down the incline to the road.
Arin gave an excited giggle. “I’m going to be in so much trouble.”
“This is supposed to be a punishment …”
“Oh … okay … Hennessy is going to spank my ass.” Another giggle broke the silence of the night.
“Bitch, for that, I’m going to make you buy me two burgers.”
When they reached the road, Arin stopped at the mentioned buy. “I didn’t bring my wallet.”
Jewell rolled her eyes then started making Arin walk at a fast pace again. “You can just tell me why you wanted to know when the last time I talked to my mother was.”
“Can it wait until after we had a couple of drinks?” Arin bargained.
“Yes.”
“Then, girlfriend, we have a deal.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Rory was startled awake by the sudden light being turned on over his head. Sprawled naked, he sprung up in a sitting position to see Viper, Shade, and a man whom he had never seen before standing at the foot of his bed.