The Darkest Star (Origin 1)

Squeezing my eyes tight, I shook my head. “I was wondering if you could give me”—I cringed—“Luc’s phone number.”

“Yeah,” she answered immediately. “I can have Heidi text it to you.”

I started to tell her that would be fine but stopped. Again, what was I doing? Besides the absolutely insane fact that I was about to reach out to Luc and invite him to my house to help me break into my mom’s office, how would I know if anything was missing? I didn’t even know what the inside of her office looked like. What could I find when I didn’t even know what I was looking for?

But I still wanted in there.

“Are you still on the phone, Evie?” Emery asked.

I nodded and then rolled my eyes, because duh, she couldn’t see me. “Yeah, I’m still here. It’s just I . . . I don’t know why I’m asking for his number. I needed help with something and could use his unique . . . talents, but I . . . I don’t really know him and this was probably a really bad idea. I’m sorry to bother you two.”

“You’re not a bother.” It sounded like she moved and then I heard her say in a low voice, “Is everything okay?”

A weak smile crossed my lips. That was sweet of her to ask. “Yeah, everything is fine. I’m just being dumb.”

“All right, so now it’s my turn to sound weird, but hear me out. I don’t know what you need help with, but whatever it is, Luc will do it,” she said. “You can trust him. Out of everyone you’ve ever met, you can trust Luc.”Heidi texted me Luc’s phone number and I ended up staring at the text for five full minutes, unable to bring myself to call him. I really felt like something was wrong with me, because there was a huge part of me that trusted what Emery had said in spite of everything that indicated otherwise.

There was no good reason to believe what she said.

I’d met Luc just six days ago and it had been a rough six days, but in a way, it felt like I’d known him a lot longer than that, and that probably wasn’t a good thing.

My phone rang suddenly, and I almost dropped it. An unknown number had popped up with a local area code. It took me a second to vaguely recognize the number.

“Oh crap,” I whispered, my eyes going wide. It was Luc’s number. Of course, Emery had probably contacted him and told him I’d asked for his number.

Scrunching up my face, I squeezed my eyes shut as I squeaked out, “Hello?”

“So, I got this interesting text from Emery,” came the deep voice that twisted my stomach all up in knots. “She said you asked for my number.”

Why did I do that? Why did I answer the phone? “I did.”

“And she said you needed help with something,” he continued. “However, that was about five minutes ago, and you haven’t texted or called, so I’m dying of curiosity.”

I walked over to the couch and plopped down and closed my eyes. “I had a temporary moment of insanity.”

Luc chuckled. “I think I should be offended by that statement.”

“Probably,” I muttered, pressing my fingers to my forehead. “You didn’t have to call me. I would actually prefer that you forget I asked for your number.”

“Well, that’s never going to happen.”

“Great.” I sighed. “Couldn’t you just lie to me?”

“I would never lie to you,” he replied without a second of hesitation.

I frowned. “Why do you say things like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like . . .” It was hard to put into words. “Never mind.”

He sighed. “What do you need help with, Evie? Tell me. The world is your oyster and I’m your pearl.”

My frown increased. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Makes perfect sense.”

“I just want you to know that I rolled my eyes so hard, they rolled down the back of my throat.”

His answering laugh tugged at the corners of my lips. “Tell me why you need my help.”

Falling back against the couch, I sighed again, heavily. “I wanted to get into my mom’s office and see if there was something in there that would explain why someone was in the house on Monday, but I don’t even know what to look for.”

“And you thought I’d know?” A door shut on his end.

“No. I thought you would be able to unlock the door for me since you have unique talents suited for criminal behaviors.”

“I can unlock the door.”

“I know, but it’s pointless, because I have no idea what to look for. I’m not a detective. I’ve never even been in the room.” I kicked my feet up onto the ottoman. If Mom saw that, she would knock my feet right off it. “It was a stupid plan and it’s your fault.”