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“That’s insane. Costello, you’ve told me so much, what could you possibly have to hide from me still?”

“So much,” I laughed bitterly. “There’s not enough time to tell you everything.”

“What?” The pain in her voice drew me back. Her eyes were half-shadowed by her heavy lashes, but that didn’t disguise her distress. “You make it sound like you’re going somewhere.”

It took all I had not to flinch. “Do you know where I’m going?” I moved so that she slid under me, my weight pressing her into the couch. Reaching between us, I cupped the inside of her thigh, and she jerked with a gasp. “Here. I’m going right here. But first I’m going to kiss you. Can you stay quiet enough that your parents don’t hear us?”

“Costello!”

“Shh,” I murmured. “Your dad doesn’t like me. If he sees us like this, he’ll definitely kill me.”

Sandwiched between our bodies, my phone buzzed. Then it buzzed again.

“Who keeps calling you?” Scotch asked.

I pulled my phone out, but I didn’t look at the screen. “Take a guess.”

“Your dad.” Sitting up, she reached for it. I shouldn’t have let her have it, but I did. “The Valentines want to do a handoff,” she said, reading. Then she went stiff. “Is this real? Will your loved ones be in danger because of me?”

The screen lighting up her face gave her a blue sheen. It made her look too much like a corpse. I quickly took my phone back, saying, “Because of Darien, not you.”

She challenged me with a flat stare. Fuck, it broke my heart. “I’m going to fix this. I’ll make everything right.”

The way she said that hit too close to home. I’m used to double-edged promises. Pulling her against me, I coiled the blanket around us both. “We’re doing this together.”

“I know. I just need you to know that I never meant for any of this to go so far.”

“It’s not your fault. None of this is.” Shaking my head, I made her look at me. “If you’re thinking the solution is you should have just died in that champagne room, you’re wrong. And if I get a hint that you’re thinking that again, I’ll ...”

“What?” she chuckled. “Kill me?”

I pushed the back of my head into the couch cushions, my laugh hollow in my chest. “Something worse.”

“What could be worse than death?”

I had a hundred ideas. I said none of them. “The not knowing will keep you in line.”

“Pff.” Her lips made a funny shape; I bent down to kiss it away. Her eyes remained shut for a heartbeat when I pulled away. She always looked so content like that. I wished I could keep her this way, never worrying—a perfect stasis of happiness.

Snowy wind buffeted the living room window. Scotch’s eyes cracked open, seeing it, seeing me. “I have to go upstairs.”

“Do you?”

Grinning, she tossed the blanket over my head. When I pushed it away she was standing on the bottom step. “You’re the one who said it earlier: my dad will kill you if he catches us sleeping together.”

Propping myself up on the couch arm, I slid the blanket down my bare chest. “Wouldn’t that be a way to go, though?” I was only half joking.

Scotch was glowing in the night-lights. She didn’t move, and I wondered if she sensed I was serious. Her smile was coy; she gave me a light wave, whispering, “Good night, Costello. See you in the morning.”

I wondered how many mornings we’d have together before this was over.

- CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO -

SCOTCH

There was nothing more surreal than sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast with my family, while Costello Badd sat across from me. He was drinking coffee; he’d politely declined my mother’s offer of doughnuts. No matter what she suggested, he turned it down.

Under the table, I sent him a quick text.