Page 11

10

I hold my ice cream to my tongue, spinning the cone in my hand until I’ve licked every melting drop. I repeat the process each time the drips start to reach my fingers. Catalina stares at me, elbows on the small table, her head cupped in her hands. “Like what ya see?” I laugh. A smirk tugs at the corner of her mouth, and she shakes the wobbly table between us. I flail, trying to keep hold of my ice cream, and she roars with laughter. My eyes narrow, and I hold the cone close to my chest. “Real funny, Cat.”

Both our heads turn as a beat up Ford Pinto rolls into Lucille’s parking lot. A man wearing an open button-up shirt, his tan chest exposed, steps from the car. “Ladies,” he greets us, showing us a mouthful of sparkling white teeth. He reaches back into the car and pulls a black cowboy hat with a wide brim and flat crown to his head. Realizing he still has our attention, he tips it slightly and smiles again.

Cat and I look at each other, my melting ice cream forgotten. After the last blood bath, the noise inside me has remained a dull buzz. I figured it’d stay nothing more than a murmur for at least a few more weeks, but when a perfect piggy walks so willingly to slaughter, how can I deny him?

His wavy black hair brushes against his shoulders as he strolls to our table. The intoxicating scent of leather and smoke rolls off him. His dark brown eyes lock on mine, and I raise a finger to my lips, twirling my tongue over a trail of ice cream before sucking the whole thing into my mouth. “Name’s Sterling,” he chuckles, tracing his top lip with the tip of his tongue.

Cat’s eyes narrow, looking from me to him and back again. She lifts her foot, moving it over to stomp mine, but I cross my legs, removing my foot from her reach. “Sadie,” I purr before I nod my head towards Catalina. “And that’s my step-sister, Cat.”

“Sisters,” he drawls. His eyes burn brighter, like the thought lit a fire deep inside him. Cat clears her throat, breaking the spell, and he laughs. “Don’t think your kitty likes me very much.”

“She’s partial to blondes with pigtails,” I say, flipping one pigtail over my shoulder.

“We have that in common,” he agrees, winking at her and taking a step closer to me. His movements are slow, calculated—predatorial. A heat forms low in my center before spilling out to the rest of my body in a river of fire. I suck my bottom lip, pulling one corner between my teeth.

“There a bathroom ‘round here?” he asks. Cat leans back in her chair and laughs, getting up to head to our truck. I try to stifle my delight, but a giggle still bubbles out.

I stand and brush my body against him as I head around the corner. I look over my shoulder and motion with one finger for him to follow. “Come on, baby. I’ll show you where it is.”