Page 127 of Lawton

"Yup." I stared across the room, wondering how long I could keep this up. I thought of the stuff I'd seen at her place – the poster, the naked picture, the footage of who-knows-what on that silver disk.

Sitting there, my arm felt stiff, and so did my face. Unlike Brandy, and now Chloe, too, I'd never been good at faking things. I wanted to turn and ask her why. Why had she done this? What did she want? Money? Fame? A funny story to tell her friends?

Had the whole thing been a lie right from the get-go?

One way or another, I'd eventually find out. But for now, I had to keep quiet, so that's what I did. For a long time, she was quiet, too. The minutes dragged, and the silence stretched. Any minute now, she'd need to go.

Good.

Next to me, Chloe shifted on the sofa. Her voice was hesitant. "So, you mentioned you wanted to tell me something?"

That's right. I had. Earlier, I'd been about to tell her that I loved her, and maybe more than that. Funny timing, huh?

I shrugged. "Nah."

She paused. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yup."

With a sigh, she pulled away. "Alright, tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"What'd he say?"

"Who?"

"Now who's playing dumb?" she said. "Bishop. Who else?"

"He didn't say anything."

"Bull," she said. "You were gone forever. He must've saidsomething."

Yeah, he'd said something, alright. On top of everything else, he'd mentioned that he'd seen those two guys before. On the night of my birthday party, he'd caught them at the back fence, trying to pick their way through the narrow back gate.

It was the gate near Chloe's house. And then, maybe an hour later, Chloe just happened to fall over that same section of fence. Half-naked, no less. And there I was, her knight in shining armor, going in for the rescue.

I recalled how she looked, trembling in the mulch. Whatwasthat? A test run? Practice for the main event? Throw out the bait and see if I'd go for it?

Sitting there, a cold rage settled over me. She'd played me perfectly, hadn't she? It was almost like she'd had a script. Hadshewritten it? Or someone else? I thought of the douchebag. He seemed the type.

"Well?" Chloe said.

My shoulders were tight, and my heart was hammering. Trying to hide it, I only shrugged.

"Something happened," she persisted. "What is it?"

This was bullshit. Abruptly, I turned to face her. "You really wanna know?"

She drew back, looking startled and maybe a little afraid. After a long moment, she gave a shaky nod.

I turned to stare at the far wall, trying like hell to keep it together. "Forget it." She needed to leave. Like now. I turned back to her and said, "You gotta work tonight, right?"

After brief hesitation, she nodded.

"Then you should probably just go."

She shook her head. "What?"