“Don’t let him take your license, Aaron!” Harper yells.
We both look at her. “What?”
“He collects them!” she shouts.
I sigh and shake my head.
“Youcollect driver’s licenses?”
“No,” I tell him. “She’s confused.”
“Let him go, you big…rascal!”
Maria nudges Harper. “We need to work on your put-downs. That was lame.”
“I’ll let him go when I’ve gotten rid of the evidence.”
“You can’t go disposing of people’s bodies, Chris!” Harper snaps.
Aaron’s face pales as I turn away. “How much have you had to drink?”
“Just one shot,” she says, holding up three fingers. She turns to Maria. “I’ve seen how they do it. On a show. Hydroflu- Umm. I mean, hydroflop-” She hiccups. “Some acid. It dissolves the bones and everything.”
“Really? OMG!” Maria gasps. “Who did that?”
“Walter White,” Harper says.
“It’s hydrofluoric acid,” I tell her. “And
Breaking Bad isn’t a documentary. Don’t drink anymore.” I turn back to Aaron. “I’m talking about the camera, not his body.”
“Not the camera!” he pleads. “That costs a thousand dollars!”
I shrug. “You should have thought about that before you asked Harper to shoot your little porno movie.”
“That’s enough!” Harper screams, stumbling between us.
She’s trying to grab the camera, but I hold her away with one arm and scroll through the images.
Holy shit. Not like I’mever going to unsee this. She looks amazing. With Harper still cursing and flailing her arms beside me, Maria joins my side.
“Wow! Look at her! My best friend is so freaking hot. Just wait till the class sees these!”
“No one is seeing these,” I say, stepping away from both of them. “I’m deleting them.”
Harper folds her arms. “It’s art! If you don’t give Aaron his camera back, I swear to god, I’ll go out there and give one of those creeps a lap dance right now. How do you think my dad would feel aboutthat?”
She blows a kiss to a snooping patron near the door.
“Your choice, Private Collins.”
I snap my head to the guy near the door. “Fuck off. Now!”
The guy holds up his hands and backs away.
Harper looks nervous as I approach her.
“You want to play with fire, kiddo?” I pull out my lighter and strike it. “Fine. I’ll show you fucking fire…”
FOURTEEN
Harper
Still holding his lighter, Chris opens up the camera and shakes the SD card into his hand.
“This thing waterproof?” Chris says.
“I don’t know,” Aaron says. “Why?”
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Making sure no one ever sees this filth,” Chris replies.
We all stare wide-eyed as he pinches the SD card between his thumb and finger before lifting his lighter.
“Stop it!” I yell.
He just stares at me as the plastic ignites, warping and releasing black smoke around his hand. The wavy yellow flame flickers up his finger, but he doesn’t move an inch.
How the hell is that not hurting him?
“You’re insane,” I mumble.
He smirks. “If you play with fire…you get burned.”
The smoke detector shrieks a high-pitched alarm above us. As Chris drops the molten plastic to the floor, I look up just in time to see a fine jet of water sprinkling down on Aaron. He just sits there under the shower.
Poor guy.
Chris walks up to him and drops the camera in his lap.
“If you ever ask Harper to do anything like this again, I’ll shove this camera so far down your throat you’re going to shit Polaroids for a month. Do we understand each other?”
“It was just an art project!” I shout. “It was all my idea.”
“Well that’s total BS,” Maria says and I glare at her. “What’s wrong with your eyes, girl? I was literally standing right there when Aaron asked if he could take shots of you. He even bought the outfit.”
“No. He. Didn’t,” I hiss as quietly as I can.
Maria finally understands, and I’m pretty sure Chris sees her wink at me. “Ohhh. Shit. My bad. Totally Harper’s idea. Never seen an idea that was more Harper’s than this one.”
“Stop talking,” I mumble.
A huge security guard bursts into the dark room. “Is there a fire?”
“Nope. Everything is fine,” Chris replies.
“It’snot fine,” I tell him, pointing at Chris. “This man broke into a private room, threatened my friend, and vandalized his property. Call the police. I want to file a report.”
The seven-foot-tall guard just nods at Chris. “You sure everything is fine, sir?”
What the hell?
“Yup,” he says, nonchalant.
“No!” I scream. “Hello! He’s
Mr. Invisible, not me. I am here. Hellooo!” I wave my arms around, but the guard won’t acknowledge me. “I want to file a report!”
“Time to leave,” Chris says to me. “Are you going to calm down and behave?”
I stamp my foot. “No!”
“Fine.” He leans down and tosses me over his shoulder. “No supper for you, kiddo.”
“Get off me!” I squeal as he marches to the door. “Put me down, you big oaf!”
Maria giggles in the background. “Seriously, Harps. First thing tomorrow we’re working on your insult game.”
“I’m being kidnapped!” I yell at the customers. “Stop waving at him! He’s a kidnapperer!”
Chris chuckles. “Think you mean kidnapper. But you got the ‘kid’ part right.”
The outdoor air hits me hard. The ground spins beneath me, but I can’t take my eyes off the way his blue jeans hug his ass.
And now he’s whistling like he’s not exerting any effort. I hear the familiar click of his car door as he pulls it open. He then places me down on the front passenger seat.
“Booster seat is on order,” he says. “You think you can manage the seat belt?”
“Nope.”
“Thought not.” Chris grabs the belt and reaches past me to click it in place.
God, he smells so good. “There. Wasn’t so hard, was it?”
I try to lock him outside, but I press the wrong button and start the windshield wipers. Staring at me as he walks around the front of his car, he pulls open the door before climbing inside and grinning at me.
“Nice try,” he says, switching off the wipers.
Just as he starts the ignition, I push open my door before he can activate the child lock.
“Oh no,” I say. “Now you’ll have to get out and close it.” He just smirks and hits the gas. “I’m not closing it.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.