Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 129986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
“Mom?”
Thankfully, she’s just in the bathroom.
I don’t want to worry her over nothing, but I still find myself checking every room to make sure nothing is amiss.
I’m fully aware how crazy this is, and I feel crazy, but I don’t know what else to do.
It occurs to me that Hannah might know where Anae is, so I shoot her a quick message even though she never responded earlier. That one wasn’t urgent and this one is.
“Hey, sorry to bother you,” I write, “but I was just wondering if you could do me a favor. No big deal if not, but do you know if Anae is home right now?”
I wait, chewing on my bottom lip. Her icon shows she’s online and a moment later she messages back, “No, she left a while ago. Why?”
“This is going to sound crazy, but I think she tried to lure me to the beach behind Dare’s house.”
“WHAT? Did you go?”
“No. I mean, yes, but not where she told me to. The note told me to go to this cave, but Dare would have told me to go somewhere else if we were meeting to watch the sunset like she claimed in the note. Something felt off, so I texted him, and he said it wasn’t from him at all.”
“She’s really good at forgery,” Hannah sends back.
“Yeah, that’s what Dare said.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time she did something like that either. When my dad first died a few years ago, she started leaving me notes in his handwriting to convince me he was still alive. It was seriously messed up, but the handwriting looked so much like his, I started to believe it.”
My eyes widen. “Oh my god! What kind of psychopath would do a thing like that?”
“Sociopath,” Hannah corrects. “Psychopaths tend to be more cool-headed. Anyway, yeah, it definitely sounds like she set you up.”
“Well, that’s freaking scary.”
“Yeah, it is,” Hannah agrees. “I’ll keep my ears open. It’s unlikely she would plot around me, but if I overhear anything, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks,” I send back. I hesitate to say what I’m thinking, but it feels so crazy in my head, I need another opinion. “Hey Hannah?”
“Yeah?” she writes back.
“I can’t swim. Anae knows that.”
I don’t complete the path of my thought, but Hannah is able to piece it together. “Then whatever you do, don’t end up alone with her anywhere there’s water.”
Chapter thirty
Dare
“Are you staying for dinner, Anae?”
We’re on the couch watching TV. Anae’s lying back on a tower of pillows, her bare legs stretched across my lap. She tilts her head to look back at my dad standing in the archway, her hands instinctively going to the plunging neckline of her dress to draw his attention there while she toys with it. “Oh, I don’t think so, Mr. Darington,” she says with feigned sweetness. “Cinderella’s making my favorite tonight.”
I give her leg a squeeze. “You sure? You should stay.”
She looks at me, surprised. “Yeah?”
I shrug. “If you want to.”
Her eyebrows rise and she tips her head back to look at my dad while giving him a strategic peek at her cleavage. “All right, I guess I’ll stay.”
I glance over my shoulder and watch my dad tear his gaze from my girlfriend’s tits, nod gruffly, then disappear into the other room.
Anae smirks and leans up to whisper in my ear, “Your dad wants to fuck me.”
I smirk, my gaze trained on the TV. “No kidding.”
She settles back against the pillows again, her ego momentarily satisfied. “Does that make you mad?”
“He can want to all he wants. Only I get to.”
She grins, turning her head and glancing at the television.
“Speaking of fucking,” I say slowly, still absently trailing a finger along her smooth legs. “I finally fucked Aubrey.”
Her gaze snaps back to me, instantly alert. “You did?”
I nod. “You were right, virgins are boring fucks.”
She smirks a little, but she’s too curious to be satisfied with that crumb. “I told you.”
I nod, looking back at the TV. “Under the covers, lights out, clumsy hands.”
“Ugh, I’m sorry, baby. Insecure people are so gross.”
“The first time was so tiresome, I decided to drug her for the second round.”
Her face registers surprise. “Really?”
I nod, tracing the curve of her kneecap. “That was a little more fun, but she was literally passed out, so I can’t give her much credit for it.”
Anae bites down on her bottom lip to contain her amused smile. “I didn’t know you were into that.”
“Yeah, neither did I,” I say dryly. “Your little stepsister has been a surprising pain in my ass. I had to pay her a visit the other night.”
I feel her stiffen, but she tries to play it cool. “You visited Hannah the other night?”
“Mm-hmm. While you were asleep.”
Anae swallows. “What kind of visit was it?”
“Just a short one. Had to put a little scare in her to get her to back off. I was surprised to find she was still in her old bedroom,” I remark. “All that expensive silk on her bed. So comfortable.”