"Basically she acted like a slut." Zach slumped onto the couch. I didn't miss his derogatory tone and wanted to crawl under the floorboards and die.
He must have noticed my expression, because his eyes suddenly rounded. "I didn't mean...you were a nice slut. I mean, you were really good at it. I mean..." He cringed.
Speechless, I kept my glare dark and stalked towards the kitchen.
"I'd stop now, if I were you." Alex slapped Zach on the back of the head and I was almost grateful for it.
"I'm sorry, Lucy. I didn't mean it that way." His brown gaze was wracked with regret.
I shook my head, forgiving him with a forced smile. It sure felt like he meant it, though. The words and tone didn't suit my usually sensitive boyfriend. They stung like nettles, making me loathe what I already hated about myself. I flung open the cupboard in search of a glass.
This was a bad idea. I should never have just thrown myself into a con like this. We didn't even research the kid. I just threw on my flirt moves and rushed headlong at a ticking time bomb. Alex's questions were bugging me. When did Tenner get back?
What if he sprung early and arrived halfway through the party unannounced? If he caught us in his office with his son knocked out, we had no way to predict his behavior. This was all kinds of stupid.
"I love the idea." Alex clapped his hands together as Zach wrapped up our master plan.
I shoved my glass under the faucet and filled it with water. My hands were trembling as I gulped down the liquid.
"You know I have a friend at the university who can probably help me out on the chloroform thing. He's doing post grad studies in Chemistry. A total science nerd." He grabbed his phone and started texting.
I caught Zach's eyes on me as I plonked the glass on the counter.
"Sorry," he mouthed with a pained expression.
I flicked my hand, too edgy to stay mad with him over his comments. I didn't have the energy for irritation, my mind and stomach were already filled with a hornet's nest of doubts. I was struggling to think straight. I should be running in the opposite direction, making myself disappear, but no - I was planning on going into the home of my parents' killer and making moves on his son.
Bile crept up my throat. I clenched my jaw and forced it back down.
"Sweet. He's there now. I'm gonna head over and see if he can help me. I'll be back in an hour tops. You guys start making a list of everything you need for tonight." Alex grabbed his keys, shoving his wallet and phone into his back pocket as he descended the stairs.
And then there were three. Elliot had come back to the house with Alex and stuck around until we got back. I glanced between Zach and him, then rubbed my temples. "Okay, Elliot can you at least look up some info on chloroform. We want to use it right. We need it to knock him out long enough for us to do our thing and get out of there, but we don't want to hurt him."
Elliot tapped a few keys, his eyes scanning the screen before he made a face and hissed.
"What?"
"I don't know, this stuff looks kind of risky."
"Isn't this whole thing kind of risky?" I scoffed, placing my hands on the counter with a sigh.
"I'm just saying if you use too much, it could kill him."
Zach nodded, standing from the couch and hitching up his jeans. The paleness of his cheeks highlighted his freckles and his nerves. I was worried he couldn't swing tonight. How could I go in there confidently if I was worried my wingman might fall apart? He held it together at the cafe today, but this party was a whole different ball game. He'd have to socialize, sell the lie as if it were 100% truth.
"You guys, are we sure we should be—"
The doorbell cut me off. Elliot looked up from his screen, a frown denting his forehead. Zach shrugged and headed down the stairs. My nails drummed on the linoleum counter top as I strained to hear voices.
"How'd you know we were here?"
"Elliot replied to my text, unlike other people around here." AJ loomed into the room, his presence feeling big and ominous. His amiable face was devoid of a smile, his narrow eyes finding me across the room and hitting me with a dark look that told me I was no longer in the friend zone. He was even wearing black-rimmed glasses today, a very sombre substitute for his orange pair.
Zach threw Elliot an eye dagger behind AJ's back. Elliot tried to look innocent as he leaned back in his chair and scratched the edge of his lip.
"I thought we were meeting up later. I didn't expect you to drive to Frisco."
"Yeah well I didn't expect you guys to be so mean to Jaeda last night so I guess we're all full of surprises."
"It wasn't like that, man." Zach tried to slap him on the shoulder, but AJ moved out of range, spinning around and towering over Zach.
"Really? So she didn't wake Liesl up in tears at like one o'clock in the morning, wondering why her family was being ripped apart?"