CHAPTER SEVEN
I YANKED MY T-SHIRT OVER MY HEAD AS THE midday sun filtered in through my sheer bedroom curtains. My parents were out of town until tonight doing a gig at a coffeehouse in Vancouver, which was a good thing. I was pretty sure they’d be unhappy with me cutting school. But it was a gorgeous day, and I had a mission—I was already feeling like the old me.
I went right for it. The skirt was tucked under my winter sweaters, where I liked to keep it hidden. Sometimes when I was feeling down, I’d wear the uniform for moral support. But I never told anyone that. It was sort of sad. But—this was different.
I wiggled out of my dark denim jeans and tossed them into the corner. Then I smoothed my hands reverently over the polyester fabric of the skirt. One foot at time, I stepped into it, pulling the waistband slowly over my hips and thighs until it rested at my waist.
Next I shook out the sleeveless top before pulling it down over my flesh-colored bra. Wow. I must have been downing more Frappuccinos than I realized—my cleavage was overflowing—okay for in the house, but not really game appropriate. Sort of like how Chloe used to dress. Provocatively.
I slid my feet into my official regulation-style sneakers, tying the laces tightly. Without missing a beat, I crossed over to my vanity, adrenaline already pumping. This felt right. This felt natural. I knew I’d be able to think and plan more clearly with the power of the skirt.
I picked up a ponytail holder and gathered my hair in one hand, securing the elastic with the other. Once I had it fastened, I selected a maroon ribbon from the bunch I kept draped across the top of my dresser. Holding it delicately, I wrapped it around my ponytail and tied it into a perfect bow. I took a step back, looked myself over, and smiled. My ritual was complete.
In uniform—albeit a tight one—I was in control. My cheer skirt (a little short), my top (a little revealing), and even my ribbon (perky as ever!) were what I was born to wear.
Suddenly I wasn’t scared anymore. I was seriously PO’d. Someone had been tampering with my name, my computer, and—worse yet—my reputation. And I had a pretty good feeling I knew who she was.
With renewed determination, I walked out of my bedroom ready to fight. Ready to claw out the eyes of the imposter. It was only a matter of time before she exposed our identities, and that was totally unacceptable.
I crossed my living room, my sneakers squeaking against the wood floors. I loved that sound. Pacing the room, I began to formulate a plan. I knew the skirt would help!
Okay, first I was going to drive toward Chloe’s neighborhood and see if there was a clear path to her room. Then I’d—
A shuffling sound behind me made my back go rigid. I paused at the edge of the kitchen and spied my car keys lying on the granite counter. Quickly I grabbed them, holding them between my knuckles as a weapon. I swallowed hard. Someone was here. I’d read about stranger danger in last month’s Cosmo—
“Hey, baby.”
“Aaiii!” I spun around, swinging my key weapon, striking out wildly. Aiden screamed back, obviously not expecting me to stab him in the ribs.
“Tess!”
“Frizzlesticks, Aiden! What are you doing here?” My heart was pounding out of my chest. Relief followed by giddiness at seeing Aiden were almost too much for me to handle. I dropped my car keys on the floor with a clank and to put my hands on his shoulders.
Aiden was bent over, holding his left side near his rib cage and looking up at me like I was the crazy one.
“Aw, f*ck,” he said quietly. “Am I bleeding?” He lifted up the side of his T-shirt, peering down at his chest.
Luckily he wasn’t bleeding. But I glanced over his torso anyway, just to survey the damage. Okay, he was bleeding a little. I bit my lip guiltily.
“I am so sorry. You scared me and—”
“Tess,” he said, sucking in a harsh breath. “Can you get me a bandage and an ice pack or something? It hurts.”
I widened my eyes. “Oh. Right. Hang on.” I dashed to the bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet until I found my favorite pink Band-Aids with the strawberries. They were really cute. Just the sort of thing to cheer him up.
When I got back, I handed one to him with an apologetic smile. “They’re scented,” I told him. He rolled his eyes and handed it back.
“Can you please put it on for me? It’s hard to see the spot where I was stabbed.”
Sheesh. I’d already apologized. Besides, he had no idea what kind of pressure I’d been facing. Aiden pulled his T-shirt over his head, tossing it on the kitchen table, and stood there, barechested. Kind of sweaty. I breathed in deeply, loving that athletic smell.
I glanced up to meet his green-eyed stare.
“Like you haven’t seen it before,” he mumbled as he looked toward the ceiling with a huge grin.
I laughed, but it didn’t stop me from taking a little longer than necessary (I was really concentrating on applying the adhesive). “There,” I whispered, smoothing it down.
“Thank you, baby,” he said, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “And hello. It’s nice to see you. I have to say, I’ve definitely missed this uniform.” He must have noticed the cleavage too.
“Sorry I assaulted you.” I did feel awfully bad about that. “You just—”
“I know. I was trying to surprise you, not give you a heart attack. I stopped by the school to see Darren and bumped into Kira. She said you left early. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m just happy to see you. I called you a little while ago, but you didn’t answer.”
“Must have been on my way here,” he said before walking over to the fridge. “Oh, yeah,” he said, peering inside. “Your back door was unlocked. That’s how I got in. Did you forget to lock it this morning?”
“What? It was? No.” I looked toward the living room and furrowed my brow. I was 99.5 percent sure that I’d locked it before school.
Alarmed, I ran my fingers along the door frame. I gasped. Deep scratches.
“Aiden,” I said, my voice trembling, “someone broke in again!” My heart nearly exploded in my chest as I slammed and locked the door.
Jimmying open my lock was bad form. Sneaking in a window. Using a pick. All acceptable forms of breaking and entering. But actually damaging my property? Inexcusable. This copy-Kitten was either a complete rookie spy or thoroughly evil.
“Broke in?” Aiden asked. “What the hell do you mean, again?” He stomped over and protectively draped his arm around me. He was breathing heavily, as if he was ready to fight. He was still shirtless.
“Someone’s been in your house?” His eyes were wide as he searched the room. “No wonder you’re spazzing out, Tess. You should have told me.” He exhaled. “Stay here. I need to make sure the house is safe.”
“Safe?” I squeaked. It hadn’t occurred to me that they could still be here. I’d just gotten dressed! What if some creepy stalker had been watching me? I sucked in a frightened breath.
Aiden took his hands from me, jetting his gaze around carefully until it landed on my mother’s empty crystal candy dish from the side table. He lifted it above his head and slowly crept toward my room, looking decidedly dangerous.
I gulped. If someone was in my room, they’d need more than a strawberry Band-Aid once Aiden got done with them. My ex-boyfriend (sort of) was not about to let me get stalked. Um… again.
As I stood alone in my living room, all that registered was silence. But after a few minutes, my brain began to generate every horrible scenario imaginable. I couldn’t wait any longer.
I walked toward my room, running my hand along the tan-painted wall to steady myself. “Aiden,” I whispered. He didn’t answer. I shouldn’t feel this frightened. I’d been scaling trellises my entire high school career. But now I was acting like a scaredy-cat!
When I reached my half-closed door, I took a steadying breath. The hallway was silent, more silent than it should have been. As I slowly began to push open the door, I felt a tickle in my nose. I tried to wiggle it away, but it was too late.
I sneezed. A full-force, loud, bend-over sneeze. I knocked my forehead into my bedroom door and Aiden yelped as it banged into his back.
Then he dropped the crystal. There was a thunk (my head), a yelp (Aiden), and then the sound of glass breaking (loudly).
“Shit, Tessa!” Aiden yelled, holding his back where the doorknob had struck him. “I told you to wait!” He looked frustrated. Aiden’s unexpected visit wasn’t going all that well.
I reached up to feel my forehead. I was no longer scared, but definitely kind of sore. My forehead would no doubt be bruised after this little stunt. I couldn’t believe that even in uniform, I could feel this discombobulated. “Ow,” I said.
Aiden sighed, then stepped carefully around the broken shards of dish. He paused in front of me, reaching out to cup my face and tilt it up to him. “The room’s clear,” he said, his gorgeous green eyes shifting from my wound to my eyes. “But you’ve got a lump.” He ran his finger over it gently. “And I have a stab wound.”
I scrunched my nose. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he whispered, leaning over to kiss my shoulder, his fingers at the waistband of my skirt. “It just means that later, you’re going to have to be nice to me. Really nice.”
Heat rushed over me as I closed my eyes, letting Aiden wrap me up in his arms. I had so much to talk to him about, but I didn’t want to ruin the moment. I just wanted him.
I lay back into the soft chenille sofa with an ice pack on my head. After Aiden and I made out vigorously—working on our relationship—I realized that the bump on my head was totally killing me. Now he was being sweet—tending to my skull between bites of ice cream.
“So,” I asked him as he spooned some Chunky Monkey into my mouth. “How did things go at school? Did you talk to Darren?” I let the bite slide down my throat, but I was still uneasy. I didn’t know if Aiden had heard that SOS had been revealed, and I wasn’t sure I was ready for him to know. He might go ballistic with worry.
“Yep,” Aiden said, licking the back of the spoon before dipping back into the pint of ice cream. He glanced over at me. “Darren told me about SOS. That it’s all over school. That some”—he held up finger quotes—“ ‘crazy bitches’ are spying on people.” Aiden looked away and took a heaping spoonful of ice cream, chomping on it like he was mad. “What have you girls gotten yourselves into?” he asked, scooping more ice cream and holding it out to me.
I felt a familiar heat rise in my face, and I waved away the spoon. “Gosh darn it, Aiden! We haven’t done anything.”
He studied me, reading my reaction, before nodding. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean it like that. It was just hard hearing him describe you—or the old you—and pretending I knew nothing about it.”
I pulled the ice off my forehead, feeling the onset of a headache. I was truly offended. I’d done everything I could to change my life, and it hurt that Aiden still didn’t realize that. And it made me wonder if he’d been listening to me at all.
“I told you we’ve stopped spying,” I murmured, sitting up to look at him. I left out the part about my pending investigation of Chloe. Aiden wasn’t in the right frame of mind to hear about that.
He smiled, narrowing his eyes. “You also told me you quit cheerleading and, well…” He reached out and brushed at the hem of my skirt.
“I know this looks bad, but the girls need me.” In more than just cheering.
He met my glare unapologetically. “It’ll always be something, right, Tess?”
I wasn’t sure what to think about us anymore. Obviously he hadn’t gotten over his trust issues with me. Gosh, you tell one really big lie (for two years), and you never get trusted again. It was hardly fair. I’d said I was sorry.
We had been quiet for a few minutes when I heard my phone ring from the bedroom. It was good, something to break up the awkward party I was currently hosting on my couch.
“Do you want me to get it?” Aiden asked.
I struggled to stand up, but I was a little woozy. I must have hit my head harder than I’d thought. “If you wouldn’t mind?”
He popped up off the couch and strolled toward my room, his long legs looking effortlessly agile in his track pants. I glanced at the clock on the cable box and saw that it was getting late. I needed to get ready for my surveillance, but I didn’t want to be rude to Aiden. Ugh! I’d forgotten how hard it was to sneak around! I flopped onto the sofa and placed the ice pack over my forehead. Maybe I wasn’t ready for this.
“Tessa,” Aiden said, making me jump. I hadn’t heard him come back. I looked up to see him standing above me. “It’s Leona,” he added, holding out the phone.
Oops. She probably wanted a status update…and I didn’t have one. I sat up, feeling unsteady. When I had readjusted my position, Aiden put his hand over the receiver. “I’m sorry for being an a*shole,” he whispered.
I immediately perked up. “It’s okay.” I was ready to make up right now, even with Leona waiting on the phone.
“I just…” Aiden paused. He pressed his mouth into a smile and shook his head. “Never mind.” He laughed. “We’ll talk about it when you get off the phone.”
Interesting. Completely set on telling Leona to call back later, much later, I pressed the phone to my ear. Aiden brushed his legs against mine as he moved past. I smiled, warmth spreading all over me.
I didn’t want to waste any of our time together. Every day I felt us growing farther apart, and even the possibility made my insides ache. So without saying a word, I hung up the phone, leaned over, and kissed him.
ASSIGNMENT 2
10:30 P.M., SEPTEMBER 17
The operative rested her boots on the dash of her car as she lounged back, popping her gum. Typically Skinner Butte was full of steamed-up SUVs and Hondas, but tonight was quiet. Just a few people sitting on the cliff, watching the skyline. Her target hadn’t arrived. This case was taking too long. She should have had a confirmation by now. The SOS files never showed a problem like this before. It was irritating.
She took out her phone, glancing through the messages, both her and the suspect’s. Riley had been texting Megan since the moment she’d left the pizza place, but she wasn’t responding. The operative wondered about this. Wondered if actively not cheating was still enough reason to keep investigating. She decided it was and readied her equipment.
A few minutes later, a black Ford F-250 pulled up to the butte. Immediately behind it was a red sedan with an open sunroof. Jenn.
They arrived just as they had arranged, and the operative knew that this would be it. This was definitely a cheat in progress; it had all the signs. As she scrambled to correct her seat, her elbow accidentally bumped the horn; the loud toot caused Jenn and Tate to jump from where they stood across the dirt hillside.
The operative froze in her spot, hoping that she hadn’t just blown her cover. When Tate and Jenn turned back toward each other, she let out the breath she’d been holding. That was close.
There wasn’t any way to get audio on this mission, so the operative grabbed the long-range camera from inside her pack. When the image was too dark, she switched it to night vision and let the green-hued figures come into focus.
The operative had been taking an online class on how to read lips, and she hoped to put her newfound skills to use. This was a time when words could be very incriminating. She zoomed in on Jenn’s face and squinted.
“Tate,” the operative mumbled as she read aloud. “We can’t do this. It’s not fair to Riley.”
Tate shook his head, his dark hair hanging loose around his face. “I don’t care about Riley. I care about you. I love you.”
The operative swallowed hard but filmed the scene anyway, knowing that after the L word, a kiss was imminent.
Jenn closed her eyes and rubbed at her face before staring back at Tate. “I love U2,” she mouthed.
U2? The band was great and all but…Oh. The operative widened her eyes and regained her composure. She knew it was only moments until lip lock.
“Come here,” Tate said, taking Jenn by the wrists and pulling her to him. He wrapped her right up in his arms and rested his cheek on top of hers, facing the operative. “I’ll wait as long as I need,” he said. “I’ll wait until you’re ready.”
“Damn it,” the operative hissed. How had all the cheaters grown morals all of a sudden? It made her think of the guy she had cared about and how he—she paused. She wouldn’t go there.
Figuring the night for a lost cause, the operative lowered her camera and tucked it back into her bag. She watched for a few minutes as the couple sat together and admired the skyline. Her nail polish had begun flaking off. As much as she tried, she couldn’t wrap her head around this assignment.
When people were in love, they weren’t supposed to cheat. And Riley and Jenn claimed to love each other. And they claimed to love other people. In fact, Jenn and Megan were friends. What sort of friend did that? And what sort of girl loved two boys at once?