Victory at Prescott High (The Havoc Boys #5) - C.M. Stunich Page 0,148

several dozen white candles. In addition to that, I grab some blankets, a new tube of pink lipstick called Finish Lines, and a chocolate cake.

Afterwards, we drive over to this Thai food place that I’m obsessed with to pick up takeout. While I’m waiting for the order to be filled, I pretend that I need to use the bathroom, slip out the back door of the restaurant, and sneak around to the front of the liquor store that’s next door.

I’m in and out in a jiffy with two bottles of stolen Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey. The tagline for this brand is Tastes Like Heaven, Burns Like Hell. And if that isn’t the most apt slogan for my life right now then I’m not sure what is.

Sounds difficult to steal something as large as a one-point-seven-five-liter bottle, right? Let alone two of them. The thing about thievery is, most stores have little to no security. And even when they do, their security officers are usually neutered to the point where they can only ask for you to return said merchandise and take a seat in their office. They can’t even fucking touch you. So, the answer to how it is that we manage to steal shit is twofold. One, it’s far easier to steal things than anybody thinks. More often than not, you can waltz right out of a store with an entire cart worth of crap and nobody can or will stop you. Second, Havoc is exceptionally good at what we do.

“I want to go somewhere quiet, somewhere remote,” I say, after I slip back in the Eldorado where Oscar, Aaron, and Victor are waiting. For once, Vic didn’t bring his Harley. I think he knew that I needed to drive, and I also think he couldn’t bear to be separated from me. Not today. Not today when … I don’t let myself think about it.

Not yet.

I think, if they’d had the choice, Hael and Callum would be in here, too. But even though the Caddy can technically seat six, it wasn’t meant for five beefy boys with rippling muscles and attitudes the size of Alaska. Plus, it’s sort of a safety thing with us. What if one of the cars breaks down and we’re in a sticky situation? It’s always best to have two, at least.

“Let’s go to my grandmother’s house,” Victor says, and I glance over at him, sitting in the front seat with Aaron between us. “It meets all of your requirements.”

I think about that for a moment because, ultimately, this is my decision to make.

Today is a monumental day in so many ways.

It’s my day.

The day my mother died.

Something strange catches inside of me as I start the car and send us screeching out of the parking lot. The Camaro follows and so do the cops, but I don’t really care if they know where we’re going. Even if we did outrun them again, they’ll catch up to us. And if we remove the trackers, well, that’ll just rouse Sara’s suspicions even further.

“Should we really trespass with the cops on our asses?” I ask, and Vic gives me a small, secretive little smile. It’s Oscar, however, that’s the one to answer from the backseat.

“We’re in escrow,” he tells me, folding his arms on the front seat and watching me as I drive, fuzzy pink dice swaying in such a way that they catch his attention and cause him to scowl in feigned annoyance. He pretends like Hael’s cuteness and quirks bother him, but that’s a total heap of crap. He loves the guy just as much as I do. “When we inquired with Ophelia about holding the wedding there, we discovered that the property was in the process of transferring hands to the city.”

“Unpaid property taxes,” Vic explains as Aaron snorts. “We agreed to pay those off in exchange for the city offering us a onetime use permit.” Victor leans back in the seat, crammed up against Aaron and me. “And now, yeah, we’re in escrow. The city liked our offer.”

“Where are we getting the money for this?” I ask, because I imagine that fifty-grand we had in our account is nearly gone. I haven’t much had the head for finances as of late. And anyway, that isn’t the king and queen’s job: it’s the accountant’s.

“Let me worry about the finances,” Oscar purrs, reaching out to stroke some hair back from my face. “You have noticed we haven’t been giving out weekly allowances? We’ve sold off the