Change of Heart - By S.E. Edwards Page 0,76

yanking the sweater over my head. I grab Amanda’s jacket, happy that it’s finally dry, and toss it on. I don’t know where Rich is, but—

That’s when I spot him. Curled up by a boulder in the sand, less than fifty yards away.

I see his footprints in the sand. They don’t extend past where he’s sleeping.

I huddle in my jacket for warmth and walk up to him. I’m careful not to make a sound. Yet, somehow, when I’m just over ten feet away, his sharp eyes open.

I look him up and down. His clothes are rumpled, his hair in disarray. There’s a tiny bit of bruising on his face from the fight last night. Even like that, he manages to look sexy as hell. “Did you spend all night here?” I ask.

“Of course,” he answers. “I couldn’t leave you alone.”

My heart melts a little inside. Rich stands up.

“Come on,” he says. “We’ve got to go.”

“Where?” I ask, following him back to the fire pit. He starts kicking sand over the ashes. I sit down and watch him.

“We’re going to meet Min,” he says. “I need to see her. From there… I have a plan that will keep you both safe.”

“Really? What is it?”

He give me a wry smile. “It’s a secret.”

“I think at this point, I deserve to know,” I tell him.

He shakes his head. “Not really. It’s better if you don’t.”

I feel a bit of irritation seep into me. “What? You don’t trust me?”

“It’s not that,” he says. “It’s just, the plan’s not fully formed yet. I’m still working out the kinks.”

“Maybe I can help.”

“Penny!” He says my name so sharply it causes me to stop short. “Just leave this alone, will you? I’ll tell you when I figure it all out. I promise.”

“Fine,” I grumble, crossing my arms. “I’m just not as useless as you seem to think.”

He clicks his tongue. “I don’t think you’re useless,” he says with a finality that ends the conversation.

Silence stretches between us like a yawning chasm. Rich continues covering up the fire. I can’t take the quiet much longer. “What are you doing?” I blurt out.

Rich looks at me. “I thought you’d never ask. I’m trying to hide our tracks. We don’t want anyone to know we spent the night here.”

“What, like Tam or Victor? How would they even begin to guess to look here?”

Rich shrugs. “It never hurts to be careful.”

“Says the man who started a bar fight last night,” I retort under my breath.

“What was that?”

I sit up. “Nothing.” I’d forgotten how sharp Rich’s ears can be.

“You said something,” he insists.

“I was just wondering how a boy who grew up in New York… a city boy,” I flash him a smile, “knows so much about…” I pause, searching for the right words, “…the world.”

“The world?” Rich sounds amused.

“You know,” I continue, “all this type of stuff.” I gesture at the fire. “Hiding our tracks. Off-road biking. The way you were so careful when we sneaked back into your apartment. Those kinds of things. Didn’t you grow up in the city, like me?”

“I did.”

“So how’d you learn all those practical things?” I pause. “And, come to think of it, why do you drive a truck? Isn’t your family super rich?” I speak without thinking, and instantly regret the words. My question is rude and probably crosses some line. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rich gets mad at me.

But he does not. He looks at me, thoughtful, and when he speaks, his words carry a deep inflection. “Penny, you have to understand that wealth…” he spreads his hands, “…is not all it’s cracked up to be. I guess from the outside, a statement like that sounds incredibly entitled. Ungrateful, even. But that’s not true.

“I grew up in the wealthiest suburb of New York. There was nothing I ever wanted that I went without. In theory, it might be a great life. But it’s not. Not really. I’ve seen what chasing money does to people. It turns them into cold, calculating, emotionless robots.”

Rich sits down beside me. “My father lived his whole life in pursuit of wealth. Look where that got him. In jail, with a son who hates his guts and a daughter who’s not much better. Not that he ever gave a shit about what we think.”

I look down at my hands. Rich keeps talking.

“I’ve seen firsthand how money can corrupt a person. It makes you do things you never would otherwise. And once you get a taste of opulence, it