Clique Bait - Ann Valett Page 0,75

slowly developing.

He sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Thank you,” I said. “I know this is a huge risk, with everything going on . . .”

“Which is why we can’t get caught,” he said.

I swallowed. “I just don’t want you risking everything because of me. I know I asked you in the first place, but if something did go wrong, you’re already in trouble with school. If you get arrested or—”

“We won’t.” His frown was set deep, and I could tell that even if he was quick to dismiss me, he was worried about it too. “Do you want coffee? I brought coffee.”

The idea of caffeine had my mouth watering, and William nodded to where a thermos sat in the cup holder. I opened the metal lid and took a sip, before screwing up my face and passing it to him. “I hate black coffee. Gross.”

“Hey, no complaining. You dragged me out of bed this early,” he pointed out before taking a mouthful. “That being said, I wasn’t getting much sleep.”

“Neither was I.”

William pulled onto the road and followed my directions toward Desmond’s house. The streets were empty, and our journey was so quick that it wasn’t enough time to settle my nerves even the slightest. I didn’t realize how much I was starting to dread my mission.

“Whose car is this?” I asked as we rounded the corner onto Desmond’s street. Instead of his usual flashy BMW, he was driving a smaller black one, which—although still luxurious—was a lot less conspicuous.

“My sister’s. She’d kill me if she knew I took it, but she won’t find out,” he said.

“You don’t talk about her much,” I said, desperate to fill the space between us with chatter. Something about him going against everything he’d said before—even when I was attacking him—had created an atmosphere that was hard to ignore. He cared about me, and now he was showing it with more than just words.

And, meanwhile, I continued to deceive him and shove him aside for a best friend I didn’t want to admit wasn’t here. If only it were a simple choice between her and him.

“My sister?” he asked, oblivious to what was brewing in my mind. “We’re not really that close anymore since she left for college.”

“I always wanted a sibling,” I said as he pulled up under a tree behind a large truck. Conveniently, it was parked in a position that let us blend in with the other cars on the street without obstructing our view.

“Funny, I used to try and convince her to run away from home so I’d be an only child,” he mused, a fond smile playing across his lips.

“That’s awful.”

“Not when she used to cut my hair in my sleep—or when she threw my pet lizard into the garden from the second floor. And once she ran over my new bike and blamed it on the fact that she was learning to drive.”

I laughed. “She threw the lizard out of the window, really?”

“I think it was because I melted one of her Barbies in the oven by accident.”

I pursed my lips in amusement and tried to see through the darkness to the unit closest to the street. I hadn’t considered that there were no streetlights providing clear illumination onto the building. “I used to think Monica and I were supposed to be sisters.”

William hesitated. “She’d have been lucky to have you as one.”

We were silent for a little while. “You probably think I’m obsessed with her.”

“Not obsessed,” William said. “Just very protective. But yeah, I think you might be holding on a little too tightly.”

Maybe I was. “It’s just—after everything they did to her, how they just walked away from it . . . it makes my blood boil. I can’t just back out because it’s getting too complicated.”

“I understand that,” he said. “There was a reason I agreed, Chloe. I know what they did, it wasn’t fair. What we did. And if revenge didn’t mean taking risks like this, then I’d still be all for it.”

“You don’t agree with me, but you’re still here for me,” I translated. My heart swelled.

He was quiet, his expression thoughtful as he pressed the backs of his fingers to his lips, leaning his elbow against the window.

I returned my focus to the house. Fear was starting to nibble at my mind. What if his neighbors thought we were suspicious and called the cops? What if one of the housemates stayed home sick today and we couldn’t get in? What about that test I