“I heard Serena screaming something at you when I came out. Did she say she knew him?”
I take a deep breath of Hollow Brook night air. I’ve long since become immune to the sour stench coming from the dumpster. “She said something about bumping into him earlier this evening. She kept referring to him as Dirty Boy. I didn’t get it. From what I gathered she had an unpleasant run-in with him when she arrived tonight and that was it. Something about bumping her lips to his neck. Then much later, she came out and saw something she will most likely never forget.” Neither of us will. The only other dead body I had ever seen was my sister, and I quickly usher all thoughts of my sweet sister out of my mind. She’s too sacred, too special to be mulling over next to a dumpster.
A couple of police officers step in. One asks to see the security footage, and Bryson takes off with him inside. The other takes copious notes while I give him my statement.
“I wish I could be of more help, but that’s all I’ve got.” I give him my card, the one that reads Collins and Associates at Law, and feel like an ass, like some ambulance chaser. And, believe me, I’m the farthest thing from it. I handle business law, real estate, mom and pop stores that need a helping hand. Hell, I’ve dabbled in corporate law, but homicide isn’t anywhere near my forte.
“Not a problem. I’m sure we’ll be in touch.” He takes off, and I spot Serena and Marlin near the back door so I head on over.
“Dude.” Marlin gives my arm a quick pat. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” I look to Serena. “And you?”
“Well, I’m just fine and dandy, too.” Her eyes burn like fire as she leans in and seethes, “Is this the part where I’m supposed to fake my feelings just to keep up with you? Well, I’m not. Someone was murdered right here in Hollow Brook, and I’m the one who found the body! I feel like crap. So, if you’ll both excuse me, I’m going to collect my things.” She looks to her brother. “I’ll be right out so you can give me a ride back to my dorm.”
We watch as she stalks off, angry, livid even—and why do I get the feeling all of that pent-up rage was directed at me? It seems nothing can cap those feelings of animosity she has toward me. I brush it off for the night. She’s had a hell of a trauma, and I’m not about to add to it.
“Tempest in a teapot.” Marlin rocks back on his heels. Marlin is a scruffy male version of his sisters with the exception of darker hair and masculine features. He’s a brick wall of a man with enough brawn to deter any criminal thinking about going against him, and right about now, I’m thrilled that he’s Serena’s brother. I’ve always had the notion I should stay on his good side.
“That she is, but she’s shaken, and it’s certainly understandable.”
“What are you doing here?” He folds his arms across that enormous chest of his, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say he was getting ready for a beatdown in the event my answer swerves in a lane he doesn’t approve of.
“Relax. I was supposed to meet up with a colleague of mine. In fact, he’s probably in there right now wondering where I am.” I’m not sure referring to Eli Gates as a colleague is the correct term, but in truth, my brain is fried from this boiled in oil night. “He’s the TA in the class I’ll be teaching come Monday. We were about to go over a quick game plan. He’s the same kid who’s interning at Collins and Associates this summer with my dad. My brother left quite a gap when he married your sister and ditched the firm.” I blink a smile, but Marlin’s hard edge doesn’t soften. “Okay, well, Axel is actually part-time now that he’s running his own place and helping Lex out with her business, so it’s all good. Anyway, I’ll be hanging out at this end of town for the next six weeks at least.”
“Good,” he grunts it out rough as if I had just agreed to whatever punishment he was about to inflict upon me. “I want you to keep an eye on Serena. The kid is a firecracker.”
“Dynamite,” I correct and finally get a chuckle out of him.
“All right. She’s taking a class this summer, too, so it looks as if you’ll be running in the same circles.” He nods back at the body and sniffs. “I’m not feeling too good about this mess. Hollow Brook hasn’t had a homicide in eight years. The last person to get killed was a—”
“Lawyer.” I know it well. He was an acquaintance of the family, my father’s longtime colleague.
His lips curve into a demented smile, and if I didn’t know better, there’s a threat layered in there somewhere.
“Good. You’re up on the law. I like that, and I expect that out of you.” He leans in. Those dark brows of his look menacing, like twin black snakes wiggling their discontent at me. “I expect a lot out of you, like making sure my sister is safe. And I’m not just talking about keeping her out of the hands of some homicidal maniac. I’m talking frat boys and bar trash and whoever else might be looking to get into her pants. You make sure she steers clear from trouble. I can’t be here and neither can Lex, but you’re the next best thing to family. Axel would want you to. You and I both know how much he loves my sister.”
I stare at this gruff and tough version of Serena. Lex is just as tough as nails. Serena is a pistol. The entire family is nuts in their own right. But I’m no fool. That entire diatribe he just spewed was laced with one threat after the other.
“I get it. You want your sister safe. And I will certainly do my best to keep an eye on her. But I’m telling you—I am not her favorite person. If I say go right, she will most certainly go left.”
He lets out a howl of a laugh, and just about every living, breathing body in the lot turns to glance our way.
His affect falls flat, and he gets that stony look back in his eyes. “You keep Serena safe. There’s a killer out there.” He slaps my arm hard like he means it. That shiny badge of his reflects off the red and blue lights spasming in the night air around us. “Stay safe yourself. I’ll drop by and check on things now and again.” He leans in with that brotherly I’m going to kill you if you make a wrong move with my sister look gleaming in his eyes. “Treat Serena as if she were your own kid sister. That’s all I ask.” He takes off, and I can’t help but glare at him a moment. I had a sister once, older, and she certainly didn’t treat me the way Serena does. Serena has a bite to her. She’s as feisty as that fiery hair suggests.
The coroner nods my way before tending back to his duties. The body of that poor guy sits there for all to see. His eyes still opened as he looks blankly to the sky.
Someone out there did this. And I will certainly do my best to keep an eye on Serena, to keep her safe. Like it or not, I’ve always felt damn protective of her. It only took a corpse to make me realize it.
Whitney Briggs University is alive and bustling—as much as the student body can bustle during the summer session. The sky is blue, the air hangs heavy and damp, and it feels like heaven to be in a crispy air-conditioned classroom. The students file in two by two as if this were the Noah’s Ark of scholastic achievement, and I can’t help but shed a tight grin when Serena walks in.
Her jaw unhinges. She lets out an indignant huff as if the very sight of me offends her, and I have no doubt it does. I knew she was in here. And, believe me, I had the very same reaction when I saw her name glaring back at me on the roster like some dark harbinger of dismal things to come.
“Hey.” Eli Gates nods my way and shakes his head. “No leering at the coeds. I’d hate to see you fired your first week on the job.”
“I’m not leering,” I say as I watch her take a seat down front. Her arms fold tightly over her chest as if I had just infuriated her with my evil plan to hijack her summer.
“You’re right. You’re grinning like a loon.”
I lose the smile and nod for him to take a seat. Eli reminds me of a younger, far more athletic version of myself. Same dark hair, sharp wit, same ability to draw a second look from the ladies. He’s been a great help in getting me keyed into the minutiae of the university.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Shepherd Collin
s, and I’ll be instructing this class alongside Dr. Miller. And since Dr. Miller prefers golf to standing by my side, he’s generously gifted me all of his students to do with as I please.” I can’t help but glance to Serena when I say it, and she covertly gifts me the finger. “As you know, this isn’t a traditional classroom setting. You’ll be assigned your internships, and I’ll be working the rounds as field supervisor. A number of facilities have generously agreed to allow you to work alongside them for the next few weeks where they will delineate the roles you’ll partake in. Each of you will be asked to develop and implement something that will enhance the environment you’re in. It must have a business application. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. We’re not talking about reinventing the pencil sharpener, or designing a koozie for everyone’s laptop. We’re talking innovation—we want to demonstrate that these are bright minds from Whitney Briggs ready to set the world on fire. This is the first class of its kind offered at the university, so you yourselves will set the tone and precedence of what happens next. Set the bar high. We expect big things, as should you.”
I spend the next twenty minutes fielding questions before I divvy out assignments and watch as the students take off looking, in the least, content with their placements. Serena is up last. She doesn’t bother getting out of her seat. She’s too busy glaring and pouting my way to move a muscle, so I bring it to her.
“Special delivery, princess.” I hold out the master sheet with her assignment and contact info on it. “You get the Black Bear. I figure no one knows the place like you do. Welcome to the class. I guess I’ll see you around, kid.”
She snatches the page out of my hand and glances at it before shoving it into her bag and springing to her feet.
“Smooth move.” Those sea green eyes of hers widen, and I can’t help but notice how long and natural her lashes look. So different than the girls I’m accustomed to, with their thick caulked on fibers that don’t resemble anything close to human hair. Serena is a natural beauty. She looks as fresh-faced, fresh-scrubbed, and coincidentally pissed as the day we met all those years ago. “I guess you really do want me to get picked off by that madman stalking the Black Bear.” She leans in until we’re all but nose-to-nose. “Don’t get yourself too excited, sweet cheeks. I’m still working there. This internship will be as easy as chewing gum and walking. And as for the business aspect, maybe I’ll invent a special radar that detects obnoxious lawyers who seem to enjoy wiggling into the nooks and crannies of my life.” She gives a little wink. “See you around, kid.” She takes off, and I stand there, unsure of how to process it. A part of me thought we’d circle back to the body we found. One might think that would be a bonding experience of sorts. The discovery of a corpse could surely mend a fence or two, but not in this case. Not shocking, considering Serena is at the other end of the fence.
It turns out, his name, the corpse, the dead guy, was Barry Larson, a welder who lived in Jepson. The cops don’t have a clue what happened other than the fact he was shot twice point blank to the chest with a .45.
Eli comes up and slaps me over the shoulder. “Dude, you look as if you’ve just had your ass handed to you. Don’t let these kids get to you.” He winces because he happens to be one of them, grad student or not. “You know what you need? You need to do something to loosen up—something that will take your mind off all the seriousness you carry around like a corpse. No pun intended.” He shoots me with his fingers as he walks backward out the door.
“What do you recommend?” I’m positive it will be the Black Bear. That tiny bar has been the panacea to a myriad of troubles as far back as when I attended this inglorious university.
He grimaces. “I don’t know, man. I’d say the Black Bear, but I saw that look Serena just gave you. I suggest you lay low. She can be a spitfire. Jepson’s got a new club that just opened up.” He gives a dark chuckle. “It’s called Anonymous. I’ll let you figure out why when you get there. If you check it out, be sure to report back to me. I’m dying to hear what you think.”
He evaporates into the humidity before I can refute the idea.
Dying to hear what I think. Dying seems to be a theme these days.
Poor Barry did die. And I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I’ve felt an undue amount of stress ever since that night. If I’m losing sleep over it, I can’t imagine how Serena must feel.
Anonymous. New club down in Jepson. Huh. Maybe that’s just what I need. If I’m up for it, I’ll check it out next Friday night.
It’s going to be a long, hot summer at Whitney Briggs any way you slice it. Serena bounces through my mind with those pouty lips, that feisty attitude, and something in me relishes the thought of getting in her air space for the next six weeks.
Let’s just hope the body count doesn’t rise because of it.
If Looks Could Kill
Serena
I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be free from my sister’s stronghold on me, free to see and speak to whomever I wish, gender be damned, and deep down, I thought that Whitney Briggs would be the answer to that. As much as I love Lex, and I do, her version of mothering me very much involves smothering. No sooner did the mortarboard leave my head after my high school graduation than Lex marched me over to Barnes, the all-girls university down the road, and signed me up for classes. If it wasn’t crystal clear before—it quickly became painfully apparent, my overprotective big sis didn’t want me anywhere near a potential sperm slinger. I’m not quite sure if it was the real fear of me getting myself knocked up—and, my God, it was sweet Sunday who actually filled those nightmarish shoes! But I digress. Lex has always feared me wandering away from my good senses when it came to boys, and, personally, I was insulted that she thought so little of me and my hormones. Yes, I like boys. I love men. But more importantly, I love myself, and I would never degrade myself in any way. I care about my body and my heart too much to do so, which is exactly why I’m presently scowling at Harley Shelton as we sit in the Black Bear.
“No,” I say it plain in the event her tingling ears want to misconstrue it for any other answer. “There’s no way you’re dragging me to some seedy place called Anonymous that’s opened up shop on the wrong side of Jepson. Especially not when there’s a deranged killer on the loose.”
Harley winces as if I’ve just struck her, and, oddly, she looks all the more stunning. Harley and her sister, Harper, are a level above the rest of us mere humans when it comes to their looks. They are abnormally good-looking in every capacity, and thus make me feel like a hairy, crooked big toe whenever I’m in the vicinity.
Harper is dating Knox, one of the hottest guys on campus, and the thought makes my stomach sour. Not because I want Knox for myself, God no—because it seems all the hot guys at Briggs are taken—case in point, Knox, Rex, Grant, Lawson, and yes, I’ll even throw Seth and Rush in there, too—they’re all armed with the eyes, bodies, and personalities any girl would kill to be with. Not that I’d want anything from Sunday’s baby daddy, Seth—or my cousin, Rush. But I don’t mind utilizing their trifecta of hotness just to prove my point.
Eli Gates comes to mind, and I twitch my nose at the thought of him. Yes, he’s gorgeous—captain of every team that requires a ball and he happens to be the TA in my summer class, but he’s never done it for me on a sexual level. And, believe me, he’s one of the hottest males to grace this planet, but the reason for my sexual pause is that I’ve had to listen ad nauseam how much Harley can’t stand him. I may not be an expert on the male species, but I’ve got a lock on girls, and this one in front of me has the mad hots for that boy. She could curse him all she wants in the open, but behind closed doors, I’m betting that girl is experiencing the female version of a wet dream about that boy, one night after the other.
“Yes.” She tilts that dark head of hair in my direction. Harley reminds me a bit of Lex in that way. Both of them are all hair and boobs. Not that I have anything against either, but as far as the hair goes, it’s as if t
hey have this whole living entity floating above their heads with its own emotions and gesticulating responses to whatever life has to throw their way. Her eyes glow greenish yellow like a cat’s. “You are going. And we’re going to have a damn good time. It’s the beginning of summer. You have to do something out of character and totally insane to unwind. Besides, we have to do something crazy at both the beginning and end of summer. It’s in the rules.”
“I’ve yet to read those dicey rules, and for your information I happened to have done something completely insane just a few nights ago. I found a body, remember?” I can’t help but hack those words out with a panicked aggression. “While you’re having lust-filled dreams about Eli Gates, I’m busy stumbling upon rotting corpses as I traipse through my own nocturnal wanderings. It’s a living hell, I tell you, and a wild time I never want to repeat, especially not in a few short weeks.”
A low growl emits from her. Eli Gates is a hard line, and I’ve crossed it. “I can promise you, no such heated dreams are steaming up my sheets, and if they are, they certainly aren’t starring that asshat who struts around like the campus peacock, emphasis on cock—as in prick!” The veins in her neck bounce, and I’m amused by how fast this got visceral. “Besides, you’re the only one I can take. Harper has everyone on campus looking out for me, and I can hardly make a move. I’m the pawn, and she’s the queen. And don’t think that her minions aren’t above snitching on you, too. I promise, Harper can give Lex a run for her overprotective money.”
“Did someone call my name?”
We look up to find none other than my famous—or rather infamous big sis and her dapper husband by her side. I can’t help but twist my lips a moment at how closely he resembles Shep.