he touched lately?"
"He doodled in Mr. Hankins class today, but that was it," I murmured.
"So who's in Mr. Hankins' class?"
"I don't know." I sighed, washed my hands, and moved back to the bedroom. "This is useless. The cops can figure that out, but I want to know who comes to the party and who doesn't."
Something in my voice caught at Bryce's attention. He stopped and commented, "What?—you don't think he's coming, do you?"
"No." I rolled my eyes. "I think he'll come, but I think he'll skulk around outside. It's what he must've done at Harris' party. Leisha had to walk two blocks so I think he caught her outside. He was probably just watching the party."
"I think…you got a new alarm system, right? Did they install video at all?"
"What? Yeah, I ordered a new system the next day, but I didn't ask anything about video." That was creepy.
"Maybe we should install video output in a few hidden spots?" Bryce suggested. "And not tell anyone and I mean anyone, not even Corrigan."
"We have to tell Corrigan."
"No, we don't. Besides, he won't get mad. He'd understand."
"Why? Because some secrets are worth keeping?" I heard my own words, caught the flash of emotion on his face, and asked abruptly, "What? What secrets do you guys have from me?"
"Secrets that are for your own good." Bryce clipped out and shut his mouth.
A fist pounded at our door and Corrigan shouted, "Put on some clothes and get out here. We have a party to plan."
I threw open the door.
Corrigan looked disappointed to see us fully clothed, but he said, "Everyone knows. I passed the message to be here at nine tonight and ready to party. Everyone's bringing their own booze, but we gotta supply the food, music, and everything else."
Bryce said quickly, "Sheldon, go with Corrigan and Logan. Get the food and everything else. I'll work on that other thing."
Corrigan frowned, but shrugged.
"Fine," I murmured and led the way as Corrigan followed behind, excited. He threw an arm over my shoulder and murmured in my ear, "For the record, thanks for going to bat for me today. You know, against that cop."
I stopped, frozen, in the hallway and asked, "What are you talking about?"
"About those things she was saying, about me being the stalker guy."
"How do you know about that?"
A knot formed…
Logan waited for us at the door…
Corrigan shrugged, "I came up for something to drink after all of us went downstairs. You were out there and we thought we'd give you some privacy, you know—" He sent a furtive glance in his girlfriend's direction. "—you don't like everyone to know your business, but…it's hard not to overhear when you were almost shouting and I was just on the other side."
"I don't understand. The door was closed." And the walls were nearly soundproof.
"Yeah, but…the window was open, Sheldon." Corrigan told me and my world spun about in that moment.
"I reset the alarm this morning. It would've gone off if a window was open."
Corrigan froze and I realized that my own window hadn't sounded the alarm. Numb, I announced, "My alarm system doesn't work."
Bryce came to the stairwell at that moment and our eyes met as I looked up.
Chapter 25
Bryce ordered the third alarm system and watched while the guy installed it. Corrigan and I were sent out for chips and dip while Logan went home to change and pack a bag. She figured she'd be spending the night and Corrigan told her that she was correct, but not to expect much sleep.
We had already gone to the grocery store and were in route to Donadeli's when Corrigan brought it up, "So…you and Bryce are together, huh?"
I looked at him and he shrugged, "He told me. He said that I couldn't label you anything, but…you guys are together now?"
"Guess so."
He nodded. "That's good. That's really good."
I grinned, "So you're not hoping for a threesome?"
Corrigan cracked a smile and shook his head, "Nah, but I give that lady cop her props. She had to say it and she had to say it to you. Me, it would've just rolled off me, but you—she needed to know what you thought about a buddy that might a hold a torch."
"So do you?" I held my breath, but my eyes didn't move an inch.
"Do I love you or do I hold a torch?"
"Are they different?"
"They are," Corrigan relinquished. "You're the only girl in my life that'll always be in my life. Yes, I love you. If I held a torch—you've always been Bryce's. I knew that from seventh grade."
"You haven't answered my question."
Corrigan started to speak, held his breath, and then said, "Let me put it this way, if there was no Bryce? What then?"
I got his point. "Okay." I nodded.
Corrigan changed the subject when he asked, "So tonight is a snipe hunt?"
I laughed, "Snipe don't exist. This psycho does."
"He needs to die. No one messes with the Queen and gets away with it."
"Don't call me that," I said quickly, startled.
"It's what he's thinking," Corrigan remarked. "If you're going to find him, you need to think like he does. He thinks you're some Queen and everyone else is a lowly subject."
"You guys aren't. He's gone after Leisha and Bailey. If he's going after people who I love, he'd have gone after you guys. He doesn't consider you guys lowly subjects."
"I'm anything other than lowly," Corrigan cracked a joke. Smug.
"Corrigan."
"Shutting up."
As we walked into Donadeli's, Marcus flushed brightly behind the hosting table. Corrigan nudged me and whispered, "He found the body. See if you can find out more about it."
"No," I hissed. "I told you."
"Come on. There was a note, right? Maybe he saw it. Maybe he read it." He flashed a smile, "Hi, Marcus!"
The kid tensed immediately, but he replied back, terse, "Raimler."
"I'm going to go sit…and wait for my drink."
"I'll put your orders in," Marcus mumbled automatically.
"No, no," Corrigan stopped him, charmingly. "Stand. Talk to Sheldon. We can wait. We're in no hurry."
I snorted in disbelief, but I murmured, quietly, "Hi, Marcus,"
He flushed again and fidgeted, "How are you, Sheldon?"
"I'm okay." I shrugged. "As good as can be with some loser killing people, you know."
"Yeah…"
"How are you? Everyone's saying that you're the one who found Bailey Umbridge this morning."
He gulped and looked away, but his fidgeting worsened.
I took pity, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or anything."
This was such a rarity for me. For some reason, I took pity on the social defect. I have no idea why…
He looked back up, surprised and cautious, but I gestured towards Corrigan, "I'm throwing a party at my place tonight. We were wondering—I was wondering if we could order three Party Packs and get them delivered to my place?"
"Uh…sure." He blushed again and busied himself with the cashier. "Do you, um, do you want anything else?"
"I think Corrigan wants to actually eat here. I'll pay for the Party Packs now and Corrigan's order with two pops."
He rang the total and stammered, with another blush, "I can get you a free order of breadsticks, if you'd like…?"
"Sure. Thanks, Marcus." I smiled kindly and moved to our table.
Corrigan lifted an eyebrow and I shook my head. "He didn't want to talk about it. I can sympathize."
Marcus brought over the drinks quickly, along with the breadsticks, and Corrigan flashed a smile. "Thanks, man."
Marcus stood, uncertain what to do, but Corrigan had already hunched over his food and drink.
"Thanks, again," I murmured and Corrigan swiveled in his chair as the social defect left.
"What?" I asked.
"What? Are we nice now?"
"I kinda feel bad for him. He works eight jobs. He puts up with our abuse and he found someone dead…I feel for him."
Corrigan snorted and dramatically checked his forehead, "Am I sick? Or are you sick? Or…is this what the new Sheldon's going to be like?"
"New Sheldon?" But I didn't want to know.
"Yeah. The one in touch with her feelings, saying things like 'I love you.'"
Abruptly, I announced, "Bryce is leaving."
"What? No, he's not."
"Yes, he is. His parents are divorcing so he's skipping college and going straight to the pros. He has to support his mom and family, I guess."
"What?" Corrigan froze in his chair.
"Yeah."
"I mean…where? When?"
"He's not playing soccer anymore. They don't want him to play and get hurt before their trainers can work with him. I don't know where he's going, but he's leaving."
"That….that sucks!" Corrigan bit out and shoved back his chair. "Come on!"
Bryce and Corrigan rarely fought, in fact—I've never seen them fight, but as I saw the fury in Corrigan's clenched jaw, felt my own fury—I knew a fight was brewing.
Marcus was left in our trail as the door shut behind our heels. He stood with Corrigan's food in his hands when we hurried through the parking lot. Corrigan reversed the car and ate up the road until he turned into my driveway. Two vans were parked with a security company logo painted across and I figured Bryce had ordered a new alarm system. None of that mattered to Corrigan as he stormed inside, located Bryce, and threw the first punch. Bryce immediately recovered and rolled before he hit the ground and jarred his shoulder. He cast a glance to me, saw a mirroring anger, and immediately said, "Okay. You know."
Corrigan grunted and threw another punch.
Bryce dodged this one, swiveled underneath his arm, and grabbed him in a headlock.
"Get off me!" Corrigan ducked his shoulder and threw Bryce across the room.
The guys all scattered out of the way. The security men stood cautious and I was even further annoyed when I saw that Becky Lew had already arrived. Mandy stood just behind her, but everyone was captivated by their two kings going at it.
"You're such a coward," Corrigan spat out.
"I'm a coward?" Bryce called back in disbelief. "Because I'm taking care of my family? Because I'm leaving you guys and sacrificing…"
Corrigan punched again, but Bryce evaded and rolled on his heels. He waited.
Corrigan taunted, "You're scared and you're heeling to your mother. Yeah—that's a coward to me."
Anger flared in Bryce and Corrigan knew he'd overstepped the boundaries—at least in public. It was a different matter in private, but Corrigan knew to never call Bryce and myself 'scared' or a 'coward' in public.
Corrigan choked off, glanced at me, but Bryce caught him with his first punch.
After that—no words were shared, just punches.
"Are you going to stop this?" Becky asked me. Mandy nodded, "They're trashing your house."
I shrugged, "Not the first time that's happened." Why would I want to keep that pleasure from someone else?
Becky rolled her eyes and griped, "That's just like you. Your two best friends are going at it, and the only person who could stop it, just stands back and watches. Do you have any feelings at all?"
Mandy sucked in her breath, but remained silent.
I swiveled on my heel to face her squarely and asked, eyebrows arched, "Excuse me?"
"You heard me," she clipped out, but some of her bravery had dissipated.
"Say it again," I taunted. Ready.
"I…I don't know why everyone worships you so much. I get it with Corrigan and Bryce. They're hot and funny and…loyal, apparently, but god—you're so cold to everyone."
"They're family. We're all family," I retorted as Bryce slammed Corrigan against the wall.
"That's just…of course, you'd say that," Becky bit out, hands on hips.
I shifted to my hip and asked, "Where's your lover boy? You know, the one that's only screwing you because he's got some serious guilt over Leisha's death. That's pretty pathetic, you know. You're pretty pathetic. The guy's messed up with guilt."
"He only called her because of you. Carlos didn't like Leisha, but he thought that you liked her so he was going to try. Can you believe that? A guy will date a girl if he thinks that's what you want. I just can't get over it. Do you have some magical spell that you just weave over these morons?"
And the two biggest morons had just splintered my coffee table.
A sudden thought came to mind and I checked to see where the booze was. I calmed a little when I saw it was safe so I turned back to Becky, "Is this what this really is? Jealousy? How lame can you get?"
Mandy sighed and murmured, "They're going to break your flat screen."
I glanced back so I didn't see Becky's hand slap across me.
Stunned, I looked back and saw she had balled her hands into fists and was one breath away from pouncing on me.
For the most part, girl fights were lame. The hair was pulled, a few slaps with open palms, and hateful insults were always cursed.
Mandy caught the delight in my face and stepped back, "Oh god."
The guys sucked in their breaths, a collective gasp, and my hand curled into a fist as I let loose with a roundhouse.
Becky fell back, stunned, and I shifted to the back of my heels.
I could like this, I could like this a lot.
From the floor, Becky looked up, stunned, and with a hand to her jaw before she rushed me.
I easily dodged, caught her hair, and slammed her to the floor.
The guys were delighted, but I was ready for her to swipe at my feet, which she did.
I jumped out of the way and warned her, "You don't win against me, ever. You're not going to win this one either."
"I am so sick and tired of you—" I saw the open palm coming and