The only reason she knew where Lynelle lived was because her house sat three houses beyond Sybil’s in the rich part of town, otherwise known as The Hills. Unfortunately, the properties were in the more mountainous region of Del Sol, which meant a lot of uphill pedaling. Auri began struggling about a mile into her trek, realizing it could take longer than expected. She checked her watch. Already two minutes behind schedule. She pumped harder, her legs burning under the strain as she came to a horrifying realization. Lynelle’s house may have sat near Sybil’s, but all the houses in the area were a quarter mile or more apart. How had she not noticed that before? She passed Sybil’s and still had half a mile’s worth of uphill climb.
Once there, she hopped off her bike and ran to the porch. With no time to catch her breath, she knocked on the front door.
Lynelle answered, her expression one of mild curiosity until her gaze landed on Auri. With her long dark hair pulled into a ponytail, she looked like she was going for a casual look, but her makeup, which had been applied with razor-sharp precision, suggested otherwise.
“Hey, Lynelle,” Auri said, gasping for air.
The girl’s face morphed into one of disgust complete with a baring of her teeth and a wrinkling of her nose.
Auri understood. She was an acquired taste. “I was just wondering,” she began, stopping to inhale again, “if your cousin ever showed up.”
After a rather long moment of stupefied astonishment, Lynelle finally spoke. “What the fuck?”
Auri braced a hand against the doorframe, filled her lungs, and said, “Your cousin. You said she was supposed to be here Thursday but she never showed up. I was wondering if she ever made it.”
Lynelle turned to look over her shoulder, and Auri realized there was a boy in her house. Maybe the sick friend she’d posted about on Snapchat?
The kid walked up, his expression as hard as Lynelle’s was astonished, but what caught Auri by complete surprise were the bruises that colored the entire right side of his face. So much so, his right eye was swollen almost completely shut.
“What happened to you?” Auri asked, the words leaving her mouth before she had time to run them through her nonexistent sensitivity filter.
Incredibly, his expression hardened even further before a glint of curiosity raced across his features. Features that were normally quite handsome. “You’re the new sheriff’s kid.”
Auri straightened. She’d never met the former sheriff’s son, Tim Redding, but he was by far the most popular boy in school. Then again, Cruz was only a freshman. Give that kid another year, and he would easily lay claim to that title.
“I am,” she said, adjusting the backpack she still wore. Since her mom had basically stolen his dad’s job, this could prove really awkward, but he seemed okay with it.
“She’s cool,” he said, reaching up to sweep his fingers through his dark blond hair like a movie star. Even bruised and swollen, the slick golden boy of Del Sol High was handsome. He had pretty brown eyes, when one wasn’t swollen shut, and enough height to have to duck for ill-placed light fixtures every once in a while. “She pulled me over one day. Forty-seven in a thirty-five, but she let me off with a warning.”
Auri grinned. “You must’ve charmed her.”
One corner of his mouth rose, but the blistering heat from Lynelle’s glare dragged Auri’s gaze off it.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Lynn,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder, “you have to learn to be nice to people.”
She looked over her shoulder at him. “She’s not people.”
He only chuckled, and asked, “You wanna come in? I promise her bark is worse than her bite.”
The look of utter astonishment on Lynelle’s face had Auri fighting a wicked grin. “No, thank you. I have to get back to school. I just wanted to know about Lynn’s cousin.”
The murderous glare Lynelle shot her was definitely worth the jab. She would probably pay in some dire way, but for now, the glittering hatred was a reward unto itself. “Do you know her?”
“No.”
“Then what the fuck do you care?”
“Lynn,” Tim said, his voice a little sharper than before. He turned back to Auri. “She texted and said she went skiing with some friends instead of coming to spend time with her cousin. Which boggles the mind, right?”
The bark of laughter that escaped Auri before she could stop it was immediately met with a slammed door in her face. She figured that would happen. She was just surprised it took as long as it did. But when she turned to leave, the door opened again.
Tim stood there alone, a half smile on his face. “Hey, give me your phone.”
Auri had just pulled it out to try to call her mom again. She’d left her quite a message. But it would seem the girl in the canyon was not Lynelle’s cousin after all. She should probably mention that. She frowned at Tim and pulled it against her chest. “I love this phone. Get your own.”
He laughed and just held out his hand.
She decided not to push the whole beaten-to-a-pulp thing and complied, handing it over when a thought hit her. “So, she texted Lynelle? She didn’t call?”
“Whitney?” he asked, busy typing. “Yeah. She texted to tell her she went skiing somewhere in Colorado with some friends from college.” He handed the phone back, then narrowed his lids on her. “Why? What’s this about?”
She took the phone. “Oh, nothing. I just wanted to talk to her about … UNM. I’m thinking about going. You know, if I can manage to make it past high school.” Coming up with excuses under pressure was clearly not her strong suit.
“For reals? I just got a football scholarship. I start in September.”
“Wow, congratulations.” She knew that, of course. Everyone in Del Sol knew that, and she’d been a tad envious when she heard. While other people dreamed of Harvard and Yale, Auri dreamed of the adobe halls of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She wanted nothing more than to follow in her mother’s footsteps. “That’s an amazing accomplishment.”
He shook off her compliment by lifting a bashful shoulder, then glanced up at her from underneath some pretty thick lashes. “We could visit the campus together sometime. If you want.”
It took a moment for his words to sink in. For Auri to realize he was flirting with her. Her. A mere freshman and the daughter of his father’s enemy. “Oh, yeah,” she said, backing off the porch. “That would be cool.” It was a lie, but her ten-minute time limit was fast approaching.
He did the call me sign and winked at her before closing the door. An admirable feat considering the state of his eyes, but worry gnawed at her stomach. Well, worry and hunger, but the hunger could wait. The more important question at the moment was who hit him. Repeatedly. And with much enthusiasm. Not that he seemed terribly worried about it, but Auri certainly was.
She threw a leg over her bike before checking her phone. He’d added himself to her contacts, putting a heart between the names Tim and Redding. A heart! She barely knew the guy. Maybe that was how older boys flirted. Still …
She edited the contact info, deleting the heart, before heading back into town. As flattering as his attention was, her heart was already taken. And it just so happened, the cabin in which the thief of hearts currently resided was on her way. After the situation with Lynelle, she needed a Cruz break, but she only had five minutes to get back to school if she was going to beat the tardy bell. She weighed her options. She had already missed first period. What was one more? It’s not like she would miss a lecture. They were scheduled to watch a film on World War II. And knowing her granddad, the war buff probably had a copy of it in his library.