Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 111676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
My phone buzzed in my pocket. Monroe.
I’m in parking lot B. Back row.
Thankfully, she had a break in her schedule and had offered to take me to pick up my Jeep. I was halfway across campus when someone jogged up beside me in a flash of blond hair.
“Where are you off to?” Cassie asked, linking her arm through mine.
“Monroe is taking me into town to get my car.”
“Oh, can I join?”
“Don’t you have a class this afternoon?”
“Eh, it’s politics. Boring.” Spoken like someone who hadn’t grown up surrounded by the minimum wage hamster wheel and wasn’t terrified of failing a single class, their degree, and therefore, their entire life.
“Sucks about your car, though. How much do you reckon it’ll cost to fix?”
More than I could afford to pay. “At least what we stole last night.”
“Well, then I guess it’s good we stole it, right?” That was Cassie all over.
I saw it as having to spend that money on my stupid car instead of my parents’ bills. Cassie saw it as money I didn’t have before that could now pay for my car. She was the glass half full, to my bone-dry empty.
“I might have to go to The Platinum Club again.” The thought of getting to the end of the month and making a mad scramble for cash made me nervous. “I’m on lates all weekend, but are you around Monday night?”
Cassie shook her head. “Sorry, I have this study thing with a girl from my chemistry class.”
We passed a group of students tossing a ball on the lawn as I tried to hide the disappointment. “Okay. No worries.” I couldn’t do it alone. I wasn’t good enough.
“Get this, though. She’s house sitting this big-ass house. You know the one over by the fancy food store with the big metal gates?”
“Yeah.” It was a huge house, probably owned by alumni or something.
“They pay her to live there while they’re away. Like, you’d think she’d pay them, right? That’s a job you need to get into. I’ll ask her about it if you want?”
That would be a pretty great job.
“Then you could house sit fancy pads and sneak me over. Unlike boring Stacey. There’s me thinking, I can use their pool while we study—”
“You can’t study in a pool.”
“But she isn’t allowed to have anyone over. Not even her boyfriend.”
“I’d happily not have anyone over.”
“Of course you would. And come to think of it, you’d be boring and follow the rules, too. So, now I have to go study in the dorms on Monday.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’d totally have chosen a different study partner if I’d known. Brags about the big-ass house she lives in. Conveniently forgets to mention it’s a prison of solitude.”
Cassie kept bitching about her foiled pool plans while my mind went down a different, very Dayton-esque path. A house like that was probably full of expensive things… “What time are you studying with her? Maybe we could go after.” I felt like an asshole for thinking what I was right then.
We rounded the corner of the arts building and into the parking lot.
“Ah, sorry, but we have loads to do. I’m going right after class, and I think it’ll be a late nighter.” So, that house would be empty for several hours. “I can do Tuesday, though,” Cassie said, her expression full of apology.
“Perfect.” Total asshole. I was actually debating taking advantage of my friend. How far I’d fallen.
I forced a smile on my face as I spotted Monroe’s faded-blue sedan across the lot. Monroe leaned against it, one foot kicked up on the tire, red hair shining. She glanced at Cassie when we stopped beside the car. “You coming, too?”
Cassie reached for the back door. “Yep. There’s that pet shop in town.”
Monroe looked at me like I’d have any idea what the hell she was talking about. “Okay, first of all, a pet shop? And second of all, I’m not a taxi service.”
“You don’t want to hang out with me, Monroe?” She fake-pouted. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”
“Because you got blackmailed into living in a frat house. I’m not the one shunning this friendship.”
“Not my fault. But I’m sorry. Maybe I should have invited you on the drug theft so you could also get blackmailed and relegated to the frat?”
“I am very good, thank you.” With a huff, Monroe got into the car. “Fine, but I’m meeting Drew after I drop off Jade.” I didn’t know Bellamy’s girlfriend very well, but it was hard not to hold being Rogue’s cousin against her.
“Oh, now I’m definitely coming. Drew, then pet shop.” Cassie hopped into the back seat and slammed the door behind her.
Monroe glanced at me. “Any idea?”
“None.” Not that I ever had much of a clue what was going on in Cassie’s head.
I rounded the hood and got into the passenger seat. Cassie was already leaning between the front seats, fiddling with the radio. Monroe pulled out as one of Cassie’s beloved crappy pop songs came on.