Exasperated sighs sounded from Halluis as heshook his head; he obviously wanted me to forget aboutShareweather.
“I think it’s best if we put a record outthere on you as a known car thief. You can use that as an in.”Jeremy tapped one finger slowly on the table. “Ace, could you geton that as well? And we need a better way to track the cars.”
Even though I thought Halluis was right, myloyalty to Jeremy made me say, “I like Jeremy’s plan. I think it’sthe safest and most likely the fastest route to the top. I playedwith Jericho tonight, and I’m not sure if it was the right move—Imay have burned some bridges there. If I made the wrong move, thatrelationship could take a while to sweeten. Jeremy’s plan gives metwo ways in. I can always abandon one if need be.” Jeremy’s facesoftened, and he winked at me. I turned to the other agents. “Iffor some reason Shareweather doesn’t take the bait, I’ll berebuilding the bridge with Jericho.” I swallowed hard, trying toget rid of the lump lodged in my throat.
Chapter 10
Once inside the school the next day, I hearda guitar playing and someone singing along. It sounded amazing, andI peeked in the door where the sound was emanating from. Carson saton a chair in the middle of the room, playing and singing his heartout. I hung onto the doorjamb and listened.
“You like what you’re hearing?” a familiarvoice whispered into my ear, hot breath tickling my neck.
I started, opened my eyes, and turned to seeJericho grinning at me, carrying a guitar in his hand and passingme by. I suppressed a shudder, took deep breath, and said, “Hey.”He sat next to Carson and joined him, their guitars blending tomake an even more beautiful sound. It was shocking to hear Jerichoadd his voice to Carson’s and having them complement each otherperfectly. Jericho turned to look at me, which must have caughtCarson’s attention because he turned also.
I felt my eyes round as they both smiled atme. The juxtaposition of the two was mind-blowing. Jericho lookedat me like a wolf looks at his prey, while Carson looked at me likehe was reuniting with a long-lost friend. It seemed I hadn’t tickedJericho off enough to scare him away. I could move forward withhim. I was about to go up and sit with them, but Jeremy’s voicerang in my ears. I should get in Jericho’s good graces but hitShareweather hard. Since it seemed Jericho still had me in hissights, I wouldn’t need to suck up to him yet.
The five minute warning bell rang, and Irealized I’d missed my opportunity to check on the shop andpossibly run into S-Dub and let him pull out of me that I neededmoney. I’d just have to make that happen in shop class. In theinterest of mending torn fences, I waved sweetly to the boys andthen took off for personal finance class.
I made sure to not only acknowledge, butsmile and say hi to both Karina and Gina. If S-Dub asked about me,I wanted the people I knew were on his team to like me. Karina hada bruised-up face with a couple stitches on her chin. My chestheated up when I thought about how Karina had been injured. Tothink a grown man had hit her hard enough to cut her chin made mewant to scream. At least I knew she’d gotten medical attention.
I wondered if the girls had made theirschedules around each other. They probably had all the sameclasses. They sat in the back of the room, however, and the onlyopen seat for me was in the front. Personal finances numbed mymind. Anyone with half a brain would face a comatose state duringit. I pretended to listen while I pondered how to get to the guyabove S-Dub in the least amount of time.
I made sure to make it on time for my nextclass, and much to my surprise, Viktor walked right up to me andsaid, “Hey, I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to diss onyour friends.”
I was so shocked, I couldn’t speak.
“So, do you accept my apology or not?”
This was the most menacing way I’d ever seensomeone offer an apology. I nodded.
“Good. I was wondering if you’d like to goto dinner with me tonight?” His face changed again, his nice onereturning.
Was he kidding? I not only didn’t likeViktor, but it would take away time that I needed to work on thecase. I’m sure my eyes flashed a bit too much, because his eyesnarrowed slightly, and I thought he was about to lash out at mewhen Carson joined the conversation.
“Hey, Viktor. Any way you could pick me andmy date up tonight? My sister has dibs on the car.”
Viktor’s eyes reluctantly moved to light onCarson.
Carson was going to be there? Carson andViktor were friends? Had I misjudged Carson?
“Sure, if,” Viktor swung his face back tome, “I can talk newbie here into being my date. I can’t go toJericho’s senior dinner stag, but I’ve discovered I just can’tstand the thought of going with anyone but Amber. If she says no, Idon’t know what I’ll do.” His eyes drilled into mine, something ofa warning flickering through them.
At the mention of Jericho’s name, my mindchanged completely. “You know what? I’d love to.” I smiled, unableto keep smugness from entering my eyes. It would be good to spendtime with Jericho outside of school.
Viktor stood there, a smirk on his stupidface. Did I see glee in them?
“You’d love to?” Viktor took a step closerto me.
“That’s what I said.” I smiled up at him,genuineness seeping from me, even though I didn’t feel that at all.“I’ll have to make sure my parents are okay with it, but yeah,sure.”
“Awesome,” Carson said, walking away. “Seeyou tonight.”
“Where do you live?” Viktor asked me, notsuspecting
