Chapter 11 #2
No one else was around. This was the first time we’d been alone-ish since our “bonding time” in the study.
I braced myself for another ugly scene, but I must have driven my point home earlier because he took one look at me and dropped his gaze, striding by in complete silence.
Despite the fact that he seemed cowed now, I didn’t trust him not to try and be brave again at a later date, and I made a mental note to keep an eye out for him.
I pushed open the front door and emerged onto the steps.
Night was closer here, more apparent in the thickening shadows of the woodland.
The only sources of light came from the house itself and the lamp posts, set at intervals along the driveway, illuminating the way back to civilization.
The sounds of the party were distant enough that those of a summer twilight reasserted their dominance.
I heard crickets. The last calls of a pair of mourning doves.
One day, this could all be yours, I told myself. Or maybe something a bit nicer. Smaller. Less ostentatious and more secluded, with a better view. Here, all you had to stare at were tree trunks and the sky.
I lifted my gaze heavenward, searching for the first light of the stars.
Now that I’d successfully infiltrated my way into Richard’s life, I didn’t have long—a few months, maybe a year—before my goal would be complete, and I’d be free to move on.
Free to finally start living for myself instead of being driven by this constant, lashing need to avenge my mother.
This was the life she should have led. Spoiled, pampered, happy, and safe. Instead of . . . no. I’d told myself I wouldn’t think about that tonight. Wouldn’t let myself dwell on her final, awful, lonely years.
A soft, feminine swear had me dropping my focus back to earth. The hood of a car was popped toward the end of the line, close to where I’d parked. I caught a flash of white around it, heard another low curse.
Stella.
I took the stairs down and headed her way.
I’d thought Tori was joking about her letting the air out of some snooty bitch’s tires, but maybe she was right.
Hoping to sneak up on her, I moved parallel to the parked cars.
More swears colored the night, and my curiosity deepened.
What the hell was she doing? I crouched low and rounded a Beamer, creeping up from behind to see her elbow-deep in the engine block, her phone propped on the carburetor while a YouTube video told her where she could find the spark plugs.
I straightened to my full height. Jesus Christ, she was actually disabling someone’s car.
And why did that suddenly make me respect her just the tiniest bit? Her vindictive behavior proved she had a backbone, but it also meant I’d have to be more careful around her from here on out—not nice, though; I’d never sink to those depths. Just . . . cautious.
I crossed my arms over my chest, watching as Stella fiddled with wires.
From the volume of her phone and her continued swearing, two things were clear: she had no idea what she was doing, and no idea that someone else was out here with her.
I glanced around, frowning at her piss-poor planning.
Yes, it was dusk, and the party was still in full swing, but it was light enough that anyone coming out to their vehicle would have caught her in the act.
Amateur.
I took another step forward, close enough to reach out and touch her if I wanted, and said in a singsong voice, “Whatcha doin’?”
Stella shrieked, jumping straight up and banging the top of her head on the underside of the hood. An unholy gong rang out, and Stella sank to her knees on the gravel, half slumped over the bumper.
I stepped forward and grabbed the hood before it slammed down on top of her. “If this leads to some sort of brain swelling and you die, please know that your debt will revert back to your brother, and I won’t go nearly as easy on him as I have you.”
She let out a feeble groan, hand rising shakily to her head, and it took me a second to realize she was flipping me off.
I snorted and propped the hood back up. There weren’t any obvious signs of tampering, and from how frustrated Stella had sounded, I was guessing that meant she hadn’t managed to do any actual damage.
“You weren’t even near the cylinder head,” I told her.
“What?” she mumbled.
“Where the spark plugs are. Here, look.” I hauled her upright and showed her. “But that’s easy to fix. If you really want to fuck with someone, loosen the connector on their mass airflow sensor.”
She pushed away from me, a bit wobbly, but able to stand on her own. Probably not concussed then. Shame. “What’s that do?” she asked. “I’m not trying to hurt Cordelia, just inconvenience her.”
“Rough idling. Stalling.” I shrugged. “It might not even start.”
A soft snick hit my ears. I glanced around the side of the car to see the front door opening. Fuck, we were about to get caught. Quickly, I closed the hood, grabbed Stella, and sat her on top of it, shoving my way between her thighs.
“What are you doing?” she hissed, trying to push me off.
“Incoming.”
She glanced toward the house, and without having to be told, wrapped her arms around my shoulders. Just in time. The couple waved goodbye to someone and then turned our way.
I yanked Stella forward at the last second and sealed my mouth over hers. We were near the far end of the cars, the house lights barely reaching us. To the other couple, we probably appeared as shadowy outlines. Which meant we didn’t really have to sell this kiss.
Stella must not have realized that, because her lips parted beneath mine.
I stayed frozen in place for half a second, torn between letting her embarrass herself and fighting my own morbid curiosity to see if our first kiss had been nothing but a fluke.
On the one hand, humiliating her held real appeal, but on the other—
Her tongue traced the seam of my mouth. I parted my lips and kissed her back, and, fuck, it was just as good as the first time. No hesitancy, no softness. If anything, this one was even better. Because it was angry.
Stella kissed me like she was trying to punish me, mouth bruising, hands fisting in my shirt.
She pulled away just enough to bite my lower lip, hard, and between the stab of pain and the taste of copper on my tongue, I knew she’d broken skin.
My dick went rock hard, and I shifted my hips backward before she noticed and thought I was actually into this.
I wasn’t. What had she said earlier? Not even God was?
Lights flashed over us, and we froze. A catcall rent the air, and then the headlights pivoted away as the people in the car rolled down the driveway.
Stella and I tore our mouths apart, both of us breathing hard, her dark lipstick smeared to hell again.
I grinned, knowing it wasn’t friendly. “It looks like Dracula blew a load on your face.”
“Yeah, well, it looks like you’ve been out here sucking tailpipes.” She shoved me back a step and slid off the hood. “God, I hate you.”
“Right back at you, Elvira.”
Without another word, she turned and stomped toward the house, and I took that as my sign to get the fuck out of there while I still had some of my sanity intact.