Get a Clue(84)

“It’s all so complicated,” Shelly whispered.

Yeah, yeah, it’s complicated, Breanne thought, trying not to look at the gloves right at her cheek. Get back to shoveling!

Then the unmistakable sound of a wet kiss floated down and Breanne scrunched up her eyes. Surely they weren’t going to—No. Not here, not now—

“I know you said you wanted to wait until we got out of here,” Shelly said breathlessly. “But everyone’s outside and will be for a while. Haven’t we waited long enough?”

“Shelly—” Dante broke off with a low groan. “God, Shelly, don’t do that.”

Helluva time for Shelly to find her sexuality, thought Breanne.

The mattress sank as the two lovebirds fell upon it, and Breanne wished for a large hole to open up and swallow her.

“Oh, Dante,” Shelly whispered.

Dante whispered something back in his native tongue.

Breanne resisted thunking her head on the ground. She made the mistake of opening her eyes then, focusing in on the bloody gloves before slamming her eyes shut again and doing the only thing she could—stick her fingers in her ears and silently sing at the top of her lungs. Lalalalalalalalala.

“Oh!” Shelly cried out louder than Breanne’s silent singing. “Oh, Dante.”

Something fell to the floor. Shelly’s sweater.

Her jeans came next.

Breanne shifted from singing to pretending she was on a beach. In the Bahamas. It was hot there, and cute cabana boys were bringing her drinks. Nice, big alcoholic drinks—

Something else hit the floor. Dante’s shoes.

Then his jeans and sweatshirt. And his beanie.

Then his BVDs.

And finally, an empty condom packet.

Oh, good God.

The springs began to squeak as the mattress began moving in earnest.

“Dante—” Shelly cried. “That’s—do that again. Please do that again!”

Squeak, squeak, squeak.

Breanne tried not to look at the bloody gloves. Instead she studied her fingernails. Oh, look at that. She needed a manicure.

“Yes, yes, YES!” cried Shelly.

Breanne decided she was going to need a vacation to recover from her vacation.

Scratch that.

She was never going to vacation again.

Finally the bed stopped moving, and there were more kissy-face noises and soft murmurs.

Breanne had long ago left the Bahamas and moved to the moon when four feet—bare now—hit the floor.

It took forever for them to dress—laughing and kissing—but finally, finally, they were gone. Breanne didn’t know what she’d have done if they’d stuck around for round two. One time had been bad enough—what was it with this house?

She eyed the gloves. She needed Cooper to see them, needed anyone other than her to see them. Touching evidence was bad, she knew this. But . . . what if someone moved them before she could show Cooper? Not wanting to take that chance, she slipped them beneath her top, then cringed—gross!—before sliding out from beneath the bed. She got to her feet, carefully not looking at the mattress. Sheesh. Tossing back her hair, she turned to the door.#p#分页标题#e#

And came face-to-face with Dante, who barely arched a brow—his only concession to his surprise at finding her here.

“I, um . . .” She hugged herself, hopefully hiding the bulge of the gloves beneath her shirt. “This is really a very funny story.”

He leaned back against the doorway, blocking her way out, waiting for her to go on.

Oh boy. He had that scary face on, the one that assured her much of the ghetto still lived within him. “I heard a noise down here, and I thought it was Shelly—”

At that, he smiled all the way to his eyes. “You just missed her. She’s back upstairs.”

Oh, my God, was it possible he hadn’t seen her coming out from beneath his bed? “Oh. Okay, well, then I’ll just—”

Go tell Cooper you had bloody gloves beneath your bed.

“Sorry,” he said, still smiling. “I’m just realizing something.”

“What’s that?” she asked bravely. Please don’t say you’re wanting to kill me, too. Please—

“—I’m in love with her.” He sighed and shook his head, rubbing the spot over his heart. “Imagine that.”

Yeah, imagine that. “Well, that’s . . . sweet. But I’ve got to—” She gestured to the doorway and, miracle of all miracles, he didn’t kill her, but moved aside for her.

With a last smile that was shaky to the core, Breanne scooted past him. It took every ounce of control she had not to run, run like hell, but she controlled herself until she was out of sight. Then she couldn’t hold back any longer and she burst into a full gait, looking back over her shoulder—