The Arrangement Anthology 2(182)

Sean takes a slow pull of air and lets it out, then runs his hands through his hair.

“Something.”

Okay. I guess we aren’t talking about that.

Sean gets up and looks down. The sun isn’t quite up yet and the morning sky is light blue with a spattering of stars just barely visible through the treetops. He looks back at me.

“Time to meet up with Masterson.”

“Yeah. Marty.” I don’t know what to think of him anymore. I don’t like that he got so close to me, without my having any idea who he really is. It freaks me out. I glance at Sean wondering how much I still don’t know about him.

“He’s an asset this way, and his being enamored with you has kept you alive. Come on.” He tosses the ladder over the side.

I go to throw my leg over the side and look down. My heart jumps up my throat and falls out the window. “Holy shit! We’re up high!”

“You looked last night,” he points out, laughing.

“It was pitch black last night. The ground is much further away than I thought. Who the hell puts a kid's tree house thirty feet in the air?”

“My father. And we’re not that high. You can do it. Just go one step at a time and don't look down.”

“Fuckbunnies.” I mutter the word under my breath and toss my leg over the sill. My foot finds the first rung, and I slide the rest of my body over the edge and down the ladder. The muttering doesn’t stop until my feet hit the grass. “Thank God!”

Sean jumps down behind me, skipping the last few rungs. He slips his hands around my waist and pulls me close.

“I didn’t think you were a religious person.”

“I’m not, not really. Why?”

“You were praying the entire way down. I would have thought you’d be cursing up a storm, and you’re reciting Psalms. How do you even know them?” Sean looks surprised. I shrug.

“My mom used to say stuff. I never really thought about it.”

“Come on.” He takes my hand and we head toward the shed at the edge of the property. We shove through a door into a dark space that smells like grass seed and chemicals before seeing a lump of canvas covering a car. It’s hidden behind a ton of lawn equipment.

Sean rushes toward it and pulls off the cover. I blink at it several times before saying, “Holy shit! It’s the Batmobile!” There’s a pimped out matte black Maserati, with a shiny black racing stripe down the center. It’s got black rims and black glass. The thing looks totally swicked. “Why do you have this? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Sean ignores me and grabs a key from under the front wheel well and unlocks the door.

“Get in.” I jump inside and yank my door closed.

“So, are you going to tell me?” Sean starts the engine and the thing purrs to life. It looks new. I lean over and look at the odometer. It is new! I slip my fingers over the Italian leather and moan. “Is this the gardener’s car? Because if it is, I picked the wrong major by a long shot. I should have studied horticulture, ‘cuz damn!”

Sean’s lips tug up in the corner. He presses a button, and a garage door lifts behind us. Sean backs up carefully, then shifts into drive, the car rumbling sensually beneath us.

“It was Jon’s. Remember how he was acting like an irresponsible asshole?” I nod. “I took his car away and hid it in the shed.” I blink at him as he steers down the gravel path.

“You hid a million dollar car in the shed?”

“Yeah, I was trying to teach him a lesson.” Sean is straight-faced when he says it, but there’s a tiny twitch in the corner of his mouth like he wants to smile. I run my hands over the dashboard’s sexy curves before sitting back into my seat.

“Did it work?”

“Hell if I know. He went out and bought a cheaper car. The asshat thought he lost this one. He didn’t even tell our mother it was gone.”

Sean navigates through the back of the property until we intersect with one of the back roads. He floors it, and the car roars to life. It’s the coolest car sound ever.

“Let me get this straight: Jon thinks he misplaced an entire car?” Sean nods and jerks the wheel as we speed away from the mansion, passing by a line of emergency vehicles as we do so. “So, you can lose a million bucks and not feel it?”

Sean steals a glance at me from the corner of his eye. He’s driving a sick car, shirtless, and covered in sweat. The slight twitch of his lips makes him nearly irresistible.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe means yes.” I grin and settle back into the seat. “So, a million bucks is like a penny to you? If you saw it on the sidewalk, you’d just keep walking? Wow.” I’m silent for a moment, thinking. I twist my palms together and look away from him, out the window.