Southern Seduction (54 page)

Zoey

Despite feeling fairly certain that I already knew the answer, judging by the motley crew assembled before me, I asked, “Who’s in there?”

I had followed Miller all the way back to his house, watched him jump in his truck as soon as he got there, and then failed to flag him down as he peeled out of his driveway and headed back in this direction.

I ran as fast as I could, but there was only so much I could do. It was a marginally out of shape twenty-two year old versus an old but fast truck. I was doomed to lose dramatically.

Of course, I had pushed hard, and I made it here just in time to see Miller poised at the front window, studying several unknown entities in the Mayor’s house. I didn’t know what he could see, but I had a pretty good guess that he thought it was me in there.

I was equal parts flattered that he would put himself on the line for me like that and horrified that he would think I was that dumb. They crawled in the
front
window, for God’s sake. I was pretty much the antithesis of a con-artist, but these amateurs made me look like a professional.

Before I got an answer, the lights flicked on, and Miller vaulted himself through the window like an Olympic hurdler.

Fuck.

Turning back to the three stooges, I gritted out, “Who’s in there?” again. This time with a little more bitchiness and a lot more urgency.

“Hannah,” the sniveling weasel, Seth, finally answered me, confirming my earlier theory and adding a little rage to my already boiling pot.

“What the fuck? You lose your balls tonight? What the hell are you doing sending a girl in there?” I demanded to know.

Fire engulfed his pupils as he struggled with my insults. “No, I just wasn’t about to start committing felonies for some stupid prank night,” he argued, showing me his brain for the first time.

“Smart,” I complimented him, which extinguished the flames and replaced them with a smirk brought on by ego.

Ugh, men.

“Would have been smarter if you would have convinced the whole little group though, Seth. Why you would let that sweet, albeit stupid, girl go in there, I have no idea.”

He actually looked properly chagrined at that, but only for the shortest of moments.

“You’re no freaking genius. Look where you are, here with us,” he pointed out, trying to make himself feel better.

“I’m here because that idiot,” jabbing my finger toward the house, “Miller, thinks I’m an idiot,” I muttered, before turning my eyes off of Seth and pointing them back to the lit up house. “Jesus, you men,” I whispered on an afterthought, mostly to myself, but I knew Seth could hear me.

“Everybody get the hell out of here while I handle this. You’re all just going to get in the way,” I declared softly but forcefully.

Lindsey and the silent kid who
really
had no balls took off that instant.

Seth lingered, his eyes trained on the house just like mine. It wasn’t long before he whispered, “What about Hannah? I can’t leave her here,” gaining my respect, that had been flapping away furiously like a really fast bird, just like that.

I grinned, despite the circumstances, and gave him a squeeze on the shoulder. “Turns out you are a real man, Seth. Congratulations. After this is over, we’ll have a ball reattachment ceremony.”

A radiant smile lit his face, just before he breathed, “Fuck, you’re funny.”

I gave a little nod, because shit yeah I was funny, thinking that maybe I would be able to make some long-term friendships in Winslow.

“Amazing how much easier it is to get to know a person when you actually talk to them, huh?” I asked sardonically.

He just nodded, glanced between me and the house, and then asked, “So do you have an actual plan?”

I didn’t. Not really. But I figured it was time to come up with one.

First things first, we needed to get close enough that we could see and hear what the hell was going on in there.

Waving two fingers, I gestured for Seth to move with me, and thankfully, he understood my hand signals.

I kept my weight on the balls of my feet, hoping to keep my movements soft and soundless across the lush, green lawn the Mayor’s landscapers maintained.

My accomplice managed to move even more quietly than I did, and I thought, not for the first time tonight, that I might not be cut out for all of this cloak and dagger stuff.

We made it to the window, settling onto either side with our backs to the house, asses resting on our heals so that we could make a quick getaway.

Carefully balancing one hand on the window sill, I slid my back up the rough brick exterior and peered around the white, wooden frame and into the house.

I could see the back of Miller’s grey t-shirt clearly, along with the Mayor several steps in front of him donning a stylish plaid robe.

They were the only two in the room, but both of their eyes were pointed toward the far hallway, and it was easy to surmise we were going to have Hannah’s company in the very near future.

Seth shifted slightly on the other side of the window, producing no more than a gentle rustling sound, but I put my finger to my lips and commanded him with a, “Shh,” nonetheless.

Even if they couldn’t hear us, I needed to be able to hear them, and Seth was distracting me.

Seth rolled his eyes, our friendship taking immediate hold and my commands already becoming old hat.

My respect for him was growing.

Turning my attention back to the scene in the living room, I tuned in just in time to hear Miller’s harsh intake of breath.

And there was Hannah. Right on cue.

She looked up, surveyed her company, and didn’t bother to hide her surprise at the presence of Miller.

No doubt she remembered him from high school---everybody knew Miller Laughlin---but she would understandably be at a loss on a reason for his being there now.

Miller, on the other hand, was visibly just figuring out that Hannah wasn’t me, and that he had royally fucked himself for no reason.

The bile climbing his throat must have really burned on this one.

I could see the wheels of his mind churning, even from behind him, and I knew I needed to act fast, even if it didn’t entirely make sense.

Throwing Mayor Klein for a loop was better than nothing.

I quickly shucked my hoodie, eager to look a little less like a criminal, and shoved it toward Seth, urging him to hold onto it.

Of course, this left me in a skimpy camisole, one that didn’t do that good of a job of containing my bosom, and Seth was a man.

His eyes bugged out, and his tongue practically lolled out of his mouth.

“Roll your tongue back inside of your mouth, and keep your dick in your pants, you sicko,” I half-teased, half-ordered on a whisper, turning toward the window and getting ready to throw myself on the sword.

Wasting no time, fearing that I would lose my nerve if I did, I braced my hands on the bottom of the window and raised my voice to an attention grabbing level.

“Miller! Oh, thank God!” I declared dramatically with what might have been a touch of overacting.

“I was worried when you didn’t check in,” I continued when three shocked sets of eyes locked onto me from inside of the house.

Seth had plastered himself to the bricks, having been startled by my bluster, and was muttering that I was a psycho under his breath.

He was probably right, but I had to give this a shot. Maybe we were all going to end up in jail, but at least I wouldn’t feel like I forced Miller out onto the cliff and then left him out to dry.

Miller barely managed to be coherent enough to squeeze out an, “Uh,” and as a result, Mayor Klein was the first person to get his bearings back.

“What the hell is going on here?” he demanded to know, and with the way his voice boomed, there was no doubt it was a command.

“I’m so sorry, Mayor, but Miller and I were out on a date,” I enunciated slowly, hoping Mill would get a clue and start backing me up, but that it didn’t sound so stilted that the Mayor questioned my IQ. “And he thought he saw some suspicious activity at your house.”

“Right,” Mill finally confirmed, allowing himself a half smirk and finally coming out of his stupor. “I know I was just recently deputized-”

Well that was some unknown information. I guess there were a lot of things we didn’t know about one another.

“-and I wasn’t on duty tonight, but I knew the timing, figured it was something fairly innocent like prank night, and wanted to give these kids a chance to make the right choice.”

Hannah’s eyes bounced back and forth between us, but her lips stayed tightly sealed. She didn’t know where we were going with this, but she knew she didn’t want to mess it up.

“Now I was a little late taking action, and the plan was already underway by the time I got here, but I’m hoping you’ll be a little lenient with her and give me a chance to serve up a little community service and a hard earned lesson instead of pressing charges,” my man negotiated like a pro.

I may have started this idea, but I was glad he was the one running with it. He seemed to have a much better handle on a way to clear all of us than I did.

Of course, being a member of law enforcement probably helped with that. Clearly, we had a lot of talking to do.

When I finally managed to pull my eyes off of Miller’s cute face and rockin’ physique, I transferred my observations, switching them over to completely platonic ministrations, onto the man in the robe.

Looking into the Mayor’s eyes, a gold-flecked brown surrounded by laugh lines and life experience, I knew we were fucked. He wasn’t buying a word of this.

We were all going to spend the night in jail, have a record, and Miller was probably going to lose his job.

Baby seals were probably going to get clubbed, too. Or kittens murdered. Something outrageously bad.

Like
Friends
was going to get cancelled again.

Uneasiness churned in my stomach, and I could feel the edges of nausea start to bite into the fringe of my consciousness. My stance swayed slightly, and I fought hard against the urge to toss my cookies all over the place.

Oh my God, please don’t let me get sick. I seriously doubted ralphing all over myself was going to help anything at this point.

“Step inside, Miss Kapernack,” Mayor Klein demanded, his face stern and commanding in a way that spoke volumes as to why he was the leader of our little town.

I wasn’t really sure if he wanted me to climb through his window like the rest of the criminals, but leaving my post and heading for the front door didn’t seem practical.

So I hefted myself up, using whatever part of Seth I could find as a step stool, ignoring his muted grunt of discomfort.

Served him right.

Once I was inside, the Mayor spoke again. “Take a seat on the couch, all of you.”

We did as we were told, obviously prepared to take the consequences of our actions like adults. You know, except for the whole trying to cover it up with a crazy ass story thing.

Even Hannah seemed ready to reap what she had sewn. Grudgingly, I was gaining some respect for her too.

As I settled onto the plush cushions next to Mill, he squeezed my knee softly and then murmured, “I’m sorry,” at an equally low volume.

Yeah, that part was pretty clear.

I wanted to give him some reassurance, but we were kind of in the middle of a situation, so I figured I would wait until we weren’t getting our asses handed to us by the Mayor of Winslow.

Miller

“Here’s the deal,” Mayor Klein started frankly. “I think you all know that I know your story is bullshit.”

Oh here we go.

“But I also think we know that what you were doing was not in any way acceptable.”

Shit. That was sounding a little better. Or worse. It could go either way.

None of us wanted to disrespect the Mayor by taking our eyes off of him, but I could tell we were all looking at each other with a little bit of “what the fuck” in our peripheral vision.

Of course, it didn’t really matter at this point. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen, and there would be no changing it.

Zoey and I definitely needed a Ground Hog Day scenario where we could go back and avoid stabbing ourselves in an effort to prevent the harm for one another.

“But you’re in luck,” he continued, and at that I couldn’t help but shift my eyes to Zoey just once, really quickly.

Holy shit.

We all took deep breaths, the couch sinking with the added weight from our tension release.

Though, I was a little worried it was a trap. That being in luck wasn’t the good omen that it seemed to be.

“See, I’m in a good mood tonight,” he explained, moving his eyes directly to me and largely ignoring the women on the couch.

That was my only first clue that shit was about to get real.

“I got a phone call from an old friend. A very good friend. I figure it has to be some kind of sign that I reconnect with a man I’ve missed for twenty-five years-”

Holy, holy shit.

“-on the very same night that his son breaks into my house.”

Cue cars screeching to a halt, alley cats hissing, and Scooby Doo perking up for a double take in the corner.