Page 41 of Heartbeat Girl
Did he touch the cross?
He must have touched it! Oh, my God! I was right.
My thoughts were getting ahead of me.
When Steve caught me staring, he smiled sheepishly, shrugged, and gripped his leg. “Those muscle spasms are a real bitch.” He frowned. “What’s wrong? You seem disappointed?”
“Do you not like them?” I asked, my shoulders drooping.
“Why crosses?” Liam studied his opened box.
“You don’t like them?” I croaked again, feeling my skin dampen as my nerves became jittery. Safe to say I didn’t make a good detective. I wasn’t good at pretending either.
“You got me something.” Liam flashed me with an intense smolder, heating my skin with those hooded eyes. “You could give me a stick, and I’d love it.”
My heart rate quickened.Thatwasn’t what I expected. I gasped when he plucked the cross up and hooked it around his neck. Steve and Pete did the same thing with ease. No pain. No screaming. I bit my bottom lip as the necklace dangled over Liam’s black T-shirt. It even suited him.
“This is a good look on us,” Steve said. “Why didn’t I think of wearing one before?”
Cross equals epic failure.
It wasn’t over yet. I still had my mirrors.
Liam watched me stand and disappear to the bedroom. It took thirty minutes of waiting around in the bedroom before I was brave enough to come out with the handheld mirror. Hair still twisted atop my head, I’d changed into some comfy sleeping clothes. I wanted to appear comfortable and at ease around them so they wouldn’t question why I came out here to pluck my eyebrows when I always did my lady business in private.
“What are you doing?” Steve asked as I plopped down on the tiny couch beside him.
I held up my tweezers. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Your eyebrows are fine,” he replied.
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
With a sigh, Steve resumed scrolling through his phone. I didn’t know what made me look over the mirror the second I held it up to peek at Liam. He rested his head on the back of the booth with his eyes closed. Gripping the handle tightly, I leaned into it and pretended to study my eyebrows. I even clipped at nothing so that it appeared I was doing something. When I was confident that no one paid attention to me, I started tilting the mirror.
Here it goes…
I jumped when Steve’s arms wrapped around my neck, and he leaned in close. I saw his reflection smirking as he rubbed his chin. “Holy fuck, I’m beautiful.”
What the fuck!
With a huff, I tossed the mirror down beside him and went to my bedroom. Unraveling the mystery wasn’t happening. Maybe I imagined the absence in Liam’s chest. With a frustrated whine, I fell headfirst onto the bed. Was this what Ruth knew about them? All the cryptic words and hushed whispers? I thought of the bold way Liam always grabbed my hands and linked us together. If he could do that, why wouldn’t he tell me who he really was?
Chapter Fifteen
LIAM
“You’re going to have to do something.” Steve looked toward the rear of the bus. We lounged on the sofa while Pete sat at the booth, working on a puzzle.
“What do you mean?” I knew exactly what he was talking about.
He narrowed his gaze at me. “Don’t play that game with me. I’m talking about Jayne.”
I chuckled as he fanned himself with a paper. He put on a great act to show how worked up it was, but that’s all it was—an act. He loved being dramatic. “I’m going to have to wear a bulletproof vest to protect myself from her.”
Pete snorted, but otherwise remained quiet as he pieced his game together.
“First the crosses, then the mirror,” said Steve.