Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57888 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57888 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
“Did you say it’s on your list to have sex?”
“Yeah, why do you say that like it’s weird? I gotta do it at some point, right? I’m a girl with needs.” Needs that I’ve just noticed a lot more since Bam showed up on the scene.
I mean, who could blame me? He’s so damn handsome even though he’s a little rough around the edges. I think that may be what I like the most about him. He’s not trying to hide who he is from me.
“Then you come to me.”
“Come.” I laugh. “Oh.” I press my lips together. “I thought you were doing a play on words.” I’m such a dork. “I’m into cheap humor and low-hanging fruit. What can I say?”
“You say when the time comes, you’ll come to me.” There is not an ounce of humor in Bam’s tone at this point.
“Sure thing,” I squeak out.
“Say it, Josie.” He stops walking again. I drop my head back to stare up into those intense blue eyes of his.
“I mean, yeah. It might be fun to try stuff. I think I’m the only virgin left in my school,” I admit. “Which might be a good thing with people dying and all. The virgins live, so maybe we should hold off on fully bumping. That is if you make it. You do have the funny guy vibe, and they often die, but you also have main character energy.”
His brows pull together. “I never know if you’re fucking with me or not.”
“Good.” I pat his chest. “I’ll keep you on your toes. Not that you need to be on your toes. You’re tall enough already.” He shakes his head, but he’s smirking, so I take it.
“Come on, rebel.” His hand goes to my back. “Your warehouse awaits.” Bam motions with his other hand to the old, run-down warehouse that belongs in a very scary movie. It seriously has Freddy Krueger written all over it. “Change of heart?” Bam asks when I don’t move.
“No.” I swallow. “I’m just worried for you. You know.”
“Because I don’t have the virgin safety net?” he teases. I roll my eyes because while true, I still find that rather annoying. I don’t want to think about him with anyone else. Not that I’m falling for him. Nope, that’s not happening here. I’m only worried my assistant here could catch something.
“Yep, we can go with that.”
“Well, rest assured, little rebel. I’m a virgin too.”
“Right,” I bark a laugh. His brows rise. “You’re messing with me.”
“I guess now you don’t know if I’m fucking with you.”
“I think I’d know that.” I bet he’s big everywhere.
“Oh, I promise you’ll know.”
“Bam.” I lick my lips, not sure how we got so off topic. I’m sure it was my fault. That’s a bad habit of mine. I tend to ramble on about all sorts of things until I don’t know what point I was trying to originally make. Hence the notebook to write down random thoughts I have.
“Dead body first, then we’ll come back to the bumping.”
“Sure, right,” I say entirely too loud and squeaky. “Let’s go.” I march on toward the warehouse. It now seems far less scary than this conversation.
Chapter Five
BAM
The body is still there, right where we left it. Josie’s feet slow as we approach, but she doesn’t stop. Her smile is gone, but you can hardly blame her. I don’t think she’s the type that uses humor to mask negative feelings. I think she just tries to be happy most of the time, which I really admire.
“This is a dumb question because it’s an empty warehouse, but did you notice any specific tracks coming in or out?”
“We weren’t paying attention, but I don’t think the photos showed anything like that.”
She turns in a slow circle, her gaze taking in the cracks, the multiple sneaker prints, the dirt. I don’t know what details are important to her, so I stand back.
“Did you turn him over?” she asks.
“No. I could tell how he died without doing that.” I pick up a stick and draw the collar away, revealing the neck so she can see for herself. “He was choked with someone’s hands.”
“How do you know the marks aren’t from a rope?” She comes to my side and leans forward, her face near my arm.
“The marks around his carotid are darker, which means more pressure was placed there. A rope would have more even markings.”
“Should I be concerned you know these things?”
“Just one of those things I picked up in bumping deterrent classes.”
“I missed that elective offering at school.” She rocks back on her heels. “Did you find anything in his pockets?”
“I never looked.” I crouch down and frisk the body, but there’s nothing but lint. “Nada. You want me to roll him over now?”
“Yeah. It messes with the crime scene, but we both know the police are never going to send someone here to look into this case. Besides, if one of us reported it, they’d probably assume we had done the crime.”