Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
Could it really be that bad for us to be together? Shit, I don’t know if she’s with Rich. All we’d done was fall asleep together. She wrapped herself around me in her sleep. It was me who suggested we lie down.
Teddy is so sweet to everyone. She would have offered to make anyone in the house dinner or that hot chocolate. I’m learning that’s her nature. So maybe she was just extending that courtesy to me. I greedily want it all to myself when I know the twins need that too.
I attempt to immerse myself in my work for a few hours, but my thoughts always return to Teddy. I sent off a request about Derrick with the information that he likely goes to Lighthouse High and is around Teddy’s age, along with tracking down her number.
Zero comes through and gives me more information than I’d asked for. He’d been the one to do a deep dive on Teddy and her mom. He provides me with all the details about Derrick, including his school schedule. Zero also integrated location tracking into Teddy's phone remotely. That man can get into anything, and he’s also in with everyone. There isn’t a place he can’t touch you if he can connect to it in some way. He’ll infiltrate everything.
The tracking shows her still at Lighthouse High, which is another fucking reminder that she is still in high school. That detail will continue to haunt me. I glance over the information on Derrick, who is on the football team and barely keeps a C average. I’m sure just to stay on the team, otherwise he’d be kicked off.
Zero threw in links to Derrick’s social media, which is a string of pictures of himself at the gym, on the field, or at a party. I can tell he’s a cocky fucker. He's easy to read, and given Teddy's comment last night that he's slept with everyone, I'm going to view him as less of a threat for the time being.
But I don’t miss that he and Teddy have the same first class together and lunch. I review Teddy's schedule again and notice that a few classes are missing. That can’t be right. Then I remember that seniors have the option to leave early if they are enrolled in enough classes to graduate.
I shut everything down quickly and grab my shipment that finally arrived. Now is my chance to install some of it while no one is home. The cleaners that showed up have left, and Jack went to town.
I install detectors on the side door that is most frequently used by everyone, as well as the ones that lead from the kitchen to the patio. Teddy uses that door sometimes when she heads to the guesthouse. I’m telling myself I’m installing them for everyone’s safety, but I know it’s so I can keep an eye on Teddy.
Outside, I notice a small, white SUV, always parked by the guesthouse. It belongs to Eden, but Teddy has used it a few times. I glance around to make sure the coast is clear before I clip on one of my shadow tags, one that sticks on like a piece of tape on the undercarriage.
It's an asshole thing to do, but if I'm already doing things I shouldn't, why stop now?
Chapter Twelve
TEDDY
Ican’t help the anticipation I have when I get out of my last class. It was hard to concentrate most of the day, my thoughts drifting to West. My phone dings with a text, and it’s Willa letting me know she’s out by the Jeep. When I make my way outside, she’s leaning up against it.
“Rich gave me the keys.” Willa holds them up. “He took off with someone.”
“Black charger?” I ask, recalling the car from the morning.
“Kinda boxy but sporty? When it starts, it’s super loud.”
“Yeah,” I laugh, snagging the keys from her. Willa doesn’t drive. We have tried to teach her, but it never goes well. We both hop in.
“You want to get shakes?” she asks when I pull out of the parking lot.
“Sure.” I love a good strawberry shake, but damn, I was wanting to get back to the house. Back to West. It might not be the worst if I don’t rush home. It may come off as desperate, and that’s the last thing I want.
“You think it will be weird to see him?” Willa takes a sip of her vanilla shake.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I didn’t think I was shy, but with him—”
“It’s different?” she finishes for me, a smile lighting up her face.
“It’s different,” I agree.
“Like in our books.”
“I suppose so.” I didn’t think that was real, but I hoped it was. Living on the island, I was starting to think I hadn’t crushed on anyone because of the limited pool, but maybe I was just waiting for something special.