Set Me Free (17 page)

Why the hell was I doing this again?

I had to remind myself constantly as I picked at my food. Zach kept the unhinged couple thing going pretty well, but it wasn't until he started rubbing his foot over my ankle that I knew I had to make a move. His sweet touch was going to undo me.

I caught Billy's gaze on me, his eyes were doing their own traveling this time. I met his blue-eyed stare, grateful that he hadn't taken after his father in that particular area. It gave me the confidence to think I could do this. As our eyes danced an intense tango, he rose from his seat and flicked his head towards the cashier.

Without a word to Zach, I rose from my spot with a disgruntled huff and followed my blond target.

Chapter 19

ZACH

Zach knew her huff was for show, but it still stung. He swallowed down his eggs and was just about to gulp down the rest of his coffee when she spun back to him with a pointed finger. Her whisper was harsh and guttral, enough to fool people into thinking she was livid with him.

"Don't hate me for this. Remember what I said earlier and act as though you couldn't care less that I was trying to make you jealous by flirting with another guy. Got it?"

"Whatever." Zach hated the scornful look he threw her, but the pleasure that sparked in her eyes before she spun away bolstered Zach's confidence.

Even so, seeing Lucy in this light unnerved Zach big time. He had no idea how good she was. Well, he did kind of know, but he headn't really seen it in action. The way she talked him through this scenario, putting on a show, had been pretty impressive. But now, watching her swan across the diner and stand next to Billy, her body language telling the whole place that she was into him big time, was really hard work.

He wished she didn't look so damn hot in those jeans shorts, although he had to admit they were the perfect attire for this gig. He found it fascinating that when she'd flounced down the stairs in them yesterday afternoon, she'd looked like a sweet, summer girl. A damn hot sweet, summer girl, but still, there had been an air of innocence to what she was wearing, so much so that Elliot and Alex hadn't even looked twice at her. But now that she was putting on this show, the shorts held an entirely different meaning and Zach wanted to burn them.

He tried to look bored and non-plussed by it all, but couldn't help throwing a few dark glares at the blond kid. The friends at his table were falling over themselves as they watched their buddy chat to the leggy brunette.

My leggy brunette
, Zach seethed as he took them in.

They looked to be about freshmen, maybe sophomore at a push. If Billy got in with this older girl, he'd be a legend among them.

Lucy tipped her head with a blush as Billy's hand grazed her arm. He looked over her shoulder and I turned away before he could catch my eye. He looked a little nervous at flirting with a girl who was obviously taken, but if he'd been a peacock his tail would've been in full bloom.

Zach ground his teeth together. He spent the painful minutes shaking the sugar packets and rearranging them into color order. He flicked one more glance over his shoulder, just in time to see her grab his bicep and look all impressed as she gave it a squeeze. Zach inwardly groaned, but couldn't take his eyes off the scene. She patted him once on the chest then turned with a flirty grin.

Her hips swayed as she made it back to the table. She acted like a superior bitch with her nose in the air until the guys had left the diner. Each of them waved at her and she tinkled her fingers back at them one by one.

As soon as they were out of sight, she let out a breath and reached for a piece of paper in her back pocket.

"He gave me his number."

"No shit." Zach couldn't help his dry tone. The last ten minutes had been torture.

She tipped her head, her blue eyes softening. "I'm sorry, I know that was hard, but..." She winced. "It's gonna get worse."

Zach's lips parted, letting out a disgusted sigh.

"I know, but it's a really great chance to get in."

"To the Tenner's place."

She nodded, pushing a piece of paper over the table. An address was scribbled below the phone number. "His Dad's out of town and he's having a party at his place tonight. We just got invited."

"We? Or you?"

"We, of course." She reached across the table and squeezed his arm.

"How did you swing that?"

Her shrug was nonchalant. "I basically indicated that I was seriously thinking of ditching my boring-ass boyfriend, if I could just find the right guy."

"And that would happen to be a blond kid with pimples?"

She snickered. "His skin was pretty good actually."

Zach's scowl made her wink. "He's an arrogant little prick who thinks much more highly of himself than he should. Pretending to be into him totally bolstered his confidence...not that it needed much." She made a face. "He told me to come to his place and he'd fix all my problems." Her fake deep voice had Zach chuckling.

"I told him I couldn't come without you and then he got super flirty and said, 'Bring him along; I'm sure we can find a quiet little corner when he's not looking.' Bluch! Can you believe that? It will almost be a pleasure bringing this guy down."

The gagging noise she made restored all of Zach's faith in her...but it didn't quiet the clatter stirring within him. They were going into William Tenner's home. It didn't matter that he was out of town. Things could still go seriously wrong.

Zach tried not to let his anxiety show as he fidgeted with his fork. "So, what's the plan? We go to the party and then what?"

Lucy drew in a breath and slowly released it. "Well, I'll ditch you for Billy and then get him to take me upstairs."

Zach's head jerked back, the fork clattering onto the plate. "Excuse me?"

She reached for his hand. "I won't do anything with him, I just need to make him think I will."

"And how are you gonna do that?" He flinched away from her touch.

"Zach, you're just really gonna have to trust me." Her expression was so sincere, he knew he could. He wanted to, but...

"I do trust you," he clipped.

"You don't sound like you do."

He grit his teeth. "I do, of course I do. I just don't trust him."

"That small fry?" She pointed to the door he'd left by. "If I can handle that creep Miles Filmore, I can handle Billy Tenner. I just need to convince him to get me into his father's office."

"And then what?"

"That's the tricky part." She rubbed her earlobe. "We'll have to think of some way of knocking him out so we have time to search the office. I don't want to physically hurt him though." She nibbled her lip. "But we need him to be spaced out long enough for us to do our thing and get out of there. He'll wake up in the morning, hopefully thinking that he's hung over and only have vague memories of the girl who wouldn't even tell him her name."

"He didn't want to know your name?"

"I told him he could call me whatever he wanted to." She stuck out her tongue, obviously disgusted by her flirty persona.

Each time she gave away her self-disgust it settled Zach's nerves that much more. Maybe he could survive this party. Logically he knew he could trust her. What choice did he have?

"So how do we knock him out then?"

"A roofie?"

"Yeah." Zach cringed. "But how would we get one?"

"I don't know." Lucy shrugged. "We could get him really drunk, but that would take too long. We want him to assume he's had a lot, but he'd have to have a ton to really knock him out, wouldn't he?"

Zach nodded, not really sure. He'd never been drunk off his face before. He had no idea how much alcohol it took to down somebody.

"What about chloroform?"

His eyes bulged. "Where did that idea come from?"

Lucy chuckled. "I don't know. Isn't that what they do in the movies? Put a rag over the victim's face to knock them out?"

"Could work, but again, where would we get it?"

She shrugged.

"I think we need to chat with Uncle Al. He has a bunch of connections in this town. He can probably get us whatever we need." Zach pulled out his phone and brought up the number.

"Do you think you can handle this?" Lucy squeezed his wrist. "The party, I mean? I could go alone if you need me to."

Leaning over the table, Zach made sure he spoke slow and clear. "You are not going to that party without me. Like hell I'm throwing you into that lion's den alone."

Her eyes glistened as she smiled.

Zach's thumb hovered over the call button. "You don't have to do this, you know?"

Her eyes were skittish, but her voice was steady. "Yes I do, Zach. It's probably our only chance to get into the house. We've got one shot and we don't have the luxury of time. We have to make this work."

"We will." He nodded, not feeling the confidence he should. Pressing the button, he lifted the phone to his ear and waited two rings. "Hey, it's me...Yep, I think we've got a plan."

Chapter 20

LUCY

"So he's not in town?" We weren't even in the door and Alex was standing on the front steps peppering us with questions about Tenner. "When does he get back? Do you think you can get into his office? What's the kid like?"

Zach put up his hand to stem the flow of questions. "Let's go upstairs and nut it out. Lucy's pretty sure she can get Billy to take her up to Tenner's office."

"Oh, yeah? How'd you work your magic?"

Alex nudged me gently with his elbow, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Basically she acted like a slut." Zach slumped onto the couch. I didn't miss his derogatory tone and wanted to crawl under the floorboards and die.

He must have noticed my expression, because his eyes suddenly rounded. "I didn't mean...you were a nice slut. I mean, you were really good at it. I mean..." He cringed.

Speechless, I kept my glare dark and stalked towards the kitchen.

"I'd stop now, if I were you." Alex slapped Zach on the back of the head and I was almost grateful for it.

"I'm sorry, Lucy. I didn't mean it that way." His brown gaze was wracked with regret.

I shook my head, forgiving him with a forced smile. It sure felt like he meant it, though. The words and tone didn't suit my usually sensitive boyfriend. They stung like nettles, making me loathe what I already hated about myself. I flung open the cupboard in search of a glass.

This was a bad idea. I should never have just thrown myself into a con like this. We didn't even research the kid. I just threw on my flirt moves and rushed headlong at a ticking time bomb. Alex's questions were bugging me. When did Tenner get back?

What if he sprung early and arrived halfway through the party unannounced? If he caught us in his office with his son knocked out, we had no way to predict his behavior. This was all kinds of stupid.