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picnic
table and rolled my head from one shoulder to the other to relieve
the kink in my neck. A nice reward for my efforts to get Eddie off
my back. I heard the trailer door slam behind my mother and
brother, but I still wasn’t alone in the yard. I raised my head to
find Pop staring at me.
    “There’s some sense in what your mother says,
Shay. If you don’t want to take this job, I won’t force you.”
    An image of Judd’s boot connecting with my
brother’s face flashed in my mind, and anger burned like acid in my
mouth. “When do I leave?”

CHAPTER NINE
     
    IT TOOK ME a day to get settled in after I
arrived in Pennsylvania and another to find Tommy Costello’s
daughter. Spencer was a nineteen-year-old sophomore at Balanova
University, a member of the OIA sorority, and an avid reader. At
least, according to her Facebook page. The last fact was quickly
proven true when I found her in the courtyard outside the Carroll
Center in the middle of campus.
    From where I stood on the opposite side of
the fountain, I had a clear view of her, sitting with her knees
pulled up to her chest and her back resting against the broad trunk
of a white ash. She was reading, her head tipped to one side, which
made a thick section of her dark auburn hair fall forward to shade
one side of her face. The quad was empty aside from the two of us
and a kid who bobbed his head to the beat of whatever song played
through his retro headphones.
    Finding out she lived in a sorority house had
been my first disappointment. Pop Sheedy had assumed she’d be
living with her father, so I’d have to work a little harder to
score an invitation to Daddy’s. I was still pretty sure I was up to
the challenge, though. And the sooner I worked my way into her
life, the sooner I could finish the job and get back home. Time to
get this show on the road.
    I circled around the fountain, gearing up for
my role as “lost transfer student,” but a pixie-haired blonde in a
pink-and-white sundress beat me to her. I stopped thirty feet from
my goal and pulled a campus map from my back pocket. I watched the
girls from the corner of my eye as I pretended to study the
map.
    “Hey, Spence!” the blonde said, handing over
a cup emblazoned with the green Starbucks logo. “I got the herbal
tea you wanted, even though it goes against every fiber of my being
to order something that doesn’t have any caffeine in it.”
    Spencer grinned at her and took the cup.
“Aww, thanks, Kay. It’s so sweet of you to compromise your
principles for me.”
    “Whatevs. No biggie. Plus, sexy coffee-cart
guy is working today, so it was totes worth it.”
    Was this girl even speaking English? I
shifted my weight from one foot to the other, then looked around
the quad as if trying to orient myself. I spun the map in my hands
so that I was looking at it upside-down. If I looked hopeless
enough, maybe the girls would offer to help.
    “Have you found a dress for the party
tomorrow night?” the over-caffeinated blonde asked.
    “Yep. I ended up going with the one we saw on
South Street. Remember?”
    “Ooh, the green one? I bet you look super hot
in that.”
    “It looks all right,” Spencer said. She
shoved the book she’d been reading into a worn leather backpack.
She slid a cell phone into the front pocket of the bag, snapped it
shut, and slung it over one shoulder. “I’m supposed to meet Moira
in ten minutes. She’s helping me study for my French quiz on
Friday. Walk with me to the library?”
    Both girls got to their feet. According to
the map, Fowley Library was on the east side of campus, which meant
I stood between them and their destination. I saw my opening.
    My eyes still on the map, I took a few steps
to my right just as she passed by.
    “Oof!” she grunted. Her backpack swung
forward, and I reached out to steady both her and it. Her body
pressed against mine as she stumbled into me, and I had to admit it
wasn’t an entirely unwelcome feeling.
    “Shit. Sorry,” I