Page 83 of Bad Intentions

Alysha: derek WHO?????

Another call. I cut it.

Alysha: PICK UP YOUR FKN PHONE BIRDIE!!!!

I smiled, gloat drowning my earlier frustration. It was okay. Messing with those two made it worth it. I wanted to laugh in their faces, make them feel like I’d felt for years—insignificant and like a loser.

A sudden idea curled like a snake into a coil in my head.

I pulled a Swiss Army knife out of my purse, the little old thing I carried just in case. You never knew when you might need to cut things or…a wine opener, right.

I stifled a smile, looked around to make sure Derek wasn’t outside, then walked to his Ford parked next to me, and sat on my haunches next to his front tire.

A slash with a knife would be too obvious to any mechanic. One with a wine-opener would look like a nail. The second I stabbed the star end into the tire, excitement zipped through me. I twisted it in, then pulled it out and did it again.

“See you soon,” I whispered and dashed to my car.

Derek was the most interesting guy I’d ever met. Al and Vic would say, “Way out of your league, Birdie.”

But just like that serial killer said, “No one is off-limits. You just need to find an angle.”

Or a wine-opener.

44

MALLORY

As soon as I turned on my phone the next morning, it started dinging repeatedly with missed texts.

Drunk Vic and Al had bombarded me with calls and messages the night before, wanting me to pick up their drunk asses from who knows where. So I’d turned off my phone.

I would feel their wrath today, I knew. But maybe it was worth it. If not, they were going away to college at the end of the summer, and I was being left behind anyway.

Alysha: HELLO?????

Alysha: FOR FUCKS SAKE AAAANSWEEEEER!!!!!!

Then Vic followed with her texts. There was so much fury in all those capital letters. I wish I could’ve witnessed it. But I was petrified, too. I knew what those two could do to the others when things didn’t work out the way they wanted.

But among all the threats, one message that made my heart sing.

Unknown: really?

I knew it was Derek. It had to be. I assigned his name to the number right away, smiling like a fool.

Then the phone lit up with the call. Derek.

“Hello?” I almost whispered when I picked up. I didn’t mean to sound scared or apologetic. That was a habit.

“What the hell did you do, Mal?” His voice was smooth and a little edgy. At nine in the morning. On my phone. I’d expect him to fly off the handle, but that wasn’t Derek, I learned later.

I cleared my throat, summoning all my courage. “Who is this?” I asked all businesslike.

“Who is this?” A chuckle followed, not so friendly. “Why, you have many guys call your mobile?”

“Only the ones who have one. Not many around here.”

Another chuckle. “You are a clever little thing, aren’t you? The fuck did you do to my tire?”