Leaving Annalise (Katie & Annalise Book 2) by Pamela Fagan Hutchins Read Free Book Online Page B

me to him and kissed my lips long and hard.
    “Absolutely,” I said.
    “That’s settled, then.” He held up his phone with his thumb set to press the speed dial. “She’s waiting for me to call back. So I’ll see you soon.”
    “Soon.”

Chapter Ten
    I stepped out into the brightness of midmorning in the Caribbean. The sun bathed the world in light not unlike but a million times better than the yellow walls in Nick’s hotel room. Along the side of the building hibiscus clamored, the source of the cuttings in the bathroom, no doubt. I shielded my eyes and tried to make my Shoeless Joe Jackson walk of shame as quickly as I could. Damn, it was a long way to my truck. I started trotting across the parking lot. Just as I reached the truck, my phone rang. It was Ava. I didn’t bother saying hello.
    “Don’t start with me,” I said. I crawled in and remembered I had no keys. Shit. But I knew how to hotwire a truck now, didn’t I? I hadn’t paid close attention, but it wasn’t rocket science.
    Ava’s island accent danced across the phone line. “Wah? I just checking on you, that’s all. So, talk to me. What happen?”
    Nick had left the bobby pins attached to the yellow and green wires. Green for go, yellow for something else. Both of them needed to be connected to the power. Power was red. I knew that whatever yellow was, it came before go. I stuck the opposite leg of the bobby pin with the yellow wire into the red wire. The dashboard lights came on. Ah, yes. Yellow for dash lights. I connected the green to the red with the ends of the other bobby pin. The engine turned and caught. Hot damn.
    “Sorry, Mom, but I couldn’t come home because I spent the night with a boy. Am I grounded?”
    I maneuvered the truck out of the parking lot onto the short stretch of road that passed Columbus Cove on the way to Ava’s place. A flotilla of kayaks paddled by on my left, creating a neon rainbow across the flat water.
    “It seem I a bad influence on you. Lah, he a sexy one.”
    “Keep your eyes off him, woman.” Ava was supposedly dating Rashidi, but she didn’t do exclusive very well. “So, tell me, how bad is it going to be with Bart?”
    “Bart? He already forget all about you. Heard he dating the recently divorced former Mrs. St. Marcos. I think you know her.” I laughed again. “Speaking of Jackie, you hear her cousin die?”
    “I think it’s a stretch to call her a cousin, but she told me. I already knew, though. She was the kitchen manager at Fortuna’s.”
    “Yah, bad stuff happening, mon.”
    “I just pulled up in the driveway. I’m hanging up now.”
    Ava’s small house was white and boxy, without a stick or stem of landscaping to soften its edges, but it had plenty of personality inside. The front door opened onto a miniature great room whose rattan furniture and Formica-topped table overlooked Columbus Cove far below. To the right were a balcony, a cheery galley kitchen, and the bathroom, and to the left were our bedrooms.
    “Honey, I’m home,” I yelled as I patted the bouncing head of Poco Oso, then made a sharp right into the tiny blue bathroom. Entering it was like diving into a tiny bay surrounded by a coral reef. The whole room was decorated with seashells. Shells in bowls, shells in box frames, even shells inset into the stucco walls, or “masonry,” as the Locals called it.
    I turned on the shower and stripped down.
    Ava rattled the knob, then rapped on the door. “Don’t lock me out of there. I need details, and I need ’em now.”
    I turned the knob to unlock the door and ducked inside the shower stall as my friend threw the door open.
    “That why they call it mooning. You need sun on that bana. I take you to Old Man’s Bay soon and we tan you up.”
    “My tush is going to stay as white as God made it, thank you very much.”
    “Enough about your flat ole white-girl ass. Spill it,” she said, and planted herself on the toilet seat. “And don’t leave out the good