"Just..." I sighed. "Don't do anything to get yourself in too much trouble,okay?"
"Mmmhmmm," he answered absently as he turned back to hiscomputer.
"Texas," I said meaningfully. "Swear to me. Cross your heart, hope to die, stick a needle in youreye."
He snorted. "Childish."
"Takes one to know one," I shotback.
He looked back at me and moved one finger in the motion of a cross over his heart. "Got it," he said. "Cross my heart and hope todie."
"Hey, Harlow!" Bellamy called as he came around the corner, phone in hand. "You freetoday?"
"Yeah, why? Something fromIris?"
Bellamy shook his head. "Alex is on the phone, said he could use a few hands at theDiner."
I sighed. "Yeah, okay. Let me go get dressed. He needs menow?"
Henodded.
"I'll be ready in a bitthen."
"I'll drive you," Bellamy said as he put the phone back to his ear. "She can do it, we'll be theresoon."
I headed back down the hallway towards my room. I grabbed one of my old uniforms and quickly buttoned it up before slipping into a pair of non-slip work sneakers. Outside, Bellamy waited in the idling SUV. He put the car into reverse and backed up, turning down the long driveway as I buckledin.
“How come we haven’t really been getting any Iris jobs?” I asked as he pulled out onto theroad.
For the last few weeks, I had been primarily occupied with Teddi and things with Grayson, but as things felt like they were calming down—drawing to a close, hopefully—the thought had been niggling at the back of my mind. Bellamy turned and glanced over atme.
“Did you want to pick up more Iris jobs?” heasked.
I shrugged. “I mean, I joined Iris for you guys, but I’d like to contribute. A few shifts at Alex’s here and there isn’t exactly how I expected my life to go after highschool.”
“What about college?” he asked. “You likedLander.”
“Yeah, I know, but I don’t know if college is right for me. I did like it, but at the same time, I don’t really have a passion like everyone else seemed to. I don’t know where I’mgoing.”
Bellamy’s voice dropped. “Sweetheart,” he started. “You don’t absolutely have to know what you’re going to do. You’re not alone. Most people don’t realize what they want to do in life until muchlater.”
I scratched my neck as I looked away from him. “Iknow…”
“If you don’t want to go to college, that’sfine.”
I dropped my hand. “But I want to help you guys,” I said. “I want to contribute to our lives together. As it stands, everyone else pays for everything. You work for Knix. Marv has his...well…whatever Marv does. Stocks?” Bellamy nodded, confirming it for me. “Yes, well, Marv has that—Texas takes care of, well... stealing identitiesapparently."
Bellamy was halfway through a laugh when he paused. "He's doingwhat?"
I groaned and put a hand over my face. "He stole Teddi's identity apparently. I don't know what he's doing with it, but he swore it wouldn't be anything too terrible. I hate her, but I don't want him to go tojail."
Bellamy frowned. "He shouldn't be doing that," he agreed. "I'll talk to him when I getback."
I turned and looked at him and then reached across the console to steal one of his hands away from the steering wheel. "Thank you," I said, intertwining our fingers together with a small gratefulsmile.
He smiled back, the wiry twist of his lips beautiful against his dark skin. "Anything for you,Sweetheart."
I blushed, glancingaway.