“Uh, yeah, sort of. I mean, everyone knew her. I’m sorry about her, uh, dying and shit. It’s fucked up.”
“Yeah, sorry,” the big guy mumbles, and the rest of the guys mutter their condolences.
“What do you remember about her?” I step closer to Clifton. The big guy takes his chance to slip back to the smoking circle, clearly not interested in discussing a dead girl with the dead girl’s sister, but I don’t let Clifton escape. “Were you close?”
“Nah, not at all, she was too cool. I mean, she was busy following Emilio around like a fucking puppy dog. God, that girl was obsessed with him. I bet—” He stops himself, eyes going wide. “Fuck, you’re in Calico. Which means you know Emilio, don’t you?”
“I might,” I say, trembling with excitement. “But tell me more. Please, nobody ever tells me anything about my sister.”
“I shouldn’t say anything. It’s just, that girl used to follow him around all the time, like she was in love with him or something. We all figured they were fucking. She was, like, completely obsessed.”
I take a step back, heart racing. Lucy, obsessed with Emilio?
And they were fucking?
No, that can’t be true. That’s just some sick gossip. Lucy was just working her case and doing her research, she wasn’t actually into Emilio, that can’t be real.
And yet what if it was? What if Emilio was fucking Lucy, and now he’s fucking me because he misses my sister?
I feel like the salt is about to pile over my face, like my world’s contracting. I turn away from Clifton and mutter something about going for a walk, and I get two paces away from the keg before Lesley appears, shoving her way through the crowd, walking fast.
She grabs my arm and yanks me along with her. “We gotta go. Bye, boys!”
“Later,” Clifton says, looking bewildered.
“What’s going on? That was fast.”
Lesley has a big, cheesy smile plastered on her face, and she talks through her teeth. “Cask boys got suspicious.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was asking a lot of questions.”
“Did you make it too obvious?”
“I picked their leader’s pocket.”
“Lesley!” I nearly stop walking but her drags me along. “You didwhat?”
“He had the boat key right there like a fucking idiot.” We reach the edge of the party and turn toward campus. “So, you know, I just… grabbed it.”
“Oh my god.”
“Yeah, well, we better hurry, before—”
She’s cut off by shouts from back at the party. We slow and look over our shoulders just as four big, angry-looking guys barrel through the crowd and step onto the margins of the crowd, looking around until they spot us.
“Are those the Cask guys?” I ask. “The big, angry ones?”
“Yep.”
“Should we run?”
“Definitely.”
I toss my beer aside and start sprinting with Lesley right behind me.
My hair blows out in the wind as we speed onto campus. My sandals flop against the walkway and I curse the stupid island. I should’ve worn damn shoes. Lesley passes me and keeps going, running like her ass is on fire, and I struggle to keep up. She’s in fantastic shape and she glides along effortlessly like she’s flying. The guys shout something and they’re gaining on me, and I don’t think I can outrun them for long. My little legs work as hard as they can, but these men are bigger, faster, and stronger.