Gold Digger

7. Did I Stutter?

"Did he have a solid alibi?" I ask.

We've decamped to my place so we can discuss Lily's suspicions about Shane without fear of being overheard. Having swapped my scratchy school uniform for black leggings and a baby blue tee, I'm lying on my stomach on my queen-sized bed, with my arms hanging off the edge like dangling vines. Lily's curled up in the wicker egg chair that hangs from my bedroom ceiling; Hunter's sprawled on his back on the fluffy white rug between us. If I stretched my fingers out just a little, I could run my fingers through his malted whiskey hair. Not that I'd do that, because that would be... weird. But I could... if I needed to.

"Shane says he was at a party with his friend Spider the whole night, but I don't think the police questioned Shane with much focus because he wasn't a suspect," Lily says. "Even if they did, Spider would say whatever Shane told him to-he's been my brother's loyal lapdog since kindergarten."

"Shane was unhappy about the pregnancy and your parents' acceptance of Archer, but do you think he was angry enough to kill?" I ask Lily.

"I honestly don't know. Shane's always been... petulant... and a snob. He never thought Archer was good enough for me. If they were talking and Shane lost his temper..."

"Something about Shane immediately rubbed you the wrong way, Darce. What was it exactly?" Tilting his head back, Hunter looks up at me from his spot on the floor.

I shrug, unsure how to justify the creepy, crawly feeling that invaded my spine the minute Lily's older brother entered the room. Hunter waits me out, his crystalline gaze curious and patient and stupidly distracting. I'm cataloguing the greens and browns and blues that play across his irises when realisation hits me like a brick. "Shane reminds me of my sister," I whisper, feeling guilty even as I say it. "They're both bullies who don't deal well with not getting their own way."

"That's definitely Shane," Lily says.

"If Arch and Shane met up that night as planned, how would we prove it?" Hunter asks.

"Fingerprints or DNA at the scene, or CCTV footage, I guess?" I say.

"Wouldn't the police check all that for a suspected robbery?" Lily says.

"You'd think so," Hunter says. "But even if they have samples, I doubt they tried to match them to Shane. If they legitimately think it was a break-in gone wrong, they wouldn't have any reason to suspect Shane was involved. He's an arrogant prick, but he doesn't have a criminal record and he's not exactly struggling for cash."

"True, I-"

Loud and insistent ringing interrupts Lily's next thought, and I hop up to retrieve my phone from my desk. Cassidy is off and running as soon as I answer. "OMG, D! Like, 'Bonjour, are you dead?' I've been calling and calling and calling." It's loud wherever she is-the 'doof, doof' of a heavy bass line fighting it out against the squeals and laughter of multiple conversations.

"Cass, it's 4am in Paris. On a Tuesday! Don't you have school today?"

"Apparently. But there's this new club on the Seine Aurelie wanted to check out. You know what she's like." Cass laughs, and I can picture her twirling an auburn curl around her finger as clearly as if she was standing in front of me.

Aurelie is Cassidy's host sister for her year-long French exchange. Having grown up in a Vogue Living­-worthy apartment in Saint-Germain-des-Pres, Aurelie treats Paris like her personal playground. Dancing, drinking and excessive shopping are her go-to solutions for all problems, from 'my girlfriend broke up with me' to 'it's Monday'. Cass adores her. I'm not so sold.

"Aurie's kissing some girl on the dancefloor and I'm bored, so I thought I'd ring and find out how you went with Bus Boy yesterday," Cass says. "Did you talk to him?"

Was that only yesterday?

Glancing at the teenage Adonis currently making himself at home on my bedroom floor, I can't believe it's barely been twenty-four hours since I said hello to Archer and met Hunter. Dead or alive, the Viera boys are taking up so much space in my brain today, it's as though they've always been there.

"I talked to him," I say.

"Slay, Queen," Cass squeals. "Tell me everything. Are you besties for life? Boyfriend/girlfriend? Loverrrrs?" Cassidy is being loud, even for her, and I'm praying to any deity who'll listen that neither Hunter nor Lily can hear what she's saying.

"It's a long story... and I'm kinda busy right now. Can we talk about it tomorrow?"

"Busy, D? It's lunchtime. Either you're in the library or you're sitting under the elm trees with a dog-eared novel and refusing to make eye contact with anyone."

"I'm in my room," I tell her.

"What's wrong? Are you sick? You must be sick."

"No. I just skipped today."

"You. Skipped school."

Hunter's phone rings, blaring Mr Brightside by The Killers at top volume. I try not to stare at his butt as he slips from the room with an apologetic smile. Try. And fail.

"What was that?" Cassidy asks.

"Hunter's phone." I reply without thinking, my mind still on long legs and tight glutes.

"Hunter?"

"Archer's brother."

"Archer?"

"The guy from the bus."

"Anyone else there in your bedroom?"

"Just Lily."

"Lily?"

"Archer's girlfriend."

"Who are you and what have you done with my anti-social best friend?"

"My 'one brave thing' sort of snowballed."

"You don't say. I'm going now. I need to process and drag Aurelie home. You go do... whatever it is you're doing. Later, you will tell me all the things. ALL. OF. THEM. In minute detail. Down to timbre of voice and shoe size. Got it?"

"Yes, boss."

"Excellent. Bonne nuit. I'm proud of you, D. Love you."

"Night, Cass. Love you too."

I toss my phone on my bed and look up to find Lily smiling at me, her blue eyes alight with mirth and something else I can't quite define.

"She sounds fun," Lily says.

"She is."

"I really like your room."

"Thanks. I like it too."

Last summer, my parents gave Danica and me a budget to style our bedrooms. Dani's is pastel pretty. Mine's more dramatic. All four walls are a deep and moody blue green I chose mainly for its name: Juggernaut. It took my dad and me three weekends to strip out the carpet, sand and stain the original floorboards a pale shade of walnut, and paint all the trims and my old furniture stark white. The antique crystal chandelier came from Cassidy's grandma's house and was my seventeenth birthday present from Cass and her mum.

I love my room. It's fresh, sophisticated and elegant-all things I dearly wish I was, but suspect I'm not cut out for.

"You really saw Arch on the bus, didn't you?" Lily asks. She's matter of fact about it; centred, and I like that about her.

"I did."

"I'm glad," she says. "If only one person can see him, I'm happy it's you, Darcy."

I don't know how to respond, so I smile at her and say nothing. Hunter told Lily about Archer and the bus in the Uber on the way to my house. She took it amazingly well. "I knew he was still here" was all she said, and that was sort of that.

"You and Hunter haven't known each other long?" Lily says.

I laugh. "A whole day."

"Really?" Her smile broadens, accentuating the dimple in her chin. "He likes you, you know."

"No, he..." Heat crawls up my chest and across my cheeks. Pregnancy hormones are clearly messing with Lily's judgement. There's no way Hunter likes me. Hunter loved Lily; probably still loves Lily, and she's self-assured, delicate and sweet. I'm an awkward, big-mouthed giraffe. Hardly the same thing.

"Trust me. If there's one thing I'm an expert on, it's what a Viera boy with a crush looks like. H likes you. You're exactly his type: super smart, caring, ridiculously pretty. Just... be gentle with him, okay? His last girlfriend really did a number on him." Her smile is self-deprecating now.

"Oh, we're not-"

"Please, Darcy?"

"I'll be... gentle."

There's no way he likes me.

Is there?

"What are we being gentle with?" Hunter is back.

"Nothing," Lily and I say in unison.

Warmth floods my cheeks again.

Damn it.

"You guys are weird," Hunter says. "That was Manny on the phone-Archer's boss. He says we can come down to the workshop any time before 7pm."

"Let's go now." I'm suddenly keen to escape the confines of my room. Hunter's standing so close we're almost touching, and I'm acutely aware of his tanned forearm and Lily's keen attention. There's also a strange gooey feeling in my stomach which I'm loath to analyse or label. It's throwing me off kilter. He's throwing me off kilter.

"I'll meet you guys downstairs," Lily says. "The baby and my bladder aren't friends today."

She leaves the room and I stride over to my built-in robe to grab a jacket and put some distance between Hunter and me-not necessarily in that order.

"What are we are looking for at Manny's?" I ask. "I doubt the police have left any obvious evidence lying around, and you said there weren't any security cameras. Talking to the other mechanics would be good, though. Maybe one of them can shed some light on Archer's plans to talk to Shane. What he was planning to say and stuff. Should we mention Shane's name, do you think? Do any of them know him?"

"Darcy," Hunter says in that disarming, rumbly voice of his. "Are you okay?"

"Of course. I'm fine. Why do you ask? Why wouldn't I be?" I flick through my clothes on autopilot, pulling a cropped denim jacket from its hanger and throwing it on.

"You're babbling." He's right behind me again, turning me gently so we're face-to-face and so close I can count the tiny freckles on his nose. "I know this is a lot, and you didn't ask for any of it. If it's too much and you want out, you just have to say so."

"No, I..." I make the mistake of meeting his glittering hazel eyes and all rational thought flees. The boy is unfairly good looking, but it's not that which has me floored. He's staring at me with such genuine care; such interest in who I am and what I might want, that the urge to sink towards him, wrap my arms around him like an octopus and never let go, is ridiculously strong.

This is bad. Very, very bad.

"Darcy..." He leans closer still, his right hand hovering near my cheek, his left resting gently on my hip. His eyes are asking questions. Urgent, confusing questions.

My breath hitches.

"What the actual f**k?" Danica seeps into the room like liquid nitrogen, rendering everything before her frozen, brittle and broken. "You are so dead, Darcy. Wait until Mum and Dad find out you ditched school to hook up with a dude in your room. This is beautiful, really. Thank you. You two have made my day." Hip c****d and arms crossed, Dani is such a picture of smug glee that the urge to punch her in the nose is disturbingly strong.

I want to have a smart comeback, really, I do, but she's right, Mum and Dad are going to freak. Why, oh why, did I forget my sister has a double spare on Tuesday afternoons? I throw Hunter a panicked glance. He calmly winks before turning to Dani with a megawatt smile.

"Danica, great to see you again. Darcy wasn't feeling well this morning, so I brought her home. Luckily, my sister-in-law offered to help me look after my girl. Lil's studying nursing and she's great at this stuff. Here she is now. Lily-meet Darcy's sister, Danica. Danica-Lily."

"Hi, Danica." Lily enters the room with beatific grace, and a calm confidence which immediately makes her seem older than nineteen. "Darcy, we need to go. I've booked you a doctor's appointment for 2pm."

"Thanks Lily," I say, flooded with gratitude for these two humans I barely know. "See ya, Dani. Appreciate your heartfelt concern. I'll try not to die on the way to the doctor, okay?" Unable to resist, I cough loudly in her face.

"Oh, get a life," Dani hisses.

"You first." I grab Hunter's hand and lace our fingers together before leaning into his shoulder. "Let's go, babe."

We're almost to the front door when Hunter bends his head to whisper in my ear. "Told you it was too much fun."

"Cease and desist," I whisper back.

"Never."

There isn't a piece of my heart that doesn't hope he means it.