Stolen Read Free Page A

sister-sister
talk is in order, just to check on where she and Luke are at, or not at,
hopefully. I mean, she’s only eleven so she’d better not be anywhere.
    The sun is starting to set, making Cass look angelic
surrounded by bright light, which is reflecting off her light brown hair and
tanned skin she somehow naturally has, even though no one else in our family
has that complexion. She lucked out in the height department. Unlike me, she’s
the perfect height for her age and girls in general. I’ve never been the right
height, always too tall and feeling awkward, until I found volleyball. Now my
height is an asset, finally.
    “Where have you been? We’ve been looking all over for
you. You were supposed to wait up front for me, not run off doing God knows
what.” I watch for a reaction from either her or Luke, but their expressions
don’t change. I hope that means nothing was going on and not that they’ve
figured out a way to lie to me.
    “Sorry, I got bored waiting for you, then Luke found
me and we were just walking around while we waited. I guess we lost track of
time. It doesn’t look like you two were that upset about it, though.”
She arches her brows and cocks her head toward one side, throwing me a look of
mock disapproval. 
    I reach out and grab her arm, pulling her close to me
and squeezing my arm around her neck, pushing her head into my chest and
roughing up her hair. She tries to tell me to stop, but her giggling is
drowning out her protests. I finally relent and release her, but grab her by
her hand, keeping her close to me while we walk toward Rogan’s car with Rogan
and Luke trailing us. Another reason I love him, he’s talking to my younger
sister’s boyfriend as if it’s his job to protect Cass, too. I don’t think Luke is
that afraid of me, but I’m fairly certain he wouldn’t dare upset Rogan—like I
said, another reason I love him.
    When we get to the car, I step aside so Cass and Luke
can say their goodbyes while Rogan walks around to the driver’s side and slides
behind the wheel. His car only has two doors so I wait by an open passenger
door for Cass to get into the back seat. By what feels like the hundredth time
of “I love you more,” no, “I love you more” the car stereo breaks the moment.
Cass groans and rolls her hazel colored eyes toward Rogan even though she knows
he can’t see her, although I imagine he can feel it and is probably laughing at
her right now like he always does when he knows he’s driving her crazy.
    Cass climbs in the back and I shut the door when I put
the seat back in position and climb in myself. We watch Luke head toward a car
in the parking lot as we pull out onto the street. “Cass? Who’s giving Luke a
ride home?” I turn in my seat so I can see her while Rogan continues driving
away from the school.
    “It’s his uncle. He watches him when his mom has to
work nights. I’ve never met him, though, so I don’t know anything about him
except what Luke tells me. I guess he’s a pretty cool guy, though.”
    “You’re sure that’s his uncle back there, though?” I
press, trying to shake the overprotective big sister role I’m in right now.
    I hadn’t realized that we were pulling back into the
school parking lot until I see the car Luke was heading toward a few minutes
ago with Luke standing outside the driver’s side door.  He’s leaning down
into an open window talking to whoever is in the driver seat, hopefully his
uncle. But if it is, why hasn’t he gotten into the car yet?
    Rogan pulls up alongside Luke and rolls his window
down, casually hanging his head out. “Hey, Luke, you still heading home?”
    I’m trying to get a good look at who the driver is,
but between the way Luke is standing and Rogan’s body, I can’t see anything but
a vague silhouette of a man. I feel my headrest shift from the pull of Cass’s
hands as she tries to get a better view from the back seat. I feel like we’re
about to witness a crime and are