Hush Hush Read online

Page 31


  A few ho­urs af­ter the de­tec­ti­ves left, the do­or­bell rang aga­in.

  "That must be the alarm system com­pany," Mom sa­id, me­eting me in the hall. "I cal­led, and they sa­id they'd send a guy out to­day. I can't stand the tho­ught of sle­eping he­re wit­ho­ut so­me kind of pro­tec­ti­on un­til they find Miss Gre­ene and lock her away. Didn't the scho­ol even bot­her to check her re­fe­ren­ces?" She ope­ned the do­or, and Patch sto­od on the porch. He wo­re fa­ded Le­vi's and a snug whi­te T-shirt, and he held a to­ol­box in his left hand.

  "Go­od af­ter­no­on, Mrs. Grey."

  "Patch." I co­uldn't qu­ite na­il my mom's to­ne. Surp­ri­se mi­xed with dis­com­fi­tu­re. "Are you he­re to see No­ra?"

  Patch smi­led. "I'm he­re to spec yo­ur ho­use for a new alarm system."

  "I tho­ught you had a dif­fe­rent job," sa­id Mom. "I tho­ught you bus­sed tab­les at the Bor­der­li­ne."

  "I got a new job." Patch loc­ked eyes with me, and I war­med in a lot of pla­ces. In fact, I was dan­ge­ro­usly clo­se to fe­ve­rish. "Out­si­de?" he as­ked me.

  I fol­lo­wed him out to his mo­torcyc­le.

  "We still ha­ve a lot to talk abo­ut," I sa­id.

  "Talk?" He sho­ok his he­ad, his eyes full of de­si­re. Kiss, he whis­pe­red to my tho­ughts.

  It wasn't a qu­es­ti­on, but a war­ning. He grin­ned when I didn't pro­test, and lo­we­red his mo­uth to­ward mi­ne. The first to­uch was just that-a to­uch. A te­asing, temp­ting soft­ness. I lic­ked my lips and Patch's grin de­epe­ned.

  "Mo­re?" he as­ked.

  I cur­led my hands in­to his ha­ir, pul­ling him clo­ser. "Mo­re."

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thanks to Ca­leb War­nock and my fel­low wri­ters at Wri­ting in Depth; I co­uldn't ha­ve as­ked for tru­er fri­ends to ma­ke this jo­ur­ney. A sho­ut-out to La­ura An­der­sen, Gin­ger Churc­hill, and Patty Es­den, who ne­ver let me qu­it and who we­re ho­nest (even when I didn't want it). Spe­ci­al thanks to Eric James Sto­ne for tying the rib­bon on the pac­ka­ge.

  I owe Ka­tie Jep­pson, Ali Eise­nach, Kylie Wright, Me­gan and Josh Walsh, Lind­sey Le­avitt, and Ri­ley and Jace Fitz­pat­rick thanks, too, for everyt­hing from baby­sit­ting, to in­for­ma­ti­on on sur­gi­cal pro­ce­du­res, to com­mu­nal bra­ins­tor­ming, to un­de­ser­ved pa­ti­en­ce.

  It has be­en she­er fun wor­king with Emily Me­ehan, my savvy edi­tor, and my many fri­ends at Si­mon and Schus­ter BFYR who've che­ered me on and wor­ked be­hind the sce­nes to ma­ke this all hap­pen-Jus­tin Chan­da, An­ne Za­fi­an, Co­urt­ney Bon­gi­olat­ti,

  Do­rothy Grib­bin, Cha­va Wo­lin, Lucy Ruth Cum­mins, Lu­cil­le Ret­ti­no, El­ke Vil­la, Chrissy Noh, Julia Ma­gu­ire, and An­na McKe­an. Thank you!

  I'm es­pe­ci­al­ly thank­ful that Cat­he­ri­ne Dray ton ca­me in­to my li­fe at just the right ti­me. Thanks for hel­ping me ma­ke it this far. I'll ne­ver for­get the pho­ne call when I le­ar­ned my bo­ok had be­en sold…

  Thanks to James Por­to for a co­ver that blew away my ex­pec­ta­ti­ons. I owe my copy edi­tor, Va­le­rie Shea, a big thank-you as well.

  Most of all, thanks to my mom. For everyt­hing. XO­XO.

  This file was created with

  BookDesigner program

  [email protected]

  10/23/2009

 

 

  Becca Fitzpatrick, Hush, Hush

 

 

  Thank you for reading books on Archive.BookFrom.Net
Share this book with friends