BooksBarbecue
Back The House Party
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. April 2008
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
  54. Author’s Note
  55. Acknowledgments
  56. About the Author
  57. About the Publisher

Rosie pretended to be busy sorting the forks and knives. He’s talking about Hunter, she guessed. This was exactly what Hunter was looking for. Her heart started racing, and she held her breath, waiting for the DA to go on. But before he could say anything else, her dad came out of the kitchen. He greeted Jake—they’d become pretty friendly, Rosie noticed—and cracked them both beers. “Hey, you gotta come out and see the new bike!” her father exclaimed, and Rosie rolled her eyes. Her father was apparently having a midlife crisis, and had purchased a long-desired used motorcycle. Rosie thought that it was silly, and slightly scary, but she did love how much her dad loved it. Jake put his phone down on the counter, took the beer from her father, and followed him outside.

Rosie stared down at the phone. It was a BlackBerry, sort of official-looking, and still lit brightly by a half-composed email on the screen. She hesitated for only a second before she grabbed it, slipping it into her apron pocket. She ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

She wasn’t sure what she was looking for. Hunter had asked her about the phone, but he hadn’t been too specific. Her hands shook as she opened the email inbox and began to scroll through it. Nothing stood out to her, and she realized with embarrassment that of course the party wasn’t Jake Tillman’s only case. There were all sorts of emails—it would take her hours to go through them.

She stared at the phone as a half-formed idea came to her. She pulled down her tank top so her bra was exposed. Then she held out the phone, leaned over, and pursed her lips like June did when she sent pictures to Hunter. She looked at the screen. The photo was low-resolution, but it was actually kind of hot. She entered her number in Tillman’s phone and texted the picture to her own phone: U look hot. My favorite pic. Then she pulled her phone out of her back pocket and texted him back: Hey sexy. See you after work. Go get those bad guys. It sounded kind of dumb, but she wasn’t sure what people usually said in these texts. She went into his phone, opened the text, and added herself as a contact, under a nickname, Rosalita.

Her heart was beating hard. She looked at herself in the mirror and pursed her lips again. She looked good. Is this how June felt? Powerful? She thought about taking another photo and sending it to Hunter, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.