Ryan Hunter

downstairs, and that room was close to the front door. Could be worse. I nudged her chin with the knuckle of my finger and made her look at me. “Do you always give up that quickly?”
    “Apparently, you don’t,” she retorted. “So what do you suggest?”
    Easy. “We get you inside the same way we got you out.”
    Liza narrowed her eyes at me. “The window?”
    “Exactly.”
    “Tony has been climbing in and out there for years. But I don’t see how I can do it.”
    Say that again ! My heart refused to take the next beat, and I couldn’t help it when my face turned into an annoyed scowl. “Mitchell has been climbing into your room?”
    “Yes. But I need a ladder to get onto the roof of the shed. And as far as I know, we don’t have a ladder.”
    Stop and rewind. Mitchell used to climb into her room? “Why?”
    “Why what?”
    Come on, stay focused, girl ! “Why does he climb through your window?”
    “Can we please stay focused? ”
    That’s what I’m doing, dammit !
    “ I’m grounded and I need to break into my own house,” she snarled, not answering my question.
    I wanted to growl at her, grab her shoulders, and forbid that Mitchell ever did that again . But she seemed really desperate to get back inside, and I felt bad, seeing her troubled like this. So I swallowed past my irritation and nodded. “All right. Come on.” Grabbing a fistful of her white top, I hauled her across the street. No one seemed to be anywhere near a window, so we were safe.
    On the other side, she quickly hid behind the shed, scanning the garden for her parents.
    I scanned it, too, but for a way to get her upstairs. The tree would work. “I believe Mitchell climbs up there to get onto the roof?”
    “Um, yes. ” Her gaze skated to me. “But you aren’t asking me to climb a tree now, are you?”
    No , hun, I’m asking you to fly. I suppressed that sarcastic comment, because she looked worried enough, and tested the edge of the shed’s roof with my weight instead. As I hung on it, no board cracked, so I guessed we were good to go. “Come here, Matthews.”
    She watched me as I took a position underneath the roof’s edge. “What are you doing?”
    “Giving you a lift.” Lacing my fingers, I hoped she’d been given a leg before and knew how this worked.
    “No way, ” she almost screamed, which was funny, because her mother might just have heard that.
    “ Don’t be a baby,” I dared her. It had worked this morning when I wanted to her to climb out, so I was confident to hit a sensitive spot with her again. “I already proved I can carry you, remember? Twice.”
    She looked over her shoulder one last time then came forward and planted her hands on my shoulders, exhaling a deep sigh. Yeah, that was my girl. I went a little lower so we were on eye level to make it easier for her . “Ready?”
    Her grip tightened on my shoulders. “Not at all.”
    “See you tomorrow.” I pushed her up, and when she landed flat on her stomach on the roof, I shoved her further up by her feet.
    She got on her knees first, then on her feet, and walked over to her open window. At least it didn’t trouble her to climb back inside. But the look she gave me when she turned around was none too happy. “I don’t think we should do this again.”
    “Why not?”
    “I’m dead if my parents catch me.”
    “They won’t.”
    “What if?”
    “Matthews, they won’t ,” I growled, not intending to let her off our deal. Training with her had been too nice today. “Now shut up and go have a shower.”
    Her jaw hardened to a frustrated grimace. “I’m not coming tomorrow. There’s training anyway. I won’t survive two rounds of torture on the same day.”
    “Yeah. Right.” After what I saw of her endurance today, I totally agreed to that. I wanted to spend time with her, not kill her. But the deal was still intact. “Wednesday. Five o’. Be dressed this time. And, Matthews—” I smirked at her, just so she got me right. “Don’t make me climb up there and fetch you.”
    Because I sure as hell would come and carry her out draped over my shoulder if I had to.

Chapter 8
     
    BACK IN MY room, I wondered if Mitchell made good on his promise to hang out with Liza today. Though it was good for them if they made up, I really disliked the thought of him climbing through her window and lounging on her bed, watching films with her. In fact, it bothered me all day, and I found myself prowling through the house like a restless