Deadly Design (9780698173613) Read Online Free PDF Page A

one of your games.”
    I lean back against the chair. Doesn’t sound too bad, actually. Especially if I could be sucked into the gaming system, instead of just one single game. I could battle aliens, kill zombies, and there’s a hot blonde on one of my Borderland maps I wouldn’t mind getting to know better.
    She kicks me under the table to get my attention. “You need a life.”
    â€œYou need a boyfriend,” I say. “Then you can lecture him instead of me.”
    â€œWhy do guys always think that girls need a boyfriend? My life is quite fulfilling as it is.”
    I pick up my glass of water and take a drink. “Then how did you get sucked into coming to this?”
    She sighs. “Have you ever tried to say no to Emma? And she knows my dad doesn’t work this weekend, so I can’t use Josh as an excuse.”
    â€œWhat does your dad do anyway?”
    â€œHe’s a news producer for channel five. He makes sure stories are edited and ready to go and nobody cusses on the air. They’re always switching his schedule around, so it’s hard to know my schedule sometimes, since I have to take care of Josh.”
    â€œDo you ever resent your brother?”
    She shakes her head, surprised, I think, by the question.
    â€œNo. I don’t mind. It’s not my dad’s fault that he fell for a pretty blond reporter. And it’s not Josh’s fault that she bailed on both of them when she got a chance to move to a bigger network. I was seven when my mom died. At least I got to know her, and I know she didn’t want to leave me. Josh doesn’t have a single memory of his mom. For him to know she doesn’t want him—I can’t imagine. I don’t ever want him to feel like a burden. I want him to feel loved.”
    I look at Cami. She’s simple. She never wears makeup, but she actually looks good without it. I mean, some girls . . . face it. They need the stuff and lots of it. But Cami doesn’t. Her eyes are large and brown and deep set. Her skin could be in an ad for Proactiv—the after picture, of course. She’s pretty, not glamorous, but pretty. And she’s a good person.
    â€œThanks.” I lift my glass, motion for Cami to pick up hers, and we tap them together.
    Her eyes narrow. “For what?”
    â€œFor not wanting me to become one of those people who never leaves the house or throws anything away and ends up eating old discarded food and peeing in plastic buckets.”
    â€œYou’re welcome.”
    I look over at Connor and Emma, their shoulders constantly touching as they lean into each other. Cami looks over at the golden couple too. Emma is gorgeous. She’s wearing a dress with inch-wide straps instead of sleeves. Her tan skin glows in the candlelight, and the low-cut fabric of the neckline gapes just above her breasts.
    â€œKeep your eyes above her neck,” Cami says, giving me another little kick under the table. “You should try being a little less obvious.”
    My face heats up. I am obvious, and pathetic. And the worst part is I think Emma likes it. It’s like Connor’s the first-string boyfriend and I’m eagerly waiting on the bench. That’s why she smiles at me the way she does, touches my arm every once in a while, even offers to rub my neck if I look tense. She likes the power she has over the McAdams twins. But it’s not like I’ll ever get my chance. She’d never give up Connor. Why would she want an inferior version of him?
    â€œConnor looks especially handsome tonight,” Cami says. “That thick, wavy hair of his is just inviting someone to run her fingers through it. And those piercing blue eyes and that strong jaw.” She sighs, glances in my direction, and then looks startled. “Oh, wait,” she says, like she’s never seen me before. “You look just like him, only maybe not as