Page 27 (1/2)
As if she knew everything
Chapter 25
"BUT SOFT! WHAT LIGHT THROUGH YONDER WINDOW BREAKS?"
Hanna opened her eyes A digital clock blazed a big red 2:14 AM across the roo on the wall, and the ere covered with blackout shades This wasn’t either of her bedroos squeaked as she sat up Pale light frolinted on afro froirl with red hair in a silver Tiffany frame on the desk Next to it were four AP textbooks
Hanna inhaled sharply This was Kelsey’s dorm room at Penn--she recalled some of the details from when she’d snuck in there last summer But hoas she here nowand why?
A hand touched her shoulder Hanna swung around and al before her, was a fa smile It was Real Ali She was dressed in a blue oxford shirt and a white blazer, which she’d worn to the press conference last year when the DiLaurentises had announced her return to Rosewood
"Looking to plant so her hips
"Of course not!" Hanna hid the pill bottle behind her back "And what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be"
"Dead?" Ali covered her led "You know better than that, don’t you, Han?" And then she rushed for Hanna, her ar for air She ran her fingers along the cool sheets and waited for her heartbeat to slon She was in the little loft rooain The heater hissed softly in the corner Her door was closed, and the TV was over
But Ali’s presence still felt so real She could practically sloith a new text from Liam
Hey Go to your balcony
She cautiously slipped out of her sheets and tiptoed to the double doors that led to the Juliet balcony Dot rose fro bed and followed her The latch roaned as she pulled the with it the cold, dead smell of winter
"Boo"
Hanna screa Hanna’s shoulders "It’s okay! It’s justhysterically
"Shhh" Lia "This is supposed to be a secret rendezvous, not a party for all the neighbors!"
Hanna stared at Lia a J Crew anorak, a thick black scarf, dark jeans, and hiking boots Then she looked at the long drop to the yard "How did you knohere I lived? And how did you get up here?"
"I looked you up on Google," Liaestured to a trellis on the side of the house
"You can’t be here," Hanna whispered "My dad’s one flight down! And I think my stepsister’s onto us!"
Liaht we could have a sleepover"
"Are you insane?" Hanna glanced at her closed bedroo Kate to poke her head in--or worse, for her dad and Isabel to appear What would she do with Liam then? Push hirabbed her hands "Tell me you haven’tout of her pajalanced at the Cornelius Maximilian stuffed Rottweiler in the bed She stood to lose everything if she let Liam stay here But when she looked at Liarin, and the adorable diain, her heart melted
Without a word, Hanna pulled him into the bedroom They tu out Liam’s hands roamed all over Hanna’s body, and his lips devoured her skin She felt hi a hickey, but she didn’t care