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"I’d do okay in prison Helps that I love having sex o my erection," Nico said

"I’d say I’m sorry, but you’re too pretty to lie to"

Nora sat on the edge of the bed and pulled a pin from her now mussed mane of hair Nico stopped her hand and with a spin of his finger indicated she should turn around She raised an eyebrow and turned her back to him One by one, Nico extracted the hairpins and unwound the low knot at the nape of her neck Then he threaded his fingers through the waves, breaking thesley and your priest together?" Nico asked as he took the hairbrush from her hand Nora stiffened The only man who had ever brushed her hair for her had been Søren It seemed almost traitorous to let Nico do it And yet, she couldn’t stop him She needed the co felt h her hair If only untangling the knots in her stosley who helped keep me out of juvenile detention I was sentenced to twelve hundred hours of cohteen And here’s the fun part--Kingsley ned Søren to ry and hanging out with the ho poor kids how to make tassel bookmarks at summer camp"

"Better than prison?"

"It was Until I fked it up But that was Kingsley’s fault He was getting me into trouble before we even met"

"He’s talented"

"Tell me about it"

"What happened?"

Nora turned her head to the side so Nico could reach all her tangles

"It was June I was sixteen And o to school but nowhere else Not even church So the day my community service started was the first tiot weird Fast"

Nico gave a loarh and kissed that sensitive spot on her back between her shoulder blades

"Hoeird?"

"The story starts with a stick in the ground and ends with an orgy"

"As every story should"

10

Eleanor

AT 9:00 AM SHARP THE DAY AFTER SCHOOL ENDED for summer break, Eleanor walked into Sacred Heart Catholic Church for the first ti that day so she’d put on an old white T-shirt and cutoff denim shorts and pulled her hair back in a ponytail

She went to Søren’s office Not Søren, she corrected herself Father Stearns She said it a few more ti around the church, and the last thing she wanted to do was slip up and call hi to be suspicious of a teenage girl at the beck and call of a handsos worse Father Stearns Not Søren She could do this

She knocked on his office door and took a step back He opened the door