There was a text from Danielle. Hey girl!!! You good? Sorry about bailing, babe, please tell me you’re not in jail or something!

She ended it with a laughing emoji. My fingers tightened around the phone until it was shaking in my hand, and I dropped it on the bed so I wouldn’t hurl it across the room. She’d known what they were up to all along and hadn’t mentioned a damn thing to me. Had they planned to leave me here? To let me take the fall for the whole thing?

I doubted they expected “taking the fall” to be quite like…that.

I shuffled out of bed and fixed it up, trying to leave the pillows and blankets exactly as I’d found them. Everything in here smelled like Jason, his scent saturated into every surface. His massive computer setup occupied more space than his bed, and he had stacks of books piled below his desk. Fundamentals of Software Architecture, Domain-Driven Design, Observability Engineering…and then stacks and stacks of manga and superhero comics.

He’d told me not to touch anything in here, but I couldn’t help my curiosity as I cracked open the closet and took a look inside. So that was where the mess was; stacks of electronics boxes, loose cables, and clothing were packed inside in a precariously balanced heap. I decided it was better to shut the door again than risk it all tumbling down.

It didn’t sound like anyone else in the house was awake yet, or if they were, they certainly weren’t making any noise. I put on my shoes and opened the bedroom door, but almost slammed it again when I found their massive gray pit bull sitting in the hallway, waiting for me.

I stared at her, she stared at me. Last night, she’d sounded like she wanted to bite my ankles off, but this morning, she gave me one long look with her big brown eyes and then her tail began to thump on the floor.

“Aw, you’re not so vicious, are you?” I said, crouching down to scratch under her chin. She was definitely a cuddler and immediately moved closer, almost knocking me on my ass. “Oh, honey, you are not a lapdog, but you are so cute.”

Glancing down the hall as I gave her belly rubs, I spotted their other dog at the top of the stairway. He regarded me suspiciously, giving me an uncertain bark before he waddled back downstairs.

Oh, well. At least one of them wanted to be my friend — probably one of the only friends I had left after last night.