“Don’t do that again!” she barks at him, her voice shaky, then opens the passenger-side door and gets in, slamming it closed. She’s still going with him?

He’s about to say something when Kaitlyn starts honking from inside the car, trying to get his attention, to force him to get in and drive her home.

“Your time will come,” he says ominously, and then gets into the car.

I stand there as they drive off, trying to ignore the bad taste his words leave in my mouth.

My wrist is sore as I rub it, watching the car recede into the distance, knowing there’s going to be a bruise there tomorrow. A bruise that’s going to match Kaitlyn’s.

10

After that confrontation, I don’t really feel like going with everyone to Howard’s Convenience to play detective. I just want to go home and put on sweatpants and eat a Nutella sandwich. Maybe curl up in bed under the thick covers and pretend my life isn’t spiraling out of control.

I text Annalisa a quick apology and tell her to go without me, and to let me know what they find. I’m opening my car door when a deep voice calls out to me. Aiden’s jogging toward me, and even though I’m pretty sure a bruise won’t be starting to form so soon, I quickly reach into my car and throw on a jacket I was too lazy to put in my locker this morning.

“Hey,” he says when he reaches me. “Everything okay?”

I have to stop myself from unconsciously tugging down the sleeve of my jacket, even though it’s already covering everything.

“Yeah, fine. Why?” He didn’t see me talking to Ryan, right? He definitely wouldn’t be this calm if he did.

“Anna said you weren’t going with them. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, just tired. I figured you didn’t need all eight of us to ask a couple of questions.” I shift from one foot to the other, in a totally unsuspicious way.

He pauses for a minute, the only sounds between us the slamming of car doors and tires on asphalt as the last remaining kids hightail it off school property. “I’m torn between wanting to give you some space and needing to find out what you’re hiding from me.”

“Why do you assume I’m hiding anything at all?” I defend myself, but my voice comes out a tad too high, and just a little too quick.

I’m a great liar, just not to Aiden, damn it. His gray eyes stare right into the depths of my soul.

“Thea.” His voice softens, concern edging into it. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

My heart squeezes. I hate lying to Aiden, but I can’t tell him what happened with Ryan. He’ll freak out and do something stupid, like slit Ryan’s throat, and then we’re back to square one.

I bite my lip, trying to figure out how best to play this situation. He already knows something’s wrong, and he won’t let up until I tell him something.