He released my hand and relaxed his shoulders an inch. A small lowering of his guard. “Why didn’t you just say so, baby girl?”

“I just did.” Feigning boredom, I popped another snack into my mouth. If I wanted to make it out of this, I needed to come up with a winning strategy. Because I had to face the fact that his type was willing to kill for what they wanted.

“I love a challenge. Go ahead and play hard to get.” His words sounded more sinister than any movie I’d ever seen. They sounded cruel.

“Well, it was wonderful to meet you tonight. I have an important event I cannot miss.” I nodded politely and excused myself, being careful not to full on sprint in the opposite direction of him.

The guy was a lunatic and the asylum was looking for him.

Kelly was headed to the front door at the same time as me. A good sign that it was time to get the hell out of here and back home where I could pretend I was safe.

Outside, I almost collapsed on the ground from the weight coming off of me. Kelly pulled out snacks and handed me cheese and crackers wrapped in a napkin. Food, my favorite.

My phone pinged.

Unknown: hey blondie

Awesome, I forgot all about that. Brent stole my phone and gave himself my number. Before I could reply, another message came through.

Unknown: see you soon baby girl

Great. I sighed and swiped out of my messages because I was not dealing with either of them.

Kelly looked pensive on the drive back and the driver hopefully enjoyed us being calm passengers. Who knew what the poor rideshare drivers had to deal with on and near campus with the wealthiest kids in the country.

I was just looking forward to being in bed and blissfully knocked out, trying to rid my mind of the garbage swirling in my head. That was the hope, anyway. Sleep might not want me.

“Sit down,” Kelly motioned to the couch after I kicked my shoes off.

“Okay...”

“I need to ask for your discretion.”

My eyes narrowed. “Like an NDA type thing?”

She nodded. “Pinky promise me this does not leave this room.”

We linked pinkies and sealed the deal.

“I know why that guy died.”

​Chapter 23

Fallon

“What do you mean you know why he died?” I wasn’t sure if she was trying to play a joke on me or if she was being serious.

“A few times when I was around my dad, I heard some things. Crazy things.”

It tracked. She clearly knew more than I did. Her actions after we saw–and I wanted to forget–what we did, struck me as strange. Just like Brent. They were around their families before and learned more about the life we lived than I did.

And, honestly? My mom was an asshole for not telling me.