28
I’m expecting Aiden, Noah, and Mason when they pull up beside my car a few minutes after my call with Tony. I usher them in and give each of them a hug. Even though I may hold on for just a stitch longer than normal, my face is schooled into perfect calmness, my emotions hidden away. I’m sticking to the plan.
“Are you all right? How was the call?” Aiden asks me, grabbing my hips and pulling me close.
“I’m fine,” I say, only somewhat believing it. A part of my brain has shut off, as if trying not to fully process everything. If I do, I’ll break down.
“And you stuck to the plan? Told him about Anna? Offered him to meet her?” Mason asks, his eyes as intense as Aiden’s. It was fun, thinking we could control the situation, could control bad men capable of worse things.
Moving out of Aiden’s grip, I lead them up to my room. It’s not a lie when I say, “He knows about Anna.”
Aiden stops me just before we enter my room. He looks tired, like he hasn’t slept in weeks. His gaze is intense and pierces straight to my soul. “Hey. You don’t need to do this.”
Aiden’s always been against this, and I know why. But it’s time we end this. I’m not putting anyone in danger anymore. Besides, it’s too late to change anything. It was always going to come down to this.
“It’ll be all right,” I say, for myself as much as him.
His jaw tightens as his eyes roam over me. Stick to the plan.
Finally, he nods. He turns to follow Noah and Mason into my room, but I grab his wrist and pull him back to me, drawing him against me and laying my head against his chest. I let his steady heartbeat calm me for a few moments. His arms come around me, his hands clutching fistfuls of my sweater, holding me close.
I pull back and bring my lips to his, kissing him with everything I have, since it may be the last time. It’s desperate and rough and communicating everything I wish I could say. I love you. I’m sorry. I’ll never forget you. Please forgive me. I pull away just when I think my heart can’t take the pain of what’s about to happen.
He plants a kiss on the top of my head and lets me go when I pull away. He clears his throat and enters my room.
“Ew. Get a room,” Noah says, even though I know he doesn’t mean it. He looks around my bedroom and quickly adds, “But not this one. We’re in here.”
Mason says something to him, but I’m not listening.
“Hey, give me your phones. I’m going to make sure our times are synced up,” I say, holding out my hand for them.
They pass me their phones without hesitation, then start going over their plan.
Before they notice, I back into the hallway and pull the door to my room closed, leaving them in there alone. Swiftly, I close the door to the spare room that’s directly in front of mine. The sturdy rope that I picked up from the hardware store today is already tied to that door, and within a few seconds, I have the rope tied to my own door handle, the rope taut across the hallway.
“Thea?” Aiden’s voice calls hesitantly from the other side of the door. “Thea, what are you doing?”
Instead of answering, I triple-check the knot I tied. I spent a while searching for videos to find the most effective knot, and practiced to make sure I could do it perfectly and quickly when I got home today.
Stick to the plan.
“What’s going on, Thea?” Aiden’s voice is louder now, more panicked as he tries to pull open the door, only to be met with resistance.
I wipe away the only tear I’m allowing myself to shed today, forcing myself to block it out, to be strong. My voice comes out calm, detached. “I’m sorry, Aiden.”
“Very funny, Thea. Open the door.” Noah laughs, but it’s weak and hesitant.
“This isn’t the plan, Thea!” Mason exclaims.
The doorknob keeps turning and the door is trying to be pulled open, but it’s not giving.
“This was always the plan, Mason. My plan.”
Step one was always to make sure my friends were kept out of it, to keep them safe. This is my fight. Step two is a bit more complicated now with the no cops thing and with Tony having already been made aware of Annalisa, so I’m going to have to wing it.
All three boys are talking to me from the other side of the door, trying and failing to get the door open.
“Don’t do this, Thea!” Aiden’s voice is loud and clear, and there’s an edge of desperation leaking into his words. “Don’t meet him alone! Stop this!”
My resolve falters for only a moment before returning tenfold. I will never be able to live with myself if something happens to my friends, and I’m ensuring they won’t sacrifice themselves for me, not this time. I can live with whatever happens to me—I’ve made peace with my decision—but I can never live with myself if my friends, my best friends, are harmed because of me, not when I can do something to prevent it, to protect them.
There’s banging on the door and I jump at the harsh sound. It sounds like the wood’s going to splinter apart under the pressure. “Thea, open this door! Thea! Don’t do this!” Aiden continues banging on the door, the calmness in his voice completely abandoned for desperation. There’s a pressure on my chest as I back away from the door. I’ve never done what I’m told anyway, why start now?
Stick to the plan.
“I’m sorry, guys. I love you.”
“Thea! Thea!”
I turn and race down the stairs, ignoring their calls, the despair in their voices, and the frenzied banging on the door. I don’t know how long that rope will hold, or how long the door will stay intact, but it’ll buy me time.
I drop their cell phones on the kitchen table, grab my car keys, and lock the front door behind me. I don’t want to take their phones with me in case there’s an actual emergency. Plus, I don’t need to keep them hostage, just make sure they don’t follow me.
Aiden’s car sits innocently in the driveway and Mason’s is parked at the curb. As I open my car door, I hear the boys yelling at me. They’ve opened my window, and for a quick moment I panic. Will they actually jump from the second story? No. They wouldn’t.
“At least tell me you’re still going to Sweetie’s,” Mason calls down to me.
I pause right before I get into my car and look up at all of them. The three of them are crowded around my window, staring down at me with concern and horror. My eyes meet Aiden’s, and my heart breaks when I realize he’s looking at me with a stoic impassiveness, like he did when he first met me.
I wrench my eyes away from him.