“Not at all,” he says in one breath. His gaze lands on Neo. “She’s not doing this. You and I both know that. You’ve gotta let this go, man.”
His words sing to my ears because this moment right here solidifies everything between Crew and me. I don’t want him to ever have to choose between me and his friends, but it’s comforting to know that when push comes to shove, he’s in my corner.
When I look back at Neo, it’s like the anger has been washed from his face, and he’s left with emotions he doesn't know how to handle. He wants so badly to blame me for everything awful in his life because it’s easier than admitting there is no one to blame. He can’t seek revenge if there is no one to endure the acts.
“Jagger,” Neo shouts through the momentary bout of silence. Everything is quiet. It sounds like the group downstairs just disappeared.
When Jagger doesn’t come, Neo pulls out his phone, and I assume it’s to text him.
“Where did everyone go?” I whisper to Crew.
“We told all the girls to go to The Ruins. Party here is over.”
I’m not sure what this party was even about, but I’m sure it was some fucked-up attempt to stop me from hanging out with my real friends. Maybe Neo was hoping some cute girls being around would take Crew’s attention off me. I know he hates that Crew and I are together, and he’ll do anything in his power to break us up.
I turn around to look at Crew. My hands wrap around his torso and I speak as if Neo isn’t standing directly behind me. Or maybe I want him to hear what I’m about to say. “Thank you for believing in me. I don’t know how I’d get through any of this without you.”
His lips press softly to mine. “You’ll never have to find out.”
“Unless someone pushes her off a cliff. Then what? Will you move on to her new bestie? Seems to be your M.O.”
“Fuck you,” Crew spats, “my feelings for Scar have nothing to do with Maddie.”
Jagger finally emerges and his timing couldn’t be more perfect. “Everyone okay in here?”
“Where the hell have you been?” Neo barks at him.
“Walked with the girls to meet up with a Rook to take them to the other party.” Jagger's eyes dance around from person to person. “What’s with all the tension in here?”
“Were you with Scar when the lights went out?” Neo asks, getting straight to the point.
I sigh, utterly annoyed that he refuses to believe a single word I say.
“Yeah. We were outside on the porch. Why?”
Crew tugs me to his side, glaring at Neo. “Neo thinks she did it.”
“Seriously?” Jagger looks at me, eyes skating down to Crew’s hand that’s squeezing my hip, then quickly back up. “Scar was with me the entire time. Some chick said a guy in a robe and mask grabbed Lucy Winters. Definitely wasn’t Scar.”
“We have to look at things from every angle,” Neo tells him, sounding far too confident for such an uncertain guy. “But now we know it wasn’t her.” The condescending look he flashes me irks me to the core, but I throw it right back at him.
My shoulders tighten, and I stand tall. “Which I already told you and you should have believed.”
“What’s that over there?” Jagger asks, and we all follow his line of sight. He picks something up off the floor. A paper, maybe? He holds it up, and I see that it’s a white business envelope. “Is this yours?”
I shake my head no. “Never seen that before.” I slip out of Crew’s hold and walk over to Jagger, peering at the envelope as he peels back the flap.My heart gallops in my chest, and as much as I want to know what’s inside, another part of me doesn’t want to acknowledge that this is happening again.
Neo, being the control freak he is, snags the envelope from Jagger’s hand before he can see the contents. His finger slides under the lip, and he reaches inside. When he pulls his hand out, he’s holding a picture.
It takes me a second, but I come to realize, it’s a picture of me.
“That’s me…when I was only a child. It looks like one of my birthday parties. Why would this guy have a picture of me as a child?”Panic ensues, and I take it from Neo. It looks like it was taken through a window. Like someone was standing outside of my family home, watching us. I look at the guys, who are all staring at me like they’re waiting for me to lose my shit. No one says anything, so I take it upon myself to ask the question that I’m sure we all have. “Where did this come from?” I flip the picture over and there’s something written on the back.
I was at every birthday. You just didn’t know.
My heart sinks into my stomach, and I cringe at the words. I was being watched all these years?
When no one responds, I raise my voice.“Where the fuck did this come from, dammit!”