My skin crawls and I lean over the desk. “If you go near her—”
“Chill, Finn, I’m not interested in your girlfriend, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t caught the attention of other people in town.”
I lunge forward, but he stands quickly—his reflexes still on point. He’s got three inches on me. His eyebrow rises. “Remember what I just said about staying out of trouble?”
For a brief moment, I consider risking it all—the scholarship, the diploma, the future career, just to wipe that smug look off his face. But I know that it won’t help for me to get stuck in this town for the rest of my life, and I know Kenley would be pissed if I did it. I suck back my anger and think about what he said. Who are the other people in town? And why are they worried about Kenley?
6
Kenley
I flip on the light in my room as I walk in, tossing my backpack on my bed. It’s getting harder and harder to find the motivation to do my homework. An object bounces off the bed and onto the floor. My pulse quickens. Ever since those flowers arrived at my house with the note from BD, I’ve been expecting something else. I gather my courage and walk across the room and see a brown paper bag. A note is scrawled across the side.
Mom baked these today. I know they are your favorite.
-Finn
I open the bag and find three double chocolate chip cookies inside. Relief cascades over me. They are my favorite.
I take a bite and pull out my phone.
K: Sneaking in my room again?
F: Only to leave you presents.
K: Maybe you should come by sometime when I’m actually here.
F: One day our schedules will align.
The season may be over, and he earned that state ring, but the hard work is in full force. Finn’s working with a specialty trainer three times a week. He’s weighing offers from college, but signing day is in a few weeks. The most time we get alone is when we’re working out together.
Adrenaline still courses through my veins as I eat the rest of my cookie and kick off my shoes. It’s not Finn’s fault his little gifts give me panic attacks. I’m the one that hasn’t told him or anyone else about BD, the messages we sent to one another, or the flowers delivered to the house.
I open the bedside table drawer and see Rose’s iPod. It’s not charged. I took away that temptation. BD needs to think I’ve lost interest. Ignoring him seems like the best option, but at the same time it’s also my biggest remaining question.
Who is BD?
He’d had an arrangement with Rose through the SugarBabies dating app, under her profile name; Rosemary’s Baby. He set her up with a place in the city—a way out of Thistle Cove. It’s even likely that he called her on the bridge that night. Ezra had seen the name “Daddy,” pop up on her phone and we’d determined it was not Brice Waller. Was it BD? Had he been trying to reach her that night? She’d wanted to buy drugs from Ez, she had money, and it was pretty clear she was on her way out of town and not to the bonfire like she was supposed to be.
Does BD even know what happened to her?
Does he care? Because he had no problem approaching me under my false name, Eden, apparently ready to move on.
I stare at my backpack, filled with at least three assignments due the next day, but walk across the room and pick up the Eden book I’d taken from Rose’s room. The Audrina Dollanganger books have always been the perfect escape.
The East Point Suites keycard marks the last page I’d read. Just seeing the card makes my heart pound faster. I know it’s a clue. I know it’s dangerous territory. And I know that I can’t go there alone. Which is why I haven’t, because it means that I have to be honest with the guys about everything and I’m not ready to admit what I’ve been hiding from them.
They’d feel betrayed—as they should. It’s a huge secret. A stupid secret. One I can’t take back.
I look down at the book in my hand. More and more, I understand why Rose went back to these books. Her life was a series of messes. At least Eden’s was messier.
I pull out the keycard and settle on my bed. In this part of the book, Eden’s falling hard for her uncle—a completely inappropriate relationship, but as always, I find myself both equally horrified and a little titillated at the same time. That’s the bizarre allure of these books.
Eden’s both innocent and overtly sexual. Her body controlling her impulses; her uncle, older, handsome, charismatic…knowing how to pull the right strings.
I flip to the page where they finally succumb to all of their dirty, dangerous desires and pause.
There’s a note scribbled in the margin.