What She Didn't Know (What She 1)

“I saw her today.” He looked down at the floor. “She’s doing well, considering.”

I laid my forehead on Mason’s chest, relief flooding my heart. “She’s okay?”

“She’s fine. In good spirits. Doesn’t regret a thing.”

“Regret really isn’t her thing,” Mal muttered.

“When Mason wakes up, I’m going to tell the cops the truth. I’ll explain everything to the police. But I don’t want them to take me away yet,” I told him.

“She’ll never let you take the fall for this,” he said. He shook his head. “She loves you. Desperately, dearly, devotedly. It’s absurd, the bond you all have, really. I don’t understand it, but I want to.”

“Why?” Mal asked.

“I can’t tell you that. Let’s just say that I have a lot of sympathy for your situation.”

“Are you working with the cops now?” I asked.

He smiled. “I’ve always worked with the cops. They bring me in for special cases, like this one.” He took a chair and spun it backwards, straddled it, and rested his arms along the back. “Why don’t you start at the beginning? Help me understand.”

I don’t know why I did it, but I started to talk. I told him everything. He already knew some of it. He’d learned it from Mason, when Mason had first hired him. What he didn’t know was my side. Shelly’s side. He didn’t know any of that, but I told him.

When we were done, I turned and laid my forehead on Mason’s chest. I breathed in the scent of antiseptic and Mason. I needed for him to wake up.

Suddenly, his chest flinched beneath me. I lifted my head and looked at him. He looked back at me, blinking his dark eyes at me. “Have to…get Shelly…out,” he said. “No matter…what.” He held my gaze long enough that I understood. He knew. He knew Shelly had taken the fall for me. He knew she did it out of love. He knew I needed her.

“You’re awake.” Tears pooled in my eyes and I didn’t even try to brush them back.

He lifted his hand and touched the side of my face. “You’re back.”

“I’m back.” I smiled at him. I was a watery mess.

“I missed you.” He puckered his lips and waited for me to lean forward and kiss him.

I touched my lips to his, lingering just long enough that it felt real.

“Is Ash mad at me?” he asked, his voice little more than a croak.

“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “I haven’t heard from any of them since it happen

ed.”

His brow furrowed. “Not at all?”

I shook my head. “Not at all.”

“Where did they go?”

“I’m not sure.” I had no idea where they’d gone. They’d never done this before.

Silence fell upon the room, because neither of us knew how to feel about my friends being gone.

Suddenly, Malcolm spoke. “Does this mean I’m off the hook?” he asked. “I don’t have to go see Shelly?”

“Yes, Mal,” I said with a sigh and a roll of my eyes. “You’re off the hook.”

“Good, because that bitch scares the fuck out of me.”

What scared the fuck out of me was the thought that Ash, Jamie, and Charlie could just leave me. And I didn’t know what to do about it.