“How do you know that?”
“Because, if you knew, you wouldn’t want to help me,” she told him with a certainty that only pulled at his curiosity more.
“I doubt that.”
“That’s because you don’t know.” Lucy could feel her back being pushed up against the wall. Daniel wanted to know, and he wasn’t letting go of it. “I shouldn’t have told you anything,” she said finally. “I don’t know why I did.”
“I’m sorry you feel like that.” Daniel looked down at her sheets. “I guess we both know our secrets are safe now, though,” he said, to try to lighten the mood.
“I guess so.” Lucy smiled tightly. “Can you leave me to get some sleep now?” she asked, because she wanted to be left to herself.
“Sure,” he said, standing up. “I’m sorry if I’ve upset you.”
Lucy shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”
********
Chapter 11
Talking to Daniel had taken more out of Lucy than she thought it would. Her body was still aching from the two-day hangover she was carrying around with her. Her brain hurt. The thoughts of what had happened on the last night at college were pressing against her skull. She’d been ignoring them for too long. They were angry and wild. They wanted to tear her apart from the inside out. They possessed her like demons that were unwilling to let go. The truth was going to come out. She wouldn’t be able to hide it for much longer. What was she going to do?
She stood up from her bed. She couldn’t deal with it. She couldn’t deal with any of it. Soon, the truth would come out and it would be impossible to ignore, but that hadn’t happened yet. She needed to hold on to normality for as long as she could. She needed to hold onto her old life for as long as fate would let her, because she had no idea what would happen when she let go.
The mid-afternoon sun was warm, but the breeze rolling in from the ocean was keeping the air cool. Lucy walked out into the back garden. The gentle humming from the pool’s automatic system told her that there wasn’t anybody swimming. It was too quiet. She didn’t head over to the pool, though. She walked away from it and over to the willow trees that were growing at the bottom of the grounds. There was something about the way their long, elegant branches danced with the wind that was enticing her over.
She sat down under their shade and looked back at the house. It gleamed with the sun in an unnaturally clean kind of way. Lucy turned her head over her shoulder when the sound of rustling leaves pulled her attention away. Her hands hit the ground, ready to push herself up. She wasn’t sure what was breaking its way through the bushes, but it sounded bigger than a fox. “Oh, hey,” Josh’s head poked through the thick tree line. “What are you doing down here?”
Lucy shrugged. She wasn’t in the mood to answer any more questions. She examined Josh, who was standing on her side of the tree line now. His normal, perfect presentation was gone. His clothes were dirty and torn from brambles. He looked hot and sweaty, like he’d been doing a day’s hard work. “What are you doing out here?” she turned the question back to him.
“I was just walking in the woods.” He brushed down his pants. “I took a bit of a fall earlier.”
“Oh.” Lucy nodded. Well, that explained his appearance.
“Are you okay?” he asked when she didn’t say anything else. “You look kind of stressed.”
“I’m fine,” she lied quickly.
“Are you sure?” Josh pressed. “You don’t look fine.”
“Well, I am,” Lucy insisted. She watched as Josh walked over to her. He sat down and looked back at the house. “I was fine on my own, you know.”
“I’m sure you were.” He nodded. “Nothing wrong with a bit of company, though.”
“I think that depends on the company,” she was curt. She wasn’t meaning to be. She was sure that Josh was just trying to help her, but she didn’t want his help. She didn’t want Josh’s help and she didn’t want Daniel’s. It wasn’t like they could help her anyway. There was nothing that could be done to save her.
“What happened to you at the party last night?” The silence between them was uncomfortable.
“I jumped off the ship.” Lucy glanced at him. He looked surprised.
“You jumped off?”
“Sure.” She dipped her head. “It looked like fun.”
“You know, that was probably really dangerous,” he said with disapproval. “Daniel should have known better than to let you jump.”
“It wasn’t up to Daniel.” Lucy glared at him. “I make my own decisions.”
“I wasn’t saying that,” Josh retracted quickly, but it was already too late.
“You know, Josh, sometimes the danger is the fun part. Sometimes it’s good to stand on the edge of something, knowing that you’re going to take the plunge. Sometimes you have to let go and just see what happens.”
Josh frowned. “But, what happens when that all goes wrong?” he asked quietly. “What happens when someone gets hurt or you go too far?”
He was expecting an answer. The question hadn’t been rhetorical, and Lucy was speechless. She didn’t know what to say. “You work it out, I guess.” She shrugged. That was what she was going to have to do. That was what was going to happen when her family found out about what had happened at college. Her cell phone vibrated, and she thanked the heavens for the interruption. “I better get this,” she told Josh as she pulled her cell out and stood up. “I’ll be back,” she lied as she walked away.
“Lucy.” The voice filled Lucy with dread from the moment she heard it through the speaker. “Lucy, I know you said that you don’t want to talk to me, but I got the court date through today and, I don’t know, I had to call you.” It was Logan, her ex.
“You got the court date?” she asked him, ignoring everything else that he’d said. “When is it?”
“It’s in a couple of weeks.” He waited for Lucy to say something, but she didn’t. “What did your mom say when you told her?”
“I haven’t told her,” Lucy admitted.
“You haven’t told her?” He sounded surprised. “You know you’re getting called onto the stand as a witness. How are you going to explain that? How are you going to explain not going back to college?”
“That’s my problem to work out,” Lucy snapped. “Shouldn’t you be worrying about what’s going to happen to you?”
Logan snorted. “I’ve got a good lawyer.” The cocky, laid-back way he said it made Lucy’s blood run cold. She couldn’t understand how he could be like that after what he had done. She couldn’t understand how she had ever loved a person who was clearly so evil.
“I’m not going to lie for you,” she told him quietly.
“Lucy, we talked about this.” Logan sounded suddenly tense. “We talked about what happened. It was an accident. You know that.”
“Well, if it was an accident, then I don’t need to lie, do I?”
“Lucy.” He sounded angry now. “I get that you don’t want to be with me, but if you go into the courtroom and tell them the truth, you’re going to ruin the rest of my life. Can you really do that?”
“I gu
ess you’re just going to have to wait and see.” Lucy hung up.
********
Chapter 12
A week had passed since Logan had called Lucy. She could feel each day adding more weight to her shoulders. She was getting to the point where she could barely walk under the pressure. She had no idea what she was going to do. She’d told Logan on the phone that she wouldn’t lie for him, but she didn’t know whether that was true. Her thoughts lingered on the last thing he’d said to her. If she went and told the truth, then his life would be ruined. Could she really do that? Hadn’t enough negativity come from what had happened?
These thoughts were so loud in her mind that she didn’t hear the voices that were being carried from the kitchen until she’d walked in.
“Oh, hey.” Daniel looked uncomfortable as he looked over at her. It took Lucy a second to realize that his arms were wrapped around a skinny, brown-haired girl with ruby red lips.
“Oh my god.” The girl’s lips broke into a smile. “Is this your sister?”
“Um,” his eyes shifted between them both, “yeah, that’s Lucy.”
“It’s so good to meet you!” She held out her arms and walked over to Lucy. The stunned look on Lucy’s face went ignored, and the girl’s arms wrapped around her. “I’m Sophie, Daniel’s girlfriend,” she explained when she’d pulled away from the overly friendly embrace.
“Oh, right.” Lucy tried to smile. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“I hope it was all good,” Sophie joked, walking back over Daniel.
“Sure.” Lucy avoided looking at Daniel, even though she could feel his eyes burning into her face. “It was all good.”
“You’re just the best, aren’t you?” Sophie turned to Daniel and kissed his cheek. “You know,” she said, turning back to Lucy, “you’ve got a real good brother here.”
Lucy tried not to flinch over her use of the word “brother.” She knew that technically that was what Daniel was to her. It wasn’t how she saw him, though. It wasn’t how he saw her, either. The uncomfortable feeling in the room wasn’t just coming from her. “I know.” She smiled tightly.