Kian

“Since he was released, yes.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “Tell me about this Jake guy. What’s he like?”

“Why?”

“Because he wants to see you.”

That halted everything. I had guessed, but hearing it made the floor open up beneath me. “Are you serious?”

“As a bullet to my forehead.” His eyes narrowed, still studying me. “Now, tell me about this Jake guy.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s new. Your other friends are not. Erica. That kid nicknamed Wanker, and by the way, I’d like to know how he got that nickname.”

“For my file?”

“No.” He grinned. “For my own enjoyment, but that’s not important right now. Start reporting. Get on with it.”

“No.” My friends weren’t new. “I moved in with Erica this year. I was in the dorms my first two years, and my roommates were assigned. Jake’s not new either, and I’m not spending time with him anymore.”

“You spoke to him yesterday and again last evening.”

“Wha—” My head was swimming. “Jake hung out with us last night. That’s it, and it won’t be a recurring thing. I dated him briefly in December. It ended when he decided to go back to his previous girlfriend. I don’t understand why any of this is important. Am I in danger? Does Kian want revenge on me or…” Nothing was making sense. “What is going on?”

“The judge was dirty.”

“What?”

“The judge was dirty. That’s why your boy was released. His lawyers broke the case, but as they know, that means their client can be retried.”

“But double jeopardy? Isn’t that what it is?”

“Not if there wasn’t a fair trial. And a dirty judge—that’s not a fair trial. The District Attorney wants to put him back in. They want him to serve the rest of his eight years, and we think Kian’s team is going to use anything they can to throw that possibility out the window.”

“But—”

“You.”

“Me?” What did that mean? What was he talking about? “Me what?”

“If and when Kian is taken back to trial, we think his legal team is going to go after you.”

My mouth went dry. I sat still in that booth, feeling my heart slow. I was being led down a path, and I didn’t like where he was taking me. “What are you saying, Snark?” My voice had grown hoarse.

“They’re going to blame everything on you.”

One second.

Two.

There is no way.

Three.

I couldn’t think.

Four.

Did he really say that?

And five—

I jerked forward. “How?”

He looked around and hushed me. “Settle down. You need the least amount of attention as possible right now.” He stopped talking and leaned even closer. “Good. You have colored contacts?”

“What?” My mind was racing. “Yes. Why?”

“Does your school know your real eye color?”

“No. I used the fake birth certificate you gave me. I have brown eyes on there.”

“Good. Good.” He nodded in approval. “You’re doing all the right things. What are your eating habits?”

“My eating habits?”

“They can track you like that. You have to be a completely new person.”

“Who’s tracking me?”

“Who do you think?” His eyes narrowed.

A waitress came at that moment with food and coffee. Two glasses of water were poured next, and she waited a second to ask, “Anything else?”

Snark looked around, poking at his toast. “Jelly?”

She gestured to the window. A whole tray of jelly and jam was there, pushed up against the window frame beside us.

“Ah, gotcha.” Snark grinned at her. “Thank you. I think we’re good.”

She glanced to me, but he said for me, “She’s not a breakfast eater. She’s good to go.”

I glared at him as she left. “I am too a breakfast eater.”

His eyebrow went up as he reached for the creamer for his coffee. “That’s new, too?”

“No. That just happened like normal. I have early classes.”

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed and then shrugged. “I thought maybe you were really selling all the new changes. Really dedicated, ya know?” He winked at me as he stuffed a forkful of eggs into his mouth. Eating around it, he said, “I was coming to warn you. Kian has definitely made it known that he wants to see you. He wants to talk to you.”

My mouth went back to being dry. It was the damn Sahara Desert in there now. “And if he finds me?”

He took a big bite of his toast, ripping it off, and he pointed the end at me. “Don’t tell him anything. You remember what I’ve always told you. Don’t trust anyone. Got it?”

“Even you?”

He grunted. “That’s probably a good idea, too.”

I sighed. Right before I went into hiding, I asked Snark for advice. That was Snark’s last words to me. Don’t trust anyone. It wasn’t hard to follow his advice, but it wasn’t funny when he said I couldn’t trust him. I had to trust someone. Right? An old emotion was starting to settle on my shoulders again. I didn’t want it there, but I knew once it got there, it wasn’t going away.