“These are all extremely good insights, Phil. Do you think I would’ve chanced it if I’d planned on killing a girl afterward? Also, thank you for noticing my T-shirt.” He gestures to the one he’s wearing now. “If you’ll remember, I told you and the cops that Ileft my sweatshirt in the cafeteria at lunch. The timestampsprovethat I didn’t have it anymore when the second video was taken. So I couldn’t have been the person caught on it with Kennedy.”
“That doesn’t mean you didn’t kill her,” I say without thinking.
Bram presses his lips flat. “Huh.” He nods and starts to get up. “Okay. Well, I appreciate your trust in me.”
“Just wait,” I say, still letting my mouth work in isolation from my brain. Because trust is the last thing on earth I have for Bram Abbott right now. He scowls, considering my request for a moment before moving with resigned sluggishness. Once he’s seated on the couch beside me, I turn to face him. “You want to know why I lost trust in you? Because Adam told me about Mariana. That you stole her from him—”
“Stoleher?” His head wrenches back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“And Adam thinks that you were cheating on her withme. All because of that day when you and I…” I can’t say the words.
“What?” Bram’s face pales. “Oh, no.” He slumps against the backrest, rubbing at his temple. “It washim. It was Adam the whole time.”
“Whatwas Adam?”
“I assumed it was Kennedy.”
“I’m lost,” I say, my frustration growing.
Bram sighs. “Last year, Kennedy tried to come between Mariana and me. She harassed me, threw herself at me—it was like an obsession.”
“What?” Kennedy had feelings for Bram?
He rubs at his face, eyes combing the room as if in search of answers. “Adam must’ve seen us together and misconstrued everything. He must’ve told Mariana there was someone else. That’s why she broke up with me.”
My chest lightens a little. The girl in Adam’s story wasn’t me. It was Kennedy.
Still, I’m not sure I buy Bram’s version of events.
I think back to that day in Bram’s closet two summers ago, when I let my hands slide down to his wrist. When he looked me dead in the eyes, like he was trying to read my thoughts, and all I had in my twisted head was that I wanted him to kiss me. About how his hands moved to the small of my back, and he read those thoughts with deadly precision.
How his lips met mine, hands pulling me in, crushing me against him.
How, for a second, I lost myself in him, and it was everything I wanted.
How I regretted it immediately, feeling terrible for Mariana. Thinking of Henry.
I pulled away and fled the closet, Bram’s room, the mansion. I ran to the woods on the Abbott property, but Bram caught up with me.
“I’m sorry,” he said, out of breath. He dug the fingers of both hands through his dark hair. “I thought it was what you wanted.”
“Why would I ever wantthat?” I yelled, knowing with my entire being it was a lie. “You’re with Mariana!”
Bram shook his head. “No, I’m not.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, stunned as much as relieved. And there was another feeling matted up with the others, one I couldn’t quite pinpoint.
“We broke up.”
“Why? What happened?”
“I don’t want to get into it. But we’re not together,” he said,nearing me cautiously. “It’s over. So you and I—”
“I can’t,” I cut in. “I shouldn’t.”
“Because of Henry,” Bram said, his gray eyes pained. “You’re in love with him.”
I couldn’t deny it. I’d never said it out loud before, but at the time, I believed it.
