Page 48 of Ask No Questions

"Julia might have been his girlfriend right before we dated."

"Did she cheat on him with you?"

"No, at least she told me they were broken up. Maybe he still had feelings for her. He calls me a killer every chance he gets. He blames me, and so do all of his friends."

"So they're the ones that started the rumors and basically ostracized you?"

He shrugged and chuckled. "Yup, classic best friend to worst enemy situation."

"This isn't a joke, Gage."

We were interrupted by Mckayla before I could get more information out of him.

"What is going on, Aubrey? The whole school is talking about you starting a fight, and now you're out here with him? Mike is your friend!"

"Gage is my friend too. Mike started the fight, Mckayla! He's trying to control everything I do. He just freaked out when he found out Luke asked me to formal."

"He likes you! How blind can you be? You've been rubbing Luke in his face, and now you're friends with Gage? Of course he's going to lose it! I'm freaking out!"

I was so embarrassed Gage heard all of this. I didn't care about his past, but it seemed everyone else did. I didn't want him to think their opinions about him mattered to me, but I could see they were just watching out for me in their own way.

"Gage is my friend. What’s with you guys? I’m not going to let someone’s past affect my opinion of them. I hope you guys don’t hold anything that happened in Chicago against me.”

“Of course not! We’re just looking out for you. Mike has been there for all of us and has taken care of you too, so of course he’s mad you would betray him.”

“How is being friends with someone a betrayal? I didn’t live here when the accident happened!”

“The accident? Is that what he’s calling it? I was here, Aubrey. My dad handled the case. It was no accident.”

I turned to face Gage, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. “What is she talking about?” He continued to look down. “Gage! I’ve been defending you to everyone I know, and you won’t even look at me!”

“Believe whoever you want, Aubrey. I told you the truth, but if you can’t trust me, that’s your problem.” He walked away from us, and I couldn’t find it in me to go after him.

Twenty-One

I walked through the front door, barely registering that it was unlocked. Brandon rarely got home before me. I walked in slowly, looking for anything out of place or worse, a robber. I heard the TV coming from the living room. Well, at least the murderer made himself comfortable while he was waiting for me.

"Hey, Aubrey." I jumped and looked at the open fridge a few feet away from me. Carter's head popped out before looking back at the fridge.

"Carter. What are you doing here?"

He came to the island with an arm full of food.

"I'm making a sandwich. What are you doing?" He continued ignoring my puzzled look like this was a normal occurrence and proceeded to create his masterpiece.

"I mean, why are you here?" How he was planning on eating a triple layered sandwich was beyond me, but I assumed it would be entertaining to watch, so I followed him to the living room.

"Brandon has meetings all day and through the night with some companies in Asia, so he asked me to come over and hang out with you." He picked up the monster, eyeing it before bringing it to his mouth. I laughed as it split in half in front of his mouth covering his lips and chin in condiments. He turned to me with a smile then leaned toward me.

"Oh, you think that's funny? Come here, munchkin!" I tried to push away from him, but he was too fast and was rubbing his face along my cheek. I was caught under him laughing too hard to fight back.

"That's so gross! Get off me!"

I made minimal effort to actually move him. His eyes met mine, and I noticed how close we were. My little sister instincts quickly took over. I slowly moved my arm toward his face, trying not to let him notice and shot out, smearing the rest of the goop farther up his face. I used his momentary shock to my advantage and rolled off the couch taking off toward the kitchen. He was already chasing me by the time I made it to the sink. I had planned on washing off my face and hands, but when I saw him coming after me, I grabbed the hose connected to the sink and held it in front of me.

"Don't come any closer!"

His eyes darkened, and a scowl appeared. “You've made some serious errors in judgment." He took a few steps toward me and I turned on the water hitting him square in the chest. I gasped at my boldness but kept going.