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“Youwanttodo what?” Alec asks, clearly not sure he’s heard her correctly.
Leaning forward in her seat, Mia repeats herself. “I want to spend tomorrow night at Mark’s apartment.”
Kas remains silent while Alec looks at me through the rearview mirror. Although I’m speechless, I manage to say, “Are you sure?” I really don’t want to point out the obvious. Fuck, I don’t think any of us do. “Mia, the place hasn’t been cleaned yet,” I say as a way of explaining why we’re all surprised by this.
“Don’t worry about it,” Mia says. “I need to be there tomorrow night. If needed, we can close the door and only stay in his living room or something…”
Kas clears his throat but says nothing. Alec is also tightlipped, and I don't want to tell her that won’t help. She hasn’t been back there since Mr. Riley killed Mark. Not just because she hadn’t wanted to, but also because the place had been closed off since the apartment was a crime scene and no one was allowed to enter. That means that whatever residue is still left has been there for close to two weeks. Not only will it have dried and stained the surfaces for good, but it’ll also reek.
“Okay,” I hear myself say. “Okay, how about we go there tonight and clean it up as much as possible for you?” I want to fucking slap myself for this ridiculous suggestion.
Shaking her head, Mia says, “That won’t be necessary. Seriously, don’t worry about it. I don’t expect you guys to stay there, and it might even be better if you don’t.”
Say fucking what now?
“Sweets, if you want some time for yourself, why don’t you go to your place?”
Mia lets go of my hand and straightens in her seat. “Not tomorrow. I can tonight if you guys want me to, though.”
Once again, say fucking what?
“Baby, we don’t—” Mia exhales dramatically. “Never mind, just tell me where to drop you off,” Alec says, clearly changing his mind about what he was about to say.
My mind is reeling with the turn of events. Is this because of her parents or because of us? Rather than guessing, I decide to ask her outright. “Did we do something wrong? If you need some privacy, you’re welcome to take my room. I can spend the night on the couch.”
Although I can feel Mia’s eyes on me, I have no idea what to expect. The only light in the car is from the oncoming traffic, and of course, there are no other cars right now, so I can’t see her facial expression. “That’s kind of you, but maybe I should head home.”
“Can we come with you?” Kas sounds as eager as a kid that’s invited for their first sleepover.
Mia decides the conversation is over, and she turns away from me to look out the window. I watch as she takes her phone out of her handbag and starts tapping away on the screen, presumably texting someone. It’s something I’ve seen her do a lot lately, and every time I’m racking my brain trying to figure out who she’s messaging. Yeah, I could ask her. However, a part of me doesn’t want to. I have to believe that she would tell me if she wanted me to know.
We sit in silence for the rest of the drive to our house, and as soon as the door is unlocked, Mia heads down to the basement.
“So what the fuck just happened?” I look at Alec and watch as he pulls a beer from the fridge and opens the bottle on the edge of our kitchen counter. “Seriously, did I miss something?”
I find it hard to put words to my thoughts right now. Mostly because my thoughts are all over the place. I’m mentally dissecting everything that happened at dinner and in the car until she started talking about going home. And then it hits me out of the blue.
“We mentioned something related to Mark’s death,” I say. Both of my brothers look at me with go on looks in their eyes. This is why I tend not to talk until I’m done thinking, reasoning, and making heads and tails where there are seemingly none. “She’s been on autopilot all week. Going to Mark’s is the first thing she’s mentioned that she wants to do, not needs to. I wonder if this is her way of avoiding the reality of it all…” I trail off since I don’t know how to finish explaining my thoughts.
Kas runs a hand over his face, catching his glasses so they’re askew on his face. “Do you mean that she’s hiding from what’s happening?”
“No, not exactly. Look, I can’t be sure, but it seems to me that she’s fine until someone mentions something real, then she clamps up and wants to leave. Or pulls out her phone and texts someone, or hell, maybe she’s writing notes to herself.”
Alec jumps onto the counter and stretches his legs. “No, she’s definitely texting someone. The other day I glanced at her phone just as she sent a message, but I don’t know who she sent it to.”
Technically, I’m sure there are many people that it could be, and it shouldn’t irk me that I don’t know. Shouldn’t is the operative word because it bothers me a lot. Mostly because I suspect that I should know who it is, but how can I?
“Motherfucker!” Before Kas and I can ask Alec what’s wrong, he continues. “She’s turned the spy cam off.”
Barely a second passes before the three of us run to find out if she’s turned the camera off or if Mr. Riley somehow got free.
“Hmm, yes, I can see why you would say that. I’m afraid I have to disagree,” Mia says in a very calm and reasonable tone like she’s in the middle of debating something non-consequential with a stranger. That should make us relax to know that she’s unharmed, but we still run down the stairs. “Right, well, it looks like our time is up. I’ll let you get some sleep since we both have a big day tomorrow. Goodnight!”
Alec reaches Mia first and says, “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“Sweets?”
Too focused on getting my thoughts straight, I take in the scene in front of me. I look at Mr. Riley, and I’m shocked to see what looks suspiciously like a tear on his face. Locking eyes with the bastard, I say, “Mia, go upstairs and wait for me.” I probably could have said it kinder. However, right now, my head is too messed up to care about being pleasant.
