AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He sits up, startled. The air conditioner over our heads is broken and keeps making a cyclical thudding sound, farting out bits of cold air.
“But someone lost the sample and I was pulled for a second test. I didn’t pass.” He doesn’t know enough about the system to realize I’m making shit up. “So I’m guessing someone found a record of the clean test result and freaked out, thinking it was a big cover-up.”
“Oh.” He looks deflated. “When are today’s results going to be ready?”
I wish I knew.I feel like I’m being eaten alive from the inside. “Do I look like I work in a hospital?”
His moody October eyes study me. He didn’t have time to shave this morning, and he looks about as scruffy as he did in my backyard when I dragged him out of the pool. “You know that you can tell me anything, right?”
I put my head in my hands. “Yes. You’ve made that abundantly clear.”
Ethan
I don’t know what I was going to say next, but it probably would have been something brilliant, the one thing he needed to hear to open up to me. Before I can say anything at all, a voice behind me exclaims, “Itisyou.”
Victor’s head whips up, glaring at someone over my shoulder, and I turn around to see a girl probably five or six years younger than us with a messy ponytail and a backpack on her shoulder.
“I’ve been watching you for a while,” she announces, seemingly unaware of how creepy that sounds. “I was trying to make sure it was you.”
Victor spreads his hands sarcastically. “Happy?”
“Have you been reading the forums?” The intense blue eyes behind her thick glasses are completely fearless even as he stands up, shoving his chair back.
“Fuck off.” She doesn’t move. “Come on, Ethan,” he snaps. “Let’s go.”
I’m not sure what comes over me. “Go ahead. I’ll be right there.”
He widens his eyes at me. “Ethan.”
“Shit, dude, calm down. I have to pay for the drinks.” I take out my wallet and start shuffling through it for his benefit, until he storms away and climbs the steps to the hospital. Then I put my wallet away, because I already paid for the drinks.
Everyone lies. Even you, even me.
Eyeing me cautiously, she lowers herself into the seat opposite and sticks out her hand. “I’m Nicola.”
“I’m Ethan.”
She suppresses a smile. “I heard. So Tanner is just an alias?”
Fuck. After the last twenty-four hours, I’d completely forgotten Tanner ever existed, along with most of the rest of the world. “I—”
“It’s ok, I won’t tell.”
I study her, wondering why I couldn’t have been this confident at her age. “You wanted to tell us something about the online forums?”
She glances at the spot where Victor disappeared and lowers her voice. Rain starts to spit down outside, bouncing off the cafe awning. “I’m one of the people trying to research his past. When I heard he was in Naples, I wanted to say hi and offer to send him any information we find, in case he was framed and needs evidence.”
My skin prickles. This feels wrong, but I can’t bring myself to leave. “Why do you think he was framed?”
She hesitates and sighs, playing with the discarded cap of Victor’s drink. “A lot of information around him seems to be missing, things that should be easily accessible. It just feels off.”
A strange wave of relief washes over me. I’ve been driving myself insane for weeks—no, half my life—wondering what happened to Victor and why none of it quite adds up. Hearing someone tell me I’m not crazy makes me do things I probably shouldn’t have done.
Nicola hoists her backpack on her shoulder and stands up. “Aren’t you going to threaten me and tell me to stop?”
I grab the receipt from the coffee and flip it over, pushing it toward her. “I’m going to ask you to exchange phone numbers so you can call me if you find something. Preferably before it goes public.”
Trying and failing to hide her excitement, she scrawls her number down and hands me the scrap of paper. “Text me if you want. But this is too big; I can’t promise to stop the release of information.”
The sound of a car engine makes me look up. Our ride back to the hotel has arrived. As Victor follows Gray down the steps, he looks around for me. His eyes focus on Nicola and he stops walking for a minute. Then, before I can even stand up, he slides into the car and says something to the driver. He and Gray argue for a second before the car pulls away, leaving me sitting there with my mouth open.
“Uh…sorry.” Nicola looks guilty.
I shake my head. “It’s just another Tuesday with him. I guess I’d better start walking.”
