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“What if Brian’s right?” he began, and I shook my head, already knowing what he was about to say. “What if it’s just someone who’s obsessed with you? Maybe we should really be focused on that whole ‘I didn’t know’ thing.”
“But that isn’t what it feels like,” I said irritably, getting tired of explaining this. “I see these, and that fucking pit in my stomach swallows me whole. I see these, and that part of me thatknew—thatknows—what they mean tries to warn me that these notes are what lead to me hurting Scarlet.”
“I don’t know, man,” he said as he continued toward my house. “I know I’ve had my say on if youdiddo something to hurt Scarlet, but this doesn’t feel right—not that any of it did before. But keeping proof of it right there for anyone to find?”
“I know.”
“You even told Brian you thought it was him playing a prank on you.”
“Brandon, I know,” I muttered and dragged my free hand through my hair. As soon as he pulled onto the driveway next to Bree’s car, I turned in the seat to face him. “Look, last thing I want to believe is that I did something. Swear to God, it fucking tears me up even considering it. But for as much of this can be explained one way or another, I feel it. Here.” I gripped at my stomach. “It hurts her. No question.”
He nodded after a while. “Yeah, all right.”
“Come on,” I said on a sigh as I grabbed the door handle. “Help me get my sister out of the house so I can talk to Scar.”
Brandon sucked in a breath through his teeth, feigning hesitation as he got out of the Jeep and headed around the front. “I don’t know. Your sister can be terrifying sometimes. If she’s on bodyguard duty?”
Despite everything over the past twenty-four hours, a sharp laugh left me. “If she is, we’re both screwed.”
“Fuck you. You’ll be on your own, and I’ll be back in my Jeep so fast.”
Another laugh worked from my chest. “You know Konrad would be the first one out.”
“Absolutely,” Brandon said, smile widening. “He’d see that look she gives and would be gone before she could turn it on him.”
“Asshole,” I muttered as we stepped into the house to loud music and Bree’s animated voice.
When we entered the kitchen, I stopped. Head listing slightly as I took in all the papers scattered on the island and table.
“Maybe they’re building a time machine,” Brandon whispered as he gestured to where Scarlet stood, arms folded and paper hanging from her fingertips as she studied the paper Bree was quickly writing on.
“Idiot,” I said on a breath before stepping deeper into the kitchen. “We interrupting?”
“Hey,” Scarlet said as she turned to us. Stare quickly falling over me before narrowing on my face. Trying to figure out what was going on with me when I couldn’t even do that. “How’d it go?”
I nodded and spared a glance at my sister before focusing on the girl who could bring me to my knees with that vulnerable, pleading stare. “Can we talk?”
“Yeah, Bree, time to go,” Brandon said unapologetically.
“No, we’re busy,” Bree said as she waved a paper at us. “We’re being detectives,hello. You can’t just stop that.”
“Is that what this is?” I asked in dry amusement.
Brandon hummed like he was trying not to laugh. “We need to let them talk, so we’re going.”
At that, Bree’s eyes narrowed on me. “If you’re about to say something that upsets Scarlet, then I’m definitely not leaving. So, you can keep whatever conversation you think you’re going to have to yourself, jerk.”
“There’s the beginning of that look,” Brandon mumbled.
“I found something at the shop,” I said before he could do something, like leave.
“A sketchbook?” Bree asked on a gasp as Scarlet nodded.
Her soft words were lined with an undercurrent of fear and anger when she said, “I found something too.”
I ignored my sister as I erased the last of the distance between Scarlet and me, unable to stay away from her any longer. Sliding my hand around her waist like it was the most natural thing to do, I drew her closer and asked, “What’d you find?”
“One of your old sketchbooks,” she said, then gestured around as if to say Bree and the chaos in the kitchen should’ve explained that.
