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Crew and Jagger both glance at me, but I say, “Keep going. I’ll catch up.”
Neo snarls at my side. “Pulling your hood down wasn’t an invitation to talk to me.”
“Too bad. I took it as one. Now, don't be a dick and hear me out.”
He reaches into his pocket, taking out his earbuds, sticking one in.
“Are you kidding?” I growl at him, reaching over and tugging the damn thing out of his ear.
“Bitch. Give that back.”
I clutch it in my palm, shooting daggers at him. “Call me a bitch again and I’ll throw it into the woods.”
“Then I’d make you search for it on your hands and knees—naked.” He grabs my balled fist. “Unravel your fingers or I’ll break every single one of them.”
I don’t. Instead, I clamp tighter, my nails bedding into my palms and threatening to pierce my skin. “Do you still think I pushed Maddie?” I ask, being as blunt as possible, so I can get away from him and back to my friends.
He doesn’t answer, just keeps trying to pry my fingers apart.
“The picture in my room last week shows that this guy, Jude, or whoever it is, has been watching me for a while. Would you consider the possibility that he was watching me that day on Coy Mountain, and when I went down, he pushed Maddie?”
His hands drop from mine and his feet move again. He pops his other earbud in, and this one, I leave in place because he’s still got one ear to hear me out.
“You know I wouldn’t do it, Neo. You just wanted to think it was me because there was no one else to blame. But now there is.”
He’s humming along to whatever song is playing into his right ear, completely ignoring me. I grab him by the arm, and he jerks away, sneering at me. “Answer me, dammit.”
“Fine. Yes. Okay!” he finally blurts out, stopping in his tracks and facing me. “It’s possible. Doesn’t mean I don’t hate you anymore. Doesn’t mean I’m going to apologize if I’m wrong. It just means I’ll consider the possibility and eventually find out the truth.” He stares into my eyes, searching for a reaction. Seeing if his words have lifted some sort of veil off me, like I suddenly feel like they’ve done to him. He’s still Neo, and I still don’t like him either, but maybe the truth can make us hate each other a little less.
I hand him back his earbud and when our fingers brush, something shifts inside him. His head tilts slightly to the left, his eyes burning into mine. It’s like he’s questioning himself. Or maybe he’s questioning me.
Then suddenly, he pivots around and starts walking again. I stand there dumbfounded, unsure what just happened, but it was a moment in time I’ve never experienced with Neo. It’s like he had a soul, and it’s as if I could almost feel it.
Bypassing Neo, I jog to catch up to Jagger, Crew, and Riley, who are almost to the riverbank. Once I reach them, Jagger throws out an arm, stopping me. “Shh,” he whispers, a finger pressed to his lips.
Neo comes stampeding up, without a care in the world, a lit joint between his lips. Crew snatches it from his mouth. “Are you fucking stupid?”He tosses the joint to the ground, extinguishing it with the heel of his boot.
“No. But I was about to be high until your dumb ass ruined it for me.”
“He’ll smell it and know we’re here.”
“He’ll also smell the entire bottle of cotton candy perfume Riley put on, but you don’t see me ripping off her shirt.” He gapes at the sky, tapping his chin. “Now there’s an idea.”
Riley and I share a look, both shaking our heads in disgust with this Neanderthal. When Riley turns back around, binoculars pressed to her eyes like a true detective, she gasps. “Oh no!” She bolts for the river and we all chase after her.
“What happened?” I ask, but no one answers me.
Riley slips, sliding on her ass before her legs get tangled underneath her, and she rolls down the small hill. “Ahhh,” she whimpers, going down.
I cup my hands around my mouth and holler, “Are you okay?”
Jagger is the first to get to her, and he reaches for her hand, pulling her up. By the time I get down, she’s a muddy, mad mess. It’s not until she points at the river that I’m able to see what she was running after.
My hand claps over my mouth, heart dropping into the depths of my stomach. “Oh my god! Melody!”
Lying face down in the river is a body with a knife sticking out of their back.
Jagger screeches as he steps into the river, the water up to his ankles. He goes deeper, and it rides farther up his jeans. “That’s my hoodie.”
