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Playing it safe, I go outside and call Cam.
“Dude, do you know what time it is?” he grumbles.
I sigh. “Yes, Sleeping Beauty, but I need you to get over here. I don’t think that asshole stopped at fucking with Laiken tonight.”
His breath hitches and suddenly he’s wide awake. “I’ll be right there.”
I WAIT IN MYtruck to avoid the chilly night air. If I wasn’t on the beach, it probably wouldn’t be so bad, but the wind blowing off the ocean makes for a cold night. And at least in a locked truck, no one can sneak up on me.
When Cam pulls into the parking lot, I get out, but my stomach churns when I realize Laiken is with him.
“Why’d you bring her with you?” I ask, trying not to sound like an asshole, but I don’t know if someone is inside.
He glances at Laiken, who looks down and then back at me. “She’s staying at my place tonight, and I wasn’t going to leave her alone. Not after what she went through tonight.”
It’s a reasonable explanation. I’d be shaken up too if someone knocked my ass out and moved my car with me inside of it. But that doesn’t mean I’m happy she’s here. Not when the danger could still be inside.
“Do you have the flashlight?” He nods and hands it to me. “Okay, you two stay out here while I make sure no one is inside.”
Cam shakes his head. “No fucking way. What if someone is waiting to attack you or some shit?”
Ugh. “Fine. But stay right inside the door.”
The three of us enter the bar and I turn on the flashlight, going straight for the back where the circuit breaker is. At least with the lights on, we’re better prepared. Thankfully, they didn’t completely cut the power—they just turned it off at the master switch. And while I’m somewhat concerned for the beer we have in the walk-in fridge, I’m more worried aboutwhysomeone was in here in the first place.
I flick the power back on and immediately hear Laiken gasp.
It’s embarrassing how fast I rush back out into the front, worried that something has happened to her. And if she wasn’t so zoned into everything around her, she may have noticed it. But she’s too busy looking at the walls.
“Oh my God.”
The walls are covered from floor to ceiling with Monty’s missing person flyers. There isn’t a single inch of the drywall still exposed, and if there is something hanging on wall in that spot, they just put the flyer over it.
It’s one thing hearing what Laiken has been through, and even seeing the two notes from tonight, but standing here looking at this, I know whoever this is, they’re not fucking around.
Someone knows what we did that night, and now they’re out for blood.
“This must have taken hours,” Cam murmurs.
My eyes move around the room as I take it all in. “Unless there is more than one of them.”
“Two people that know?” He shakes his head. “I doubt that. It’s been almost two years. One of them would’ve gotten bored by now.”
I run my fingers through my hair as I sigh. “Well, they definitely had something to occupy their time tonight. Help me take this shit down so we can open in the morning.”
Laiken looks like she’s on the verge of another massive breakdown. The fear is evident on her face, and Cam asks if she’s okay. She just stares back at him in response and then turns to me.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, her voice shaky. “I never should’ve come back.”
The urge to pull her into my arms is there, just beneath the surface, but I can’t deal with that right now. There’s so fucking much to unpack, and I’m sure we’ll get there eventually. Right now I need to get this shit off the walls so we can open the bar on time tomorrow.
We’re already fucked financially right now thanks to me. We can’t afford to be closed because someone has a goddamn vendetta.
It may be a dick move, ignoring her when she’s upset like this, but it was a dick move when she left, so fuck it. I walk over to the walls and start to pull down the flyers. A lot of them are taped together like a wrapping paper. It at least makes it easier to remove.
Cam and Laiken both help rip down the images of one of my most hated people off the wall. Each one of his pictures feels like it’s staring back at me, taunting me—like he’s pointing out that he won. His death is ultimately what made Laiken leave. And I’m sure the ghost of him is basking in it.
“H,” Cam calls. “There’s something behind this.”
