AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But because I should have lied and hidden how much I really was wanting a round two—not only from him, but also from myself.
“What are you doing?” I say aloud. There’s no answer to that question.
I have no idea if I can trust Royal, but if he was telling the truth about me only having five minutes to get out of here, I need to move. Be back in the safety of my room, where I could attempt to give myself a talking to.
Not here.
Hoping that my legs will hold out, I stand, reaching for the wall to support me. As I do, I look up, across the church at the balcony across from me.
From the far corner, two dark eyes meet my stare.
Dr. Wright.
XXV
Tori
The journey to the prison is longer and more complicated from James Keyingham University than it was from home. Despite everything that happened in the church, I somehow managed to google the directions before I went to bed, making sure I set my alarm early enough that I could get to the prison before visiting time.
There are quite a few people in the waiting room with me, but no one really makes eye contact or talks to each other. One by one, they’re all granted access until it’s just me and a guy who turned up forty minutes after I did.
When the guard comes out and calls my name, I’ve prepared myself for him to tell me that Cole doesn’t want to see me. Instead, he tells me I can see him and leads me to the room I’d met him in previously.
Cole sits in front of me, not long after I’ve taken my seat. As he picks up the phone, his eyes are already scanning my appearance. “Blue?”
“Not my first choice, but I’m making it work,” I tell him. Like him, I’m taking in his appearance too. Their uniform here is pale green-gray, and it makes his already pale face look sicklier than before. His hair is longer, but his beard is trimmed. And his eyes still look dead inside.
“I was hoping you were here to tell me that you didn’t go to James Keyingham after all, but you look like shit.”
“Unless this is coming from the winner of Prison Pageant, you can fuck off,” I tell him, but I’m not really mad. This was the kind of thing we’d say to each other all the time before… before this. “But no, I’m at James Keyingham, like I said I would be.”
Lowering the phone, Cole looks away, his shoulders sagging. Then he raises the phone back to his ear. “Do they know who you are?”
I nod.
“Just leave, Vee.”
“Look me in the eye and tell me you did it.”
Without hesitation, Cole stares me dead in the eyes. “I did it.”
Contrary to the current situation, my brother’s not a bad person. He wanted to be the Attorney General. He was popular and well liked. But he was also a good liar. While I had to work hard on my poker face, he was able to hide the lies and the tells.
Honestly, if I didn’t know my brother and I was sitting across from him, questioning him, and he dropped that confession, I’d have accepted it too—without a single hesitation.
Yet there’s still this gut feeling, deep in my core, that this is one of the biggest lies he’s ever told.
“Then tell me how, and tell me why.”
“Just let it go, Vee.”
And that right there is why I have doubt.
“The only time Mom and Dad let me near that courtroom was the day you were sentenced. And now, whenever I try to find out the details as to what happened—even a location—I can’t find anything. It’s like someone managed to get on the internet and wipe away all traces of this.” Resting my elbow on the small ledge, I lean forward. “So, unless you can tell me what happened and why, I’m staying at James Keyingham University. I don’t care what they do to me—”
“Do to you?” Cole’s eyes go wide as he looks me up and down. “Have they hurt you?”
“JP’s brother has me labeled as public enemy number one, but it’s mainly petty shit.” I point at my hair.
