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“Essa, I know Eli’s my best friend, but if he hurt you tonight, I can help you. Did he?”
Eli was rough, but I wanted him inside me just as much as he wanted to be with me. He hadn’t done anything to me physically, but the pain of him showing up and being so callous hurt me in other ways. “N-no. No, not exactly.”
“You don’t even have to be involved in this. I can tell the police what he did that night. The night of your father’s... We can work together. Get him back behind bars.”
My stomach tied in knots, thinking about Eli being back behind bars. Is that what I wanted? For him to get the justice he deserved for killing my father? The fact I was even conflicted about it made my forehead wrinkle, a pounding headache forming just behind my eyes. It was all too confusing. “Well, I don’t know if—”
“I should have told them a long time ago. Kara was right. I should have confessed what I knew.”
It suddenly occurred to me that Johnny had known all along what happened the night of my father’s murder, but never told the authorities. He never called the tip line. He didn’t say a word. “Why didn’t you?”
“I was trying to protect Eli, trying to look out for my friend. I always protected Eli ever since we were kids. But he hasn’t been such a good friend.” His arm wrapped tighter around my waist before I could squirm away. “Not to you or me.”
Leaning forward, he lightly brushed his lips against mine, but I reared my head back. I licked the salt from my lips he had left from his popcorn, brows furrowed.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought… I thought I felt something between us, Essie.”
Placing a hand on his chest, I pressed back lightly. “It’s just too soon. I need some time. And you’re Eli’s friend.”
“Yeah. I was.” Johnny looked sad, his eyes glancing at our legs. “I shouldn’t have feelings for you, but I do. I just wanted to know what it was like to kiss your perfect lips.”
Johnny brushed the hair off my shoulder and raked his eyes down my neck, then lower. “To taste you.” He tried to lean forward again to kiss me, but I sat up straight on the couch.
“Johnny, I am not—Can we just be friends? I mean, you’re attractive, and I appreciate your company and you watching out for me and all, but I can’t. Eli spun my head.”
“Of course, of course. Yeah. Definitely your friend,” he said without any inflection. Reaching a long finger up, he stroked my cheek while peering into my eyes with his crystal blue ones. “I think I should stay the night, though. Make sure he doesn’t come back and try anything.”
That wasn’t what I wanted at all. “I don’t—”
“No, I’ll just sleep here. Right here on this sofa so I can protect you.”
He was making me uneasy with his insistence. “I think I should be fine. You don’t need to stay,” I said firmly.
“You sure? I could sleep on the sofa in the living room or in the guest room.”
I nodded.
“You wanna watch the rest of this and fall asleep? I can slip out when you do.”
“No, I think I’m going to head to bed. Can I walk you out?”
Johnny narrowed his eyes and didn’t move. My mind raced, thinking of what I could say to get him to leave. After a moment, he finally stood. “I’ll leave those here.” He pointed to the DVD box. “We can finish our marathon soon, right?” He said it as if it wasn’t a question.
“Sure, yeah.”
“Great. Knock me a little one right here.” He pointed to his cheek and bent down so I had to put a peck of a kiss there. Lightly, I tapped them on his skin, then stepped back. “See ya, Essie.”
After making sure the doors were locked and bolted, I brushed my teeth and headed to bed. Settling between the sheets, I tried to sleep, but my eyes were wide open. Something didn’t feel right.
My thoughts returned to the night of my father’s murder. I wished it was anyone but Eli who had done such a horrible thing. What if it was someone else? Johnny Davis seemed so eager to rat out his friend. Why didn’t he speak up seven years ago or any of the other years in between? Why hadn’t his girlfriend confessed if she felt so guilty? She had been in the house, too. What about my dad’s girlfriend? Where was she during the events?
When my alarm went off for class the next morning, I groaned, having just fallen asleep an hour before. Turning off the blaring noise, I stumbled downstairs to take a hot shower and gain some coherence. I wasn’t sure how I would make it through three classes that day.
It was useless. The day was going to be shot. I had a shadowing opportunity in the afternoon, but it would be impossible to concentrate during classes. I wanted to talk things out with a friend, a true friend. Not someone who was pretending to get close to me for… some unknown reason.
Deciding to skip classes, I headed to the library, where I knew Piper had started her shift. She had started dating Lily, the girl she met at the house party we went to, but things were rocky between the two and Piper said she thought they wouldn’t last much longer. I hadn’t been able to hang out with her as much as I wanted to over the last few weeks.
It was spring, and the sun was shining as I parked my car in the deserted lot. My shoulders relaxed, and I could breathe easier, grateful for the beautiful weather.
