AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I get it,” I muttered. “I’d wonder the exact same thing if I were you.”
“I’m really sorry for keeping it from you. I hated lying to you like that. But I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s fine. I understand,” I replied, rubbing my right temple. Something suddenly occurred to me, and I sat up straight again. “Oh my god. I should’ve realized!”
“Realized what?”
“When I was in the hospital the other week, my dad came to visit. He told me that he had someone from his office contact you and Michaela to let you guys know what had happened to me. But later, when Michaela arrived, she told me that my dad called her directly. I should’ve known something was going on then, because their stories didn’t match. I just didn’t put it together until now.”
“Well, you didn’t have any reason to suspect anything then,” Tate said. “Also, you probably had more important things to think about, considering you were lying in a hospital bed at the time.”
“That’s true.”
“Hey.” Paxton lifted a hand to interrupt us. “I just remembered something.”
“What is it?” I asked, tilting my head.
“I don’t know if either of you will remember this, because it was so long ago. But do you remember when we all played Truth or Dare that night at the lake house?” he asked. “Before all the shit went down.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”
“One of the girls asked us all if we’d ever hooked up with anyone older. I remember you said yes, because you practiced kissing Tate when you were kids,” Paxton said, looking at me. He turned back to Tate. “Do you remember what Michaela said?”
Tate scrunched up his brows. “Um… she said yes. But that was because she hooked up with Ryder McAllister.”
Paxton slowly shook his head. “She didn’t say that.”
“She did,” Tate insisted. “I’m sure of it.”
My eyes widened. “Wait. No. Paxton’s right!” I said. “Someone else mentioned Ryder McAllister. All Michaela said was—”
“I can neither confirm nor deny,” Paxton finished for me. “So she made it seem like the older person in question could be Ryder. But it might not have been him. It could’ve been someone else.”
“Wait… are you saying you think Michaela might’ve been hooking up with Sienna’s dad when we were all in high school?” Tate said, forehead wrinkling. “When Michaela was only sixteen?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Guys...” Tate sighed and threw his hands up. “This isn’t just about the affair, is it?”
I hesitated. “Not exactly, no.”
“Well, can you tell me what the hell is going on?”
Paxton reached over and squeezed my hand. “Do you want to tell him? Or do you want me to do the talking?”
I swallowed hard and set my jaw. “We can do it together.”
We spent the next few minutes going over everything we’d discussed recently—the second jersey revelation, our new theory about the killer being one of the survivors, Michaela’s recent strange behavior.
“Wait, hold on.” Tate interrupted me, holding up a palm. “Are you seriously telling me Michaela did that plagiarism thing? And the sex tape?”
“We think so,” Paxton replied. “Because it wasn’t me, which Sienna originally suspected. For good reason, I might add. But it really wasn’t me.”
“And there’s so much other stuff to back it up,” I said. “She knows Raquel and was with her that night at the bar when the sex tape got recorded. She never told us about going out that night, and usually she keeps us updated on all her plans, even if we aren’t involved.”
“Plus she had access to Sienna’s login details,” Paxton added.
Tate still looked confused. “I agree that it all looks pretty bad for her. But I’m not sure what it has to do with the Forrester case. I mean… you can’t seriously think she would’ve done that to Da—” His voice suddenly thickened, and he cut himself off, eyes glistening. He cleared his throat and sat up straight. “Sorry,” he murmured. “I’m usually fine talking about my brother.”
