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She wipes at more tears, making another attempt to smile. Like the other, it fails.
“They investigated the car after the crash. The brakes were fine. But given where my father was at the time he veered off the road, they suspect he either fell asleep and failed to make a sharp turn, or it was possible he’d been forced off the road. I’d forgotten all the details because I wasn’t in a great state of mind when I originally read all that. But after what you said today, I decided to take another look.”
Tanner catches my stare, his eyes filled with more concern than I’ve ever seen in them. Brinley’s words at the lake come back to mind, and I have to wonder if I’m the problem kid of his brood, the teenager who’s constantly at war with the father.
“I need you to come to my house tomorrow to go over some other stuff. Given what we figured out in Georgia about Scott, I want all of us to take a closer look at what was done to our cars and houses. Does noon work for you?”
I nod my head.
“Okay, good. Then we’ll see you then.”
They turn to leave, and Brinley wraps her arms around my body, helping to keep me on my feet after the flood of relief from what Luca told me takes hold.
I didn’t kill John.
Not that I knew the man, or that it should it really matter. But he was one stain on my conscience that I couldn’t forgive myself for.
Tanner and Luca are almost at the back door when Tanner turns to look at me again.
“One more thing I think you should know. Both of you need to be careful.”
My brows tug together. “For what?”
“Taylor pulled up a flight manifest about an hour ago. Scott’s back in town. Just thought you should know.”
Brinley
“Shane, this is ridiculous. You can’t stand there for over an hour and do what? Watch the door?”
It’s the following morning after everything that happened at the auto shop with Luca and Tanner. Shane and I eventually fixed my car’s starter and CV joints, drove both cars over to Tanner’s house then dropped off the rental for one of them to use.
Bitching the entire way about how much he hates my car, Shane decided to crash at my dorm because his house still hadn’t been fixed or cleaned up from the vandalism.
We’d argued this morning about me returning to class, but I have responsibilities that I refuse to ignore. I can make up what I already missed without a problem, but I’ll fall behind if I push it too far.
After relenting to me going to class as long as he went with me, we’d then gotten into it about my clothes. While at Tanner’s, Shane had switched our bags from the rental car to mine then hauled them all up to my room.
I was surprised on the flight home that he had the bags moved from his car onto the plane. Apparently, he’s serious about me not hiding anymore.
So after the second argument, I agreed to a pair of jeans that actually fit me combined with an off the shoulder teal top, but I put my foot down about wearing something other than my worn out Converse.
They’re comfortable, damn it. And I’m not going somewhere that requires I dress up.
Now we’re in the hall outside my class, arguing yet again. I’ve invited him to sit in on the lecture with me, but he won’t hear of it.
“I’ll be fine out here, Brin. And if anybody approaches this door, I can take care of it without an entire classroom of witnesses.”
He’s been on edge ever since learning that Scott’s back in town.
I roll my eyes. “Fine. But both lectures are the same amount of time. You’ll be bored out of your mind out here.”
A smirk pulls at the corner of his mouth. “What are the lectures about?”
In all the chaos of the past few days, I’d neglected to look at my calendar. “I’m not sure. Something to do with philosophy.”
He laughs. “I’ll be bored out of my mind in there too. Probably put to sleep. I can stay awake and alert just fine out here.”
“On two hours of sleep?”
