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I turn back to her and pull her in for a hug. I don’t know if she needs it, but I know I do. “Try to get some sleep.”
She pulls back, squeezing my hands. “I’ll try. Goodnight, Allie.”
“Goodnight, Milly.”
I shut the door to after she leaves. His room is everything I thought it would be. A double bed with blue sheets, zombie posters, computer equipment that lines the wall with a huge desk, and trophies on a shelf on the other side of the room.
I walk over, picking one up, smiling when I see it’s for coming first place in a go-karting race. Another one is for winning school clown.
My boyfriend. I sigh.
I blink, my eyes tired and sore, so I grab a T-shirt from his drawers and change before getting into bed.
With my phone in hand, I text CJ.
Me: Where are you? I’m worried. Please message me back.
I stare at the screen until my eyes shut, and I fall asleep.
*** *** ***
Light pouring into the room and the bed shifting drifts me from my restless sleep. I’m not sure what time it is, but I don’t feel like I’ve been sleeping long.
“CJ?”
A strong arm wraps around me, pulling me against a chest. “Go back to sleep,” he croaks hoarsely.
He sounds rough, distraught.
Knowing he needs me, I turn in his arms, facing him. I run my fingers through his hair. “Oh, CJ. What did you do tonight?”
He sighs, resting his forehead against mine. “I gave the police my DNA. I gave them a statement, too. I’m not sure where I was the night Christie was murdered, but all the others, I’m pretty sure I have an alibi for.”
“CJ, no one will think you did this.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m still somehow related to whoever is doing this. I feel sick inside. I sat outside that police station just staring down at my hands. I traced the lines of my veins, disgusted with the knowledge that his blood runs through them. I can’t erase him. I can’t wipe him from my mum’s my memory. And now he’s haunting us again. I don’t know what to do to make this right.”
I cup his cheek, feeling tears flow down my face. “CJ, the blood inside you doesn’t make you who you are; your heart and soul do, and, baby, you are original. You are nothing like them. You are your own person.”
“I just can’t believe this is happening.”
“We’ll get through this. Together.”
“Yeah, yeah, we will,” he says, but sounds distant, detached.
I worry this is just the beginning, that we might lose the CJ we know and love through all of this.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The past week and a half has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Another girl, Lilian Clarke, was taken a week ago.
CJ was taken down the police station the day after for more questioning. The media and public haven’t been informed of CJ’s involvement, since the police are cautious it could put him in danger. They aren’t wrong, and if we don’t find out who is doing this, it might come to the point he will leave.
We’ve hardly spent any time together since he found out about the DNA. He’s been holed up in his room after getting all the information he could on his mother’s rapist and her family.
The only people who know, are his mum, me, Cole and Willow. He didn’t want anyone else to know. It hasn’t stopped me from looking into it—anything to ease his mind. I also betrayed his wishes by telling Jordan everything, knowing I’ll need her help.
But the news CJ received six days ago has caused a drift between us.
