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His hands are firm as he holds me at arm’s length like he’s making sure I’m all in one piece, and I force myself to focus and not get distracted by the way his gaze pierces through me.
“I’m fine, Brandon only glared at me a little in math, but other than that it was back to ignoring me. Did you see him?”
My reassurances calm Jason a little, and the tenseness in his shoulders relaxes even if the severe look on his face doesn’t. He guides me the rest of the way to his car with a firm hand on my lower back. “No. Gia?”
“She told me she hasn’t seen him and is planning on steering clear. She’s with Chris and Lindsey now, and they’re going for milkshakes. But, Jason . . .” I stop walking and turn to face him. I’ve been thinking about it all day, my mind running wild with possibilities, but I haven’t told Jason yet because I thought I should do it in person. “Brandon told me he wants his phone back, and he’s threatening—” I stop myself when I remember we’re in the school parking lot where kids could potentially hear us. I lower my voice. “Blackmail . . .”
His eyes narrow. “Blackmail?” He practically growls the word. “Did you confirm you have his phone?”
I shake my head. “Of course not. But I’ve been thinking, why does he want it back so badly? My initial hunch about the phone must be right! There’s something incriminating on it that will tell us what happened to Lily. She disappeared weeks ago, and we’re no closer to finding out what happened to her. But IknowBrandon is involved somehow, and now we may have evidence!”
His phone is still sitting turned off in my room.
When I tried to unlock it at the motel party, it didn’t work, so he’s obviously changed the password since the time I stole it for a few brief moments at the Tracks, but there has to be a way in.
“How many times do you think I can guess a phone passcode before it locks me out?” I ask Jason as he opens the passenger door for me.
“I’m not sure. We’ll have to look it up. But I’m a little more concerned with theblackmailpart. What is he threatening? Are you in real danger?”
I sink into the familiar leather seat, placing my backpack by my feet. “If I try too many times, will everything on his phone self-destruct, or is that just a thing in the movies? I don’t want to destroy any evidence when we’re so close to it.
Maybe I can bring it into one of those stores and tell them it’s mine and I forgot the password? But I think they clear out the phone to unlock it, and as I said, we can’t risk that.”
Jason eyes the crowded lot as I wonder about my odds of convincing a tech person the phone isn’t stolen.
He closes my door before reappearing beside me in the driver’s seat.
“Siena,” he states, his serious tone pulling me from my thoughts, “can we focus on theblackmailpart for a second? How worried do we need to be?”
Oh, shit. I got so wrapped up in finding information about Lily’s disappearance, I forgot that Brandon and his stupid threats don’t just affect me and Gia —they affect Jason too. He’s the one who took the fall for Gia, the one who said he found Brandon. He lied to the police when they questioned him about what happened, saying he and Brandon were jumped at the party. He’d be in the direct line of fire if Brandon made good on his threat.
“I’m sorry, Jason,” I say quickly, “I should’ve told you right away. I don’t want you getting hurt because of Brandon’s threats.”
“What? I don’t give a fuck about me. I’m not scared ofBrandon.” He says his name like an angry curse. “What is he threatening to do toyou? To Gia? Do we need to handle it?”
I pause for a moment before my mind catches up with his words. He truly isn’t concerned about himself, only me and Gia, and butterflies kick up in my stomach.
“No, I’m not too worried about it. He gave me a week before he does anything, and I’m planning to have all the evidence I need before then. If not, I’ll figure out how to deal with Brandon later.”
Jason studies me so intently that I have to resist the urge to squirm in my seat. Finally, he says, “I know you’re used to taking care of everything and doing it all on your own, but you know I’m here for you, right?”
With a pounding heart, I grip his hand and give it a squeeze, trying to communicate all the emotions I’m feeling that are too hard to put into words. I’ve always felt alone, always felt like I had to handle everything myself and could never rely on anyone for anything, but ever since I met Jason, he’s always been there for me, proving over and over again that I can trust him. It means more to me than I can ever tell him.
“I know, Jason. Thank you.”
With a final meaningful look, like he’s making sure Ireallyunderstand that I can rely on him, he gives my hand a gentle squeeze before needing to release it to start the car and shift into first gear. He lowers my window a few inches to let in fresh air before the car even moves.
“Let’s see what we can do about unlocking his phone,” he says, fully on board with my decision. “Maybe try his birthday, jersey number, phone number, a combination of those. He’s self-absorbed, so any numbers to do with himself should be our first try.”
Very smart. That does sound like a Brandon thing to do. “I don’t know any of those.”
“I’ll figure them out and text them to you,” he says, and his support instantly raises my confidence. IknowBrandon’s hiding something, and if I get more time to snoop through his phone, I can figure out what. The first time I scrolled through his text thread with Lily proved he was obsessed with her, with her constantly telling him to leave her alone and him always refusing. He found me before I had time to dig any deeper, but now I’ll have unlimited time to search for answers.
“You’re the best, Jason,” I reply, but he frowns in response, eyes flicking to his rearview mirror. “Is everything all right?”
“I’m not sure,” he says, changing lanes and making a right instead of a left like he normally would to get to my street. He immediately checks the rearview mirror and lets out a frustrated sigh.
“What’s going on?” I don’t see anything in the side mirror, and just before I’m about to turn in my seat, sirens blare behind us.
