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His eyebrow quirks as he continues to stare at me.
Immediately offended, I press my hand against my chest. “I was on the other side of the house at the time, thank you very much. Unless you’re implying that I can phase shift, there is no way I had anything to do with it.”
“No, I know. I didn’t mean it like that.” He lets his head fall back against the door with a sigh. “But that’s my point. Brady has given plenty of people good reasons to hate him.”
He seems way more concerned about this than I would have assumed. I know for a fact that Drake doesn’t give a shit about Brady.
“But the police think it’s an accident?”
“The cops in this town are worthless,” he scoffs. “They wouldn’t know a crime scene from a clambake.”
I wrap my arms around my bent legs, pulling them close because I suddenly feel cold. He hasn’t made a single move toward the bed. “You think that someone pushed Brady down the stairs?”
“It sounds crazy when you say it like that.”
Maybe that’s because it is crazy. “You were there when it happened, so I can’t argue with you. But Brady being a jackass isn’t enough to say that someone probably killed him.”
“I heard you tell the sheriff that you didn’t see anything. Were you still in the dining room with Anya?”
I know I’m not imagining the suspicion in his voice. “We actually went outside to get some air because the house got so crowded. When we heard screaming, both of us ran back inside. Why do you ask?”
He just stares at me for a long moment, gaze pinned to mine as if he is trying to find something hidden in the depths of my eyes. When he finally speaks, he just sounds tired. “No reason. Forget I said anything. This just has me more messed up than I would have thought.”
“It’s okay to be sad.” I keep my voice soft as I motion him toward the bed. “And it’s also okay not to be. However, you feel is just…how you feel. You didn’t like Brady. Some people might even say you hated the guy. I know I did, but that doesn’t mean we wanted him dead.”
Drake winces at that, but doesn’t correct me. “He was a grade-A asshole most of the time.”
“Karma’s a bitch.”
He comes to sit on the edge of the bed, but doesn’t get close enough to touch me. “We probably shouldn’t be talking about him like this. The guy isn’t around to defend himself.”
“If I killed him, I’d be taking credit for it.”
Drake groans as he falls back against the headboard. “You can’t be saying things like that, even as a joke.”
“Who says I’m making a joke?” When he raises an eyebrow, I relent. My head drops to his shoulder and his arm automatically comes up to wrap around my shoulders. “Fine, I wouldn’t have ever killed Brady, but I could have definitely seen myself roughing him up a little. But that doesn’t matter because what happened was definitely an accident.”
“There is no such thing as coincidences around here.”
“Apparently, there are,” I bite out, fighting a flash of annoyance. “And even if something nefarious is going on, what can you do about it?”
Drake settles back against the pillows, but his body remains tense. “Nothing.”
“Exactly.”
I lean forward to kiss the frown lines on his brow. My lips skate down his temple and graze his cheek before our mouths meet in a slow kiss. I move to straddle his body, but he stops me.
“Was Olivia still at the party when Brady fell?” he asks out of nowhere.
I take a second to think about it. “I don’t remember seeing her, so probably not. She doesn’t exactly share her social calendar with me.”
He just shakes his head with a sigh. “It doesn’t matter.”
A strange mood seems to have settled over both of us. I check my phone and the time is just after 4 a.m., but neither of us attempts to fall asleep. My cheek settles against his chest as we lay on the bed, but we’re lying on top of the covers. When I risk a glance at his face, his eyes are wide open and staring off into the distance.
Part of me wants to know what he is thinking.
A bigger part of me really doesn’t.
