“I’ve got to go start my hair and makeup.” He releases my hair and taps at one of his lip piercings for emphasis. “I’ll check in with you before I leave. Keep up the search and I’ll be in touch.”
With a small curse that reminds me of the way he said fuck it at the lake before he kissed me, Chasm leans in and presses a warm kiss to my forehead, taking off down the hallway before I even know how to feel about it.
With Chasm gone, the house feels lonelier than ever. I end up spending the first half of my day texting and calling people. Lumen is easy to talk to. Sally and Nevaeh, too. The rest of the people on my list are so emotionally draining that by the time I’m done, I’m going to need a nap.
Danyella spends nearly thirty minutes sobbing on video chat while I sit there and cry with her, apologizing over and over and over again.
“Don’t be sorry,” is what she says to me. “You didn’t do anything wrong. But when I catch the bastards who did this …” The sharp sound of her laugh will haunt me for years to come. Apparently, word has gotten around that the fire was, in fact, arson. I’m not sure if the authorities leaked something or if it’s just Whitehall gossip. Either way, it’s not a good sign for me or Chasm.
Reluctantly, she lets me go so that I can call my sister next.
“Oh my god, Dakota, are you okay?” Maxine breathes, leaning in toward her computer screen like she can hug me right through it. And oh, how I wish she could. “I’ve been calling and texting for days, but I wasn’t sure if that woman …”
“She’s on a warpath,” I agree, glancing away toward the wall of windows and the lake. “Was on a warpath, I should say. She’s too worried about Parrish right now to pay much attention to me.”
“What do you think happened to him?” Maxine asks as I look back at the screen, wishing I could tell my sister everything and knowing that I’d do anything to keep her from getting involved in this. Parrish’s pleas for me to walk away, to give up on him, they make a lot more sense when I think of them in the context of Maxine. He really cares about you, Dakota, I tell myself, but it’s not much of a revelation.
I knew.
I fucking knew that.
Tears prick my eyes, but I dash them away. Been doing that a lot lately, haven’t I?
“I don’t know,” I reply carefully, ensuring with every word that I’m not lying. I really don’t know what happened, why Parrish was chosen, how he was taken without anyone knowing. “But I miss him. Maxie, I … we …” Her face softens as understanding dawns. She had her first time at sixteen, too, so I know she gets it.
“Oh, baby sister,” she murmurs, reaching two fingers up to touch the screen. “I knew you liked him.”
“I think I’m in love with him?” I query back, shaking my head at the thought. “I know I haven’t known him for very long, and that I’m probably too young to think something like that, but …”
“Whoa, whoa,” Maxine soothes, stopping my self-deprecating rant in its tracks. “When love hits, it hits. Feelings are never wrong or right; they just are.” She pauses briefly, pushing her dark hair back from her face. “Maxx says you’re not participating in the search parties? I told him that didn’t sound like you, that if you weren’t helping you had a reason.” I nod, but I can’t tell her what that reason is. My silence is enough to communicate that. Maxine and I know each other too damn well; I can’t get anything past her. “Whatever that reason is, it’s valid. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, Kota.”
“I know.” I sniffle slightly and rub at my nose. “I need to call Grandma and Grandpa and let them know what’s going on.” I pause briefly, wetting my dry lips. I’m so freaking tired right now, I can barely keep my eyes open. “What happened after Tess caught us? I mean … what did she do to you?”
Maxine looks supremely annoyed, the corner of her lip curling up in disgust.
“That doesn’t matter right now. How about we worry about that after Parrish comes back?”
I nod, glad to be able to set aside at least one problem in favor of a much, much bigger one.
Justin Prior. The Seattle Slayer. What if it’s all true? What will Maxine think when she finds out that my blood is tainted with a killer’s? What will my grandparents think? Will that change our relationship?
I can’t allow myself to believe that.
“I’ll call them now,” I tell her, and she nods, giving the screen a kiss before we say our usual goodbyes. “Love you fierce.”
