Can’t help it.
I’d hate me for not showing up today, too. Also, I think I’m in shock. And traumatized. And scared. Yet, I’m not allowed to feel any of those things. Scratch that, I don’t have the luxury of feeling those things, not when Parrish is counting on me. His literal life is in my hands right now. If that means that I have to make Maxx Wright despise me, then so be it.
“Call your fucking mom,” Maxx grinds out, and nervousness overwhelms me. I feel fidgety under his stare, like I’m being put under a magnifying glass.
“You just said fuck three times in a row,” I blurt, and I swear, the way he stares at me, it cuts straight through my soul. “And I’m going to. I am. I—”
“You had time to get online and play games but not to call your mother? Not to attend the press conference to find a guy that you liked enough to lose your virginity to?” Maxx moves further into the room, but Chasm steps in front of him, cutting him off. The tension between the two of them is thick enough to cut with a knife.
“You have no idea the shit she’s going through right now,” Chasm growls—like almost quite literally growls. “Go fuck yourself, Maxx.” He looks about ready to fight X, but that’s not fair. None of this is fair. We’re all being manipulated by Parrish’s kidnapper, just puppets on strings.
Not for the first time, I think that he must really be Justin Prior, my sperm donor. Who else would stand to gain from tearing our lives apart like this? From tearing apart Tess’ life?
This shit is personal.
Maxx looks at me again, like really looks at me, delving into my depths with a single stare in a way I’m not sure any person has before. I feel naked, vulnerable, and also … there’s that sickening urge to tell him the truth. Don’t do it, Dakota. Like Justin said, ‘choose your pawns wisely’. Maxx is too self-righteous. It isn’t worth the risk.
“Chasm knows, doesn’t he?” he deduces, giving this sexy but frustratingly smug laugh as he runs his fingers through his hair. He shakes his head like he’s in disbelief. “Chasm knows.” He repeats the words, but in a murmur, like he’s talking to himself. He’s working his way through this, trying to find the truth that I so desperately want to keep from him. “Did the kidnapper contact you?” he asks, and I turn away, toward the wall of windows that faces the street.
“What are you doing in my house?” Chasm counters, a thread of exhaustion making its way into his voice. “Get out and go back to Oregon, Maxx. Don’t you have a girlfriend to get home to?”
There’s a long pause, but I know Maxx is still here; I can feel him watching me.
“Maxine knows that I’ll do anything to find Parrish. I’m staying until he comes back; I’ve already arranged to finish the rest of my classes online.” I glance back to see him sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans, honing that stare of his into a blade. If he wanted to, X could carve me up and see what’s underneath. All he has to do is keep pushing. I have to get rid of him. Now. “Maybe I’m right, maybe the kidnapper is making demands of you. You don’t have to tell me.” He smiles at me, and it’s a cruel, clever sort of expression. There’s nothing mirthful about it. “But I’m not leaving this spot until you call Tess. In fact, I’ll do you one better and give you a ride home.”
I exhale sharply and turn back around, holding my hand out for Chasm’s phone. He scowls at his friend but drops the phone into my palm anyway.
“I’ll call her,” I assure him, because I have to do it anyway. If it’ll get him to stop fucking looking at me like that, all the better. “But I’d like Chasm to take me home.”
That chiming sound echoes around the room again and Chas curses, moving over to the computer. You’d think the killer was here now based on the way his already blanched skin pales even further.
“Shit,” he whispers, and I notice his hands beginning to shake. “My dad is home. Shit, fuck, shit.” Chasm shoves back from the desk, tripping over one of the legs of the computer chair and scrambling up to his feet. He gives me a look that’s built of pure panic. “I’m sorry, Little Sister, but …” He pauses again and forces himself to calm down, letting out a long, slow exhale. “Maxx is going to have to take you home.”
He rushes into the bathroom and slams the door, leaving me alone with X. Fortunately, the change in circumstance seems to have mollified him slightly. He meets my eyes.
