Page 7 of Dark Tangled Truths
I give her a small nod before I go up to my room and take a quick shower. When I walk into my room, the guys are on my couch with sodas, watching a game. I quietly dress in the background.
When I finish, I sit at my desk and lean forward with my elbows on my knees as they turn off the TV.
“She good?” Hawk leans back and watches me, like he knows I’ve already checked on her.
I nod and scrub a hand over my face. “What happened?”
Hawk goes through the whole incident. Cam lets me know what happened when he got there. Chase just happened to be there for everything. It was rehearsal and he’s an actor in the play, so it’s not necessarily suspicious. It could have easily been anyone else in the cast who happened to be in the hallway, but it wasn’t.
“You said Brandt’s play was also meeting?” I glance at them. So another whole set of suspects. My mind is working on everything, trying to figure out how anyone could have gotten in the room. Who could have placed the rose? What everyone’s motives could have been.
“A lot of ants work on the weekend. Not just the drama students.” Hawk runs his hand through his hair and glances at the doorway toward Evan’s room. “But that also means someone who shouldn’t be there would stand out more. There’s no way Jackson snuck in and out of that practice. Someone would have seen him and thought it odd.”
I nod. “But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t his idea.”
“No, but why hurt her?” Cam taps his foot, like he wants to spring up and pace the room, but holds back. “Why would anyone hurt her?”
Evan shouldn’t be a target to anyone. I drag in a breath. Unless we made her one.
“Chase.” It makes sense. “We struck him hard with the catfishing.”
Neither of them deny it. From that edge of guilt around their mouths, they both must have thought it.
“He doesn’t know about Jackson though. At least we don’t think he knows about Jackson.” Cam puts his hands on his knees. “The note hadpretty girlon it. That’s what Jackson calls Evan.”
“Do we have anything with Chase’s handwriting?” Hawk asks. “We could compare it to the note.”
Earlier, Cam texted us the pictures of the rose and the note.
I want it to be Jackson because then it’s his fault. If it was Chase, then it’s possible he’s retaliating against what we did. Whether it’s to get back at us for taking Evan in the first place or because of the other shit we’ve done to him, it would be our fault for kicking the hornet’s nest. I don’t think any of us believed Chase would strike out at Evan.
“It may not be his handwriting, but I’ll see what I can find,” Cam says.
“We need to narrow down the suspect pool,” Hawk says.
A noise comes from Evan’s room. I lift my head and watch for her. She’ll come to me. She always does.
CHAPTER 3
EvanAnn
With a full bellyand a light heart, I head up to bed after taking some pain meds and getting a fresh ice pack. The burning pain has faded to almost nothing, but Mom insisted on the meds. Just in case.
I didn’t really explain any more about the breakup or Chase to her. Or why Hawk was holding my hand. A few times I thought Mom might ask, but then she didn’t. I don’t want to tell her about the guys or why Chase and I broke up. That he was cheating on me and everyone knew except me.
It’s embarrassing. I still don’t know if she’d move my room away from Damon’s if she knew about us. It wouldn’t really change anything. It’s not likeshehas a nanny cam watching my every move. Only Damon does that.
But there’s a possibility she’d want to move out to get me away from Damon if she knew.
At least Chase can’t weaponize my mother’s ignorance about our breakup against me now. The rose? Pretty sure Mom thinks it was an accident of some sort. Even the doctor didn’t seem overly concerned. Just some irritant and a reminder to be careful picking up thorny roses.
They don’t know about the texts or the car. There’s no reason for them to be suspicious. I’m hoping the guys have something. It seems obvious that it’s from Jackson, but maybe it’s too obvious?
My head still feels a little fuzzy.
I walk into my room and hear voices through the bathroom. I’m already in pajamas. My pulse increases and warmth builds inside me just knowing they’re near. Locking my door, I walk through to Damon’s room.
“Hey, baby girl.” Hawk holds his hand out to me, and I go to him, letting him draw me down onto his lap. Cam reaches over and takes my injured hand delicately. He looks over the bandages like he can tell if everything was done correctly.
