Page 104 of What They'll Say About Us

"Do you think Paige called you that night for help?" Cassidy asked.

I thought about that unanswered phone call. "I guess I'll never know if she just wanted to yell at me like she would later yell at Sloane, or if she wanted to ask me to help her stop the madness that had enveloped us both."

"What about her texts to Liam?" Morgan asked. "They were vague, but they were also pleading."

"Maybe she just really wanted to talk to him. When he didn't answer her texts, maybe she gave up."

"That makes sense," Morgan said. "What a story. When are we going to tell it?"

"Tomorrow," I said. "My head is aching along with my arms and shoulders. I need to take a bath and breathe for a minute. Then we can start talking about how we want to wrap all this up."

"It's going to be good," Cassidy said. "Get some rest. I'll talk to you both tomorrow."

As our call ended, Morgan said, "Go get in the bath. I am going to order all our favorite foods from room service. We'll eat. We'll watch whatever movie we can find on the TV, and we'll let everything else wait until tomorrow."

"There are people I still need to talk to."

"They can wait."

"Most of them can. But not Alina. I promised I'd tell her before I told the public. I need to make one more call to her, and then I want the bath, the food, the silly movie and sleep, lots and lots of sleep." I took out my phone and punched in her number. "Alina? It's Tessa."

"My brother has been arrested," Alina yelled. "And I've been calling you all day."

"I know. I couldn't tell you what was going on with Ray before the police spoke to him."

"He didn't kill Paige. My brother did not kill my sister," she cried, rage and pain fueling her voice. "I never should have given this story to you. You've ruined my family. You've hurt them unbearably, just like Ray said you would. You are the worst person in the world, and the last person I should have gone to. You destroyed Paige, and now you've destroyed the rest of us."

Every word felt like a knife stabbing me in the heart. I wanted to tell her to stop, but I had to let her get it out. Finally, she ran out of steam. And then I gave her the truth. "Ray didn't kill Paige. It was an accident."

"An accident?" Alina echoed in shock. "After all this, you're saying it was an accident just like they said before. You're lying. Who are you protecting? Your old boyfriend? Some other friend? Who?"

"I've been told not to say anything about exactly what happened until tomorrow, after certain interviews take place," I said. "After that, I can tell you the whole story. But I wanted to let you know it wasn't Ray. And I'm sure he's being released as we speak. Not that he's completely innocent. He was blackmailing your sister for money. He was threatening to tell the world that she'd slept with her professor."

"That really happened?" Alina asked. "Please, tell me everything now."

"I wish I could. As soon as I can, I will call you." I ended the call, sensing her protests would go on for a while, but I couldn't get into Sloane's actions now. I needed to let Colton get her statement before anyone else got involved or tried to talk to her.

"That was rough," Morgan said.

"Her family won't like the real story."

"At least they'll know what it is, and that's what we set out to do, right?"

"Right. And now I'm going to get in the bath."

"Take your time, Tessa. There's no need to rush."

"It's always been hard for me to stop running," I said as I stood up. "Action always kept me from thinking too much, and thinking too much was almost always a bad thing for me."

"You're not that girl anymore. I hope you realize that now."

I met her gaze. "I think I finally do."

Chapter Twenty-Four

Sunday morning, I slept until eight, awakening once more to the sound of my phone buzzing on the nightstand. I grabbed it. "Hello?"

"I hope I didn't wake you," Colton said.