Page 84 of Hide And Seek

Jasmine held their gazes for another beat, like she was weighing them up one last time. Then she lowered the ax slightly and looked back at me. “We should probably go. The others might come to check on us soon, and if they don’t find us in the bathroom or in our cabin, they’ll get worried and come looking for us.”

Knox nodded. “I should head out too,” he said, glancing over at Rhys. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning for breakfast, man.”

“Yeah. No worries.” Rhys rubbed the back of his neck, offering his friend a faint smile. Then he looked back at me. “Alissa, can I talk to you for a second before you go?”

Jasmine’s brows rose, and she shot me an uncertain look.

“It’s fine,” I murmured.

She nodded briskly. “Okay. I’ll wait for you,” she said, turning on her heel.

With that, she stepped away and lingered by the door instead of leaving, one hand braced against the frame.

Rhys closed the distance between us. Then he exhaled quietly, dragging a hand through his hair. “I wanted to tell you about the plan,” he said, keeping his voice low. “After we talked this morning. I just wasn’t sure it was a good idea.”

“I get it,” I replied flatly. “You couldn’t trust me. We’ve only known each other for a week.”

His brows furrowed slightly. “That’s not what I’m saying. I just figured the fewer people who knew, the better. For everyone. It keeps things contained. Safer.”

I met his gaze then, holding it. “It’s fine. Seriously,” I said, trying my best to keep my voice steady. “Just because we hooked up… it doesn’t mean you owe me anything. I get that.”

Something flickered across his face at that, quick but unmistakable. Then he nodded curtly. “Right.”

For a second, neither of us spoke, and the silence stretched, stiff and uncomfortable. I finally stepped back, breaking it. “I should go.”

Rhys hesitated, then nodded again. “Yeah. Okay.”

I didn’t wait for anything else. I turned and headed for the door, forcing my expression into something neutral as I reached Jasmine.

“What did he want?” she asked, glancing at Rhys over her shoulder before stepping outside with me.

“He just wanted to check in with me about my arm,” I said, patting my right bicep. “He was worried I might’ve done something to it, because I told him it was starting to hurt near the end of our lesson. But it’s fine now. I think it was just a bit of muscle strain.”

“Ah.”

I felt bad about lying to Jasmine, especially after what a great friend she’d been to me, but I just… didn’t want to explain. Because explaining meant admitting what had happened in that shed yesterday, and I still hadn’t figured out how to do that without sounding like a total idiot.

I’d ignored every warning from her and the others about Rhys’s apparent fuckboy reputation and hooked up with him anyway, even though I’d only known him for about five seconds. Then I’d gone and convinced myself he was a psychotic killer, which turned out to be completely wrong.

The whole thing had left me utterly mortified.

Also, if I didn’t talk about it out loud, I didn’t have to deal with why it still bothered me that Rhys hadn’t told me about his fake death plan.

So… yeah. My supposedly sore arm was a much easier story to stick to.

I hurriedly changed the subject before she could pry any further. “So what were you going to tell me?” I asked. “About why you trust the guys?”

“Oh. Right.” She snapped her fingers. “Okay, so, Rhys has never been easy to read, so I can never really tell what’s going on with him. But Knox… well…” She paused, raising a brow. “You know how some people have a tell when they're lying? Like, they might always rub their chin, or something like that.”

I nodded. “He has one?”

“Not one for lying. Which is probably why he’s so good at acting. But hedoeshave an honesty tell.”

I raised a brow. “An honesty tell?”

“Yeah. Something he always does when he’s telling the truth,” she said. “I’ve worked with him enough times over the years to recognize it by now.”

“What is it?”