Page 45 of Little Twisted Things

DaisyMae22

I had fun yesterday.

Alex:

So did I.

Yesterday? He told me he went out with a couple of the other professors from the university.

DaisyMae22

You always know what to say.

Alex

Occupational hazard, I guess.

DaisyMae22

Do you think I’m a terrible person?

Alex

No.

DaisyMae22

Not even after what I told you?

Alex:

People are more complicated than the worst thing they’ve ever done.

What had she told him? I frowned as I scrolled up. But all the previous messages had been deleted.

DaisyMae22

Thank you for listening. I couldn’t sleep again.

Alex

Read a chapter before bed. You know my rule.

Who the hell was this DaisyMae22? Was she a student of his? Then I carefully looked at the timestamps of the messages. They were all sent after midnight. Her username caught my attention again. DaisyMae22. Twenty-two. The number stared back at me with a vengeance. I clicked on her profile. Under her bio, it read: Every story deserves another chapter.

It sounded exactly like what Alex would say. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach. Was he cheating on me with DaisyMae22? He lied to me about his whereabouts last night. He was with her. And what did she mean by “Are we still on for tomorrow?” It was already tomorrow because it was three a.m. I closed the laptop and went back to bed. Alex stirred and wrapped his arm tightly around me. A rage I couldn’t control soared through me. If he were cheating on me, he’d pay the ultimate price—boyfriend or not.

I didn’t sleep a wink since seeing those messages. Alex was in the shower, so I went down to the kitchen and opened his laptop to see if DaisyMae22 had messaged him again. This time, it was Alex who messaged her.

Alex

Yes. We are still on for tonight.

That bastard. I closed the laptop, made a cup of coffee, and took it over by the sliding door. Rain was pounding Key West today, and it didn’t have any plans to stop.

“Morning, beautiful.” Alex stepped into the kitchen. He walked over to me and kissed my cheek. I froze. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Good morning.” I lightly smiled. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”