Page 146 of Creeping Beautiful

Well… that’s easier said than done. I glance at Indie. I want nothing more in this fucking world than to take her into my room, put her in my bed, and keep her there forever.

But I can’t. We are here to deal with the situation.

“Indie. Can you please go to your room and let me talk with Donovan and Adam for a moment?”

She presses her lips together, rolling them inward a little as she squints at me. “Who’s dead?”

“We’re gonna go over all that,” I say. “But first, I need to talk to Adam and Donovan. I know you don’t have to follow my orders, but this isn’t an order. It’s just a request. Ten minutes, Indie. Can you just give us ten minutes? Please?”

She looks at Donovan. Then Adam. Then back at me.

“We gave you four years,” I add. “Four years, baby. You can find ten minutes for us. I know you can.”

She looks at Donovan. “Where will you guys be?”

“In here.” He points to his bedroom. “We’ll be right here. I promise.”

“And then you’ll tell me what’s going on? You’ll fill in all the blanks I have?”

We all trade uneasy glances.

Indie points to her journal, the one I’m still holding in my hand. “Are the answers in there, McKay?”

I shake my head. Not the ones she’s looking for. “We’re gonna tell you what we know. But I need to talk to them first. It’s very important that we do this right.”

“Something bad happened, didn’t it?” Her eyes are very sad right now. And for a moment I think… she’s gonna remember all on her own and then we won’t have to tell her the truth. But that’s the easy way out. And nothing is easy when it comes to Indie Anna Accorsi. Because the sadness in her eyes fades as I watch. They just go… empty. The way they were last night in the bathtub. “OK. I guess I can give you ten minutes.”

She turns away and walks to her door, looks back at us one last time, then opens it, and disappears inside.

Donovan is pushing Adam and me into his bedroom. He looks down the hallway real fast, then closes the door. Not all the way. He leaves it open a crack. And then he begins to whisper. “OK, listen to me, Adam. And don’t interrupt. Someone got to her when she was fifteen—”

“What?”

“For fuck’s sake, Adam. You’re as bad as Indie. I said don’t interrupt me. It’s a long story and we have it all recorded so you can hear all the details, but someone got to her. Someone has been triggering her all these years. We think she might have been with him since she disappeared.”

“That’s not true.” I have to interrupt. Because I read her journal and they didn’t. I hold it up. “I found this in her truck. It was parked near my shop. I read the whole fucking thing and she never once mentions being with someone else. It’s just all about us.”

Donovan shoots me a look. “Well, where was she?”

“It doesn’t really say that, either. But it’s all her memories, Donovan. Everything about us, and Nathan—”

“Jesus. Fucking Christ.” Adam turns away and grabs his head. Then he spins back. “How many other fuckin’ people have read that?”

“I don’t know. But that’s not the point. The point is… she’s still ours. Even if whoever has been triggering her is still inside her head, she wants to be with us. Listen to me.” I open up the journal to the page I dog-eared and read it out loud. “‘If I had to choose between them, I would die. There is just no way I could only choose one. I need them all. I don’t even care if that’s selfish. I want them all.’ She was talking about us and Nathan.”

Donovan huffs. “Well, that doesn’t fucking help!”

“Specifically us, Donovan. She understands she can’t have Nathan.”

“Well, I really hope so. Because he’s…” Adam pauses to lower his voice. “He’s fucking dead.”

“Right.” I sigh.

Donovan snatches the journal out of my hand and turns to the beginning. Then he points to something at the top of the page and holds it up. “Did you see this? What does this mean?”

I squint my eyes at his pointing finger and find the marks on the page.

It says… 3/3.