Fall With Me (Sugarland Creek, #3) (76)
Chapter Twenty-Six
LANDEN
Since I'm not cooking for Ellie tonight, I head to The Lodge to grab something to eat for dinner. Wilder and Waylon are sitting at our normal table, staring at their phones.
“Hey,” I greet but neither move. “Y'all lookin' at porn or what the fuck?”
Finally, they look up. But there's remorse in their gazes.
“What?” I ask.
They look at each other and now I'm suspicious as hell.
“What the hell is going on?” I cross my arms, demanding one of them speak up.
“It's a news article about Angela being released from prison. She got parole,” Waylon says.
“Yeah, Warren told me. So I guess she's officially out now? That's what the article says?”
Hopefully, it recaps the fact that she's a murderer.
“It mentions Ellie,” Wilder says hesitantly.
I furrow my brows, reaching for one of their phones. “Mentions her how?”
Scanning the article, I roll my eyes at the reference to Angela's good behavior before I see Ellie's name at the bottom.
“The Creek Chronicles reached out to local three-time NFR qualifier barrel racer, Ellie Donovan, but she had no comment about her cousin's impending early release,” I read aloud.
“What the fuck?” I look between the twins before re-reading it. “Angela's not her cousin.”
“We were lookin' it up,” Wilder says. “There was an old article from Angela's trial and it mentions her mom, Phoebe Ryan, but her maiden name is Cotton.”
“And what's that mean?” I ask.
“Ellie's mom's maiden name is Cotton, too.”
“Ellie's aunt is her mom's sister. They are cousins,” Waylon explains. “There's a photo of Ellie and Angela on one of her old Instagram pages from thirteen years ago.”
My heart pounds as the dots connect. She's never mentioned an aunt or cousin. In fact, she hardly talked about her family at all.
“I knew Angela most of my life, I don't remember her having a—” I pause, thinking about the six-year age difference. “Ellie would've been twelve at the time of the trial. Holy shit.”
I scrub my hands over my face, trying not to panic, but I am.
“You remember she had a younger cousin?” Waylon asks.
“She'd bring her along sometimes when we'd hang out but I just remembered that now. She was so much younger than us, I-I guess I forgot about it after all these years.”
I actively tried not to think about Angela once she got sentenced.
Wilder scratches his cheek. “Ellie never mentioned her to you at all?”
“Before the accident, Ellie mentioned someone she looked up to had been taken from her. But that they hadn't died…” I blow out a shallow breath as her statement finally makes sense. “She must’ve been referring to Angela going to prison.”
“That could be why she hated you,” Waylon suggests. “Depending on what Angela told her, she thinks you’re the reason went away.”
“Because of my testimony…” I nod. “Or anything dealing with Talia's death. I was pretty vocal about it to anyone who'd listen.”
“Why wouldn't she just tell you? Or any of us?” Wilder asks. “Why come train here at all?”
“Because Noah's the best in the state and Ellie probably knew Noah wouldn't have agreed to work with her if she was linked to the person responsible for my friends’ deaths.”
How did no one know this whole damn time?
It's not like I went digging into Ellie's past or even kept up with Angela's family. I had no reason to.
“So Ellie knew who you were or knew whatever Angela told her, and when she got a concussion, she lost all memory of it? Forgetting why she hated you because it was linked to Angela the whole time…” Waylon asks the same questions swirling around in my mind.
“I dunno…maybe…I guess.” I shake my head. “Or she forgot who Angela was and everything linked to her got wiped?”
“That's wild, man. Concussions can block out trauma, so it's possible…” Waylon shakes his head as if he's just as blown away by this as I am.
I pull out the chair and collapse into it, holding my head up when all I want to do is fall apart. “How the fuck am I supposed to tell the one person I'm falling for that I finally know why she hated me?”
“I thought you can't tell her anything she doesn't remember on her own?” Wilder asks.
“But how can he keep it a secret?” Waylon says. “That'd almost be worse.”
“If she found out I knew and didn't tell her, it'd be a betrayal,” I confirm. “But the moment I do…she could remember everything and we'd be over.”
“There's still a chance she wouldn't remember even if you tell her,” Wilder says. “Best case scenario she won't.”
“Worst case scenario, she does.” I groan.
Wilder holds up his phone again. “What if she's already read this?”
I shrug. “She's not really on social media a lot and didn't read the last article they wrote about her, so I don't think she goes lookin' for anything with her name. But that means it's only a matter of time before Angela returns and reminds her.”