I swallow, but even that is constricted by his grip. I don’t like the tone of his voice or the darkness coating it.
It’s like I’m talking to that masked stranger in the forest that first time.
As if we’re back to square one.
“And yet, you dropped Annika off your list so easily. You know exactly how lonely she is, how ecstatic she was to make friends. I don’t give a fuck if anyone else removes her from their lives as if she were never there, but you, you’re a fucking liar, Cecily.”
He releases me with a jerk, and I stumble backward on shaky legs that barely hold me upright.
His words might as well be a knife slashing through my chest and lodging in my bones.
So this is what he’s been mad about. It’s probably why he cut me off completely, too.
I resist the need to massage where he gripped me. “I love Anni, I really do, but I don’t like what she did to Creigh.”
“Are you Creighton?”
“Huh?”
“I asked if you are Creighton. You’re not, so why the fuck are you acting on his behalf?”
“You don’t understand. Creigh has always been distant and silent, and we thought she brought him out of his shell, but then—”
“Don’t offer excuses,” he grinds out before he releases a breath. “Just admit that you jumped on the bandwagon, saw what everyone else did, and chose to act the same because you don’t like being left behind.”
“I’m not like that.”
“But you are. Didn’t you refuse to do what you craved because it’s frowned upon by others? Didn’t you cry when I said I’d tell them about your tendencies? You’re nothing but a heartless, coward liar. Did you say I was playing with your feelings? Good. That way, I can crush them.” He brushes past me. “I have no use for someone who’s disloyal.”
Then he leaves.
Without a look back.
As if he didn’t just smash my heart to pieces and leave me to flounder in its blood.
30
CECILY
“Aaaand we lost her!”
I lift my head with a jerk that startles both Glyn and Ava, the latter being the one who caught my attention just now.
We’re having a girls’ night for the first time since Anni left about a month and a half ago.
This gathering includes a lot of drinking because none of us want to talk or think about the empty spot in our circle or the echoing sound of her absence.
We’re sitting on the sofa, dressed in fluffy pajamas, which was Ava’s idea. She said if we’re going to party at the house, we need to look like glam characters from black-and-white films.
So we’re all wearing her robes covered with feathers, faux fur, and everything uncomfortable.
“I was saying, have you heard the news?” Ava asks from her position on my right.
“What news?”
“Jonah turned himself in for drug acquisition and assaulting a minor.”
The bottle of beer tilts in my hand. I’m not drunk. Hell, I’ve just had this one, and it’s only halfway finished, so I can’t be imagining things.
“Did you just say Jonah turned himself in? The same Jonah we know?”
“Yeah, your ex.”
“Wow,” Glyn breathes out. “I didn’t know he was such a lowlife. You dodged a bullet there, Ces.”
My fingers tremble and shivers snake down my back and into the pit of my stomach.
“I guess Aunt Kim was right when she mentioned having a bad feeling about him,” Ava continues, oblivious to the sound that’s invading my head.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
“Yeah. This is so creepy. You really don’t know what people are hiding.” Glyn hugs herself. “But how did you hear about him turning himself in?”
“Uh, hello? It was all over the news. He’s the son of a higher-up in some ministry, and many are speculating that maybe his father is using his son as a scapegoat to hide his crimes. So he’s also under investigation. Following this whole charade is popcorn-worthy, I tell you.”
Mum and Papa probably saw the news, too. Is that why Mum told me she was there for me if I needed to talk about anything this morning?
“Cecy?” Ava grabs my arm, her voice spooked. “Oh my God, why are you crying?”
I pat at my eyes, only for my hand to be flooded with tears. Everything I’ve bottled up for years rushes to the surface like a tornado taking out everything in its wake.
My heart shrivels, my tears won’t stop flowing, and then everything just…pops.