My cheeks burned with shame. “You’re the one who kissed me.”
“I know, I know…” He ran a shaking hand through his hair. “I only did it because… look, it doesn’t matter. It was a mistake. You… you better go.”
I got out of there as quickly as I could. But before I got home, I sat in my car for an hour, hating myself. I had done something terrible. I betrayed my best friend by kissing her husband. How could I live with myself? I was as bad as my father.
I had to tell Claire the truth.
A week later, Claire and I had lunch together. Over the last several years, she had been looking more and more miserable. Like the life was being sucked out of her. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw her without circles under her eyes. She didn’t smile and laugh the way she used to.
But this time, she seemed happy. The happiest I had seen her in years. It made me think maybe I shouldn’t tell her the truth about Noah. I didn’t want to wreck her happiness. And it’s not like anything really terrible had happened. It was just a kiss.
“You’re in such a good mood,” I remarked to her. “Are things… better with Noah?”
“Well… not really.” She hesitated before her face broke out in a smile. “But there are other things in life, you know?”
I thought she was talking about her job as a teacher, which I knew she loved. Or her children, who she adored. I still hadn’t worked up the nerve to tell her the truth when she got up to go to the bathroom. Claire left her phone behind on the table, and when she was gone, a text message from Jack Alpert popped up on the screen:
Can’t stop thinking about you. Can’t wait to see you tomorrow.
Of course, there was only one conclusion I could draw. Claire was cheating on Noah.
Suddenly, it all made sense.
The reason Claire was so happy. The reason Noah felt the need to try to kiss me. She was betraying him. With his best friend. And that’s why Noah tried to return the favor with Claire’s best friend, except he couldn’t go through with it.
I had always thought Claire was the best person I ever met. I believed her to be honest and kind and loyal. Now I realized none of that was true. She was betraying the man she had pledged her life to in the worst way imaginable. She was no better than my father, who slept with his wife’s own sister. And then Noah tried to use me to get back at her.
It was despicable. They were despicable.
When she arrived back at the table and looked down at her text message, a secret smile touched her lips. I wanted to scratch her eyes out like I did to Bryan McCormick.
I could have confronted her. I could have demanded she break off her affair.
But instead, I decided to do something much worse.
Of course, none of it would have happened if I hadn’t met Warner. I met him years earlier, when he gave me some advice online about a poison that would never show up on an autopsy. We got together at my apartment and had a night of spectacular sex together. But I knew he was somebody I didn’t want to get involved with, and not just because he was far too handsome and far too charming. He was dangerous. But we still spoke every once in a while, and sometimes we got together for a little fun.
Anyway, I confided in him about everything. We agreed that my former friends deserved to be taught a lesson. Like me, this wasn’t his first rodeo. Together, we made a plan. It started out with a phony map and a knife that could carve a tree to look like animal claws.
Chapter 40
CLAIRE
“Lindsay,” I gasp.
My best friend of over fifteen years raises her blue eyes to look at me. She’s got a small pistol in her hand, and she’s aiming it at Noah’s head. The momentary relief I feel at the realization that she is still alive is overwhelmed by disbelief at what I’m seeing.
“Hello, Claire.” She flashes me the smile that made every guy she met fall in love with her. “Welcome back.”
My head is filled with too many questions. I don’t know which one to ask first. I open my mouth and finally blurt out, “But you’re dead!”
Lindsay waves her hand. “Those rumors are highly exaggerated.”
“But you ate the deadly nightshade!” I cry.
She clucks her tongue. “I told you those were blueberries, Claire. I know the difference—my mother used to grow them. You should have tried one. They were quite tasty.”
“But… but Warner said…” I look over at Warner, still gripping the rifle. I finally get it. “He just told us you were dead. You were fine all along.”