Page 94 of Chaos at Westbrook High

“Valerie’s death is on Maverick. No one else.”

“What happened?”

“A few days before she died, Valerie was acting even more paranoid than usual,” I say, doing my best to keep my voice from cracking. “She was convinced Maverick was coming for us. She closed the shop early one day and told me to stay inside with the door locked while she went out. When she came back, I…I watched her get hit by a car through the window. The car didn’t stop. It kept going. I can’t prove it was him, but…it was him. I know it was him.”

Kai swallows. “Did you…?”

I nod. “I ran out. She died right in front of me.”

“Fuck, Hailey,” he whispers, his hand on the back of my neck as he draws me closer, resting his head against mine. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I lower my brows. “What would you have done?”

“I would have fucking buried him.”

Closing my eyes, I wipe my face with my sleeves and lay my head on his shoulder.

“Keep going,” Damon says to Derek.

Derek shakes his head.

“Say it,” Damon orders. “I wanna know what happened next.”

Derek curses again before he does as he’s told. “Hailey called me, hysterical, and I…” He glances up at Callie, who tenses on Damon’s lap. That’s the first time he’s dared to look her in the eye. “I lost my fucking mind,” Derek continues. “I got high, called Katherine, and…did what I did to Callie.” He flinches back at the look on Damon’s face. “My dad came to see me while I was in the hospital.”

Damon looks like it’s taking everything in him not to launch across the island and beat him half to death all over again. “What did he want?”

“Hailey,” he says. “He wanted me to bring Hailey to him.”

I stare at him, bouncing my eyes between his. I think there’s something he’s not saying.

“I told him that was never going to happen, so he beat the shit out of me.”

“And you made Hailey think it was us,” Wren says.

Derek nods. “Yeah. She snuck me out of the hospital, and I’ve been hiding from Maverick—and you—ever since.”

“At Hailey’s apartment most of the time.” Kai glares at him. “Putting her in danger.”

“She’s in danger anyway,” Derek argues. “I was there to protect her.”

“Bullshit.”

Derek ignores that. “Besides, he doesn't know where she lives.”

“He does now,” Damon says, and we all fall silent.

I stir my drink with the straw, and then my head snaps up. “How did he know?”

Derek says nothing.

“Damn it, Derek. How did he know?”

He lowers his head into his hands again, scrubbing them over his face.

“Fucking unbelievable,” I say under my breath, shaking my head at him in fury and betrayal. “You brought her to my apartment?”

“Who?” Kai asks.

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