Page 115 of Fall With Me (Sugarland Creek)

“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.”

Who knows how much Angela's manipulated her at this point or what she'll tell her when she's back in her life? Ellie hated me based on whatever Angela told her and never asked to hear my side of the story, so there's no way she’ll want it now when she realizes how close I allowed her to get to me.

“What about her career? Everyone's gonna know she's connected to a murderer…and if she supports Angela?” Waylon shrugs. “Her career's already on the line, this could break it.”

“This could break everything.” I close my eyes and rub my temples.

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