Page 99 of Dare To Live

“Read it.”

I’m not sure I want to. Just seeing the school’s logo has brought me out in a cold sweat.

“Just fucking tell me.”

“They’re inviting you back for a ten-year reunion. The school is going to reopen in the Fall, and they would like the last senior year to return to see what they have changed, and I guess, try and convince those of you with kids that it’s the place you want to send them.”

“No one should ever go back to that fucking school.”

“I think that’s why they’ve done this. To show that things have changed, that it wasn’t the school that was to blame.”

I shake my head. “No fucking chance.”

“Eli—”

I screw up the letter and throw it across the driveway. “There is no way in fucking hell I’m setting foot in that place again.” I stalk around to the side of the car and throw open the back passenger door. “I’m going to be late for my flight.”

“At least think about it.”

“No.”

“It might be good for you.”

“Going to the place where Kellan died will not be fucking good for me, I guarantee it. I’ll call you when I land.” I nod to the driver. “Let’s go.”

***

“Honey, I’m home.” I toss out the words as I step inside the cabin, my eyes automatically seeking out the crystal raven on the mantelpiece. “Miss me?”

There’s only silence in reply, but I smile anyway and cross the room to run my finger over the bird. “I should take you with me next time I travel, instead of leaving you here.”

Is it stupid that I talk to the ornament like it’s really my friend? Maybe, but it eases something inside me. It’s probably not healthy. I don’t care.

“I brought some more of my shit back from the Hamptons. Found a couple of sketchbooks from when I was a kid. I’ll show them to you once I’m unpacked. Speaking of … I better go get the cases out of the car.’’ I go back outside and drag out the cases from my Land Rover. I’d had to leave it parked at the airport while I was in New York, so I had a way of getting back to the cabin when I returned.

I drag them indoors, drive the car back into the small building I’d erected as a garage, then spend some time making sure the solar panels, generators, and everything else that keeps the cabin in habitable condition is in perfect running order, before going back indoors and lighting the fire.

“Can you believe fucking Churchill Bradley is reopening? And they invited our entire senior year to attend some kind of reopening celebration event. Are they fucking insane?”

I drop onto the couch with a heavy sigh. “Who in their right mind would want to go back to that place?” I tip my head back and close my eyes.

Maybe you should go. What’s the worst that could happen?

“The worst is already happening. They’re talking about reopening the fucking place.”

Is that such a bad idea? The school was ranked as one of the best educational institutions in the country.

“And both of my friends were murdered there.”

It wasn’t the school that did it.

“Shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear your logic about this.”

Chapter 55

Arabella

I unlock my apartment door, and push it open with my shoulder, while juggling the parcel and letters in my other arm. The gym had been busy, so I did my time on the running machine but not as much as I would have liked on the weights before calling it a day and heading home.

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