Page 123 of Dare To Take

“Because of Bella. She wanted to tell me something yesterday … I’m sure it was about you and what you’re doing to her.”

“Doing to her? I’m not doing anything to her.”

“Then why is she so scared all the time?”

“Because she’s fucking insane?”

He shakes his head, then winces. “There’s something going on with her. All this shit she’s been doing. I thought it was retaliation for what you’ve done.”

“And what have I done?” My voice is dangerously low.

“The videos. The photographs. The dead animals.”

“None of that was me.”

“You didn’t deny it.”

“I shouldn’t have to. Especially to you.”

He’s silent for a long moment, and then he pushes up on the bed. “I was supposed to go and see her last night. I saw her in the stairwell yesterday. She was crying.”

Tension stiffens my shoulders. “About what?”

“That’s just it. She wouldn’t tell me. Claimed they would know.”

“They?” Both Kellan and I jump on the word.

“Tell me exactly what happened when you saw her yesterday?” I sit on the edge of the bed.

“I was heading down to swim practice, and she was sitting on the step crying. I sat with her and asked her what was wrong, whether you had done something to upset her. She said that she didn’t know what to do, that they were watching her, and someone tried to get into her room a couple of nights ago. Then some of the girls hit the stairs, and she panicked. I promised I’d go and see her after practice.” He touches his head. “Then this happened.”

There’s a heavy weight in the pit of my stomach. The words Miles is saying have a terrible familiarity to them. I’ve heard them before. My gaze searches out Kellan, and I can see my thoughts mirrored in his eyes.

“Zoey said she thought someone was watching her a few days before she died.” It’s Kellan who voices what we’re both thinking. He looks at Miles. “Did you text her earlier … at lunchtime?”

“No. I took a nap. The nurse woke me up at one, with some painkillers.”

“Did she mention talking to someone when you spoke to her?”

“I don’t think so.”

Kellan is chewing on the inside of his cheek, a sure sign that his brain is ticking over, compiling the information he has.

“At lunch … just before she dumped her lunch over your head—”

“She did what?” Miles said.

“Pasta, sauce, and juice. Just before she did that, she said she was sorry. Do you remember?”

“Hard to forget.” She’d been white, shaking so hard I was surprised she could stand straight, and the emptiness in her eyes had torn my soul.

“What if she’s following instructions?”

I laugh. “Seriously? Your go-to is a secret person giving her instructions?”

He looks at me. “Are you going to make me say it?”

“Say what?”

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