Page 31 of Kept in the Dark

Realizing what she was doing, she quickly pulled away and ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to hide the shade of pink that colored her cheeks.

Before anything else occurred, Trey quickly opened the door and got out.

He bent over, his arms resting on top of the car door and the roof. Her eyes wandered to the skin that peeked out just above his jeans. Heat coursed through her body, and it took all of her willpower not to blast the air.

He said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Princess. In the meantime, stay safe. Because if you're right, there’s a killer still out there and I’m not saving you again.” He winked at her and they both knew he was lying. He may be giving her the benefit of the doubt about Sara’s innocence, but he would save her. Even if she didn’t want him to.

Just as he had done when they first met.

Him saving her life had been a running joke during their relationship, one that echoed through her mind the night she almost died, and Trey was nowhere to be found.

She shook the memories from her mind.

They were going to have to lay some ground rules if they were going to work together. He had to stop calling her ‘princess,’ and he had to stop flirting with her. Not that he would listen; he never had. She had been drawn to his defiance and bullheadedness, despite the trouble they had brought.

And as much as she had loved him, Trey Harbor had gotten under her skin like no one else in the world, even before they started their whirlwind romance. He had a knack for messing with her and Angie had always claimed it was his way of flirting. Hailey had just thought he was an ass.

But she had found him charming the more she got to know him. Then she fell in love with him and the rest is history.

Unfortunately for Hailey, they say history always repeats itself. But she would be damned before she let it happen again.

June 27, 2011

10:12 am

Trey had led the twins to an interrogation room where a TV and VHS player were located so they could watch the tape together. Sara hated being in the lifeless concrete room. She rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm herself. She felt vulnerable and small, as if everyone was watching her every move, agreeing with the already guilty ruling. It’s how she felt thirteen years ago when she was being questioned about her mother’s murder.

After going through a biased interrogation without a lawyer present, a public trial that named her guilty without even hearing the evidence, and a prison sentence with some of the worst offenders, Sara had promised to never let herself feel vulnerable again.

For the first few years of her incarceration, she had been constantly bullied and pushed around. Other inmates would steal her blankets or food or even her menstrual items. It wasn’t until an older inmate took pity on her and taught her prison politics that she had been able to fight off those who wanted to harass her.

The choice to stand up for herself had resulted in a few stints in solitary confinement and some scars to show she wasn’t to be messed with, but it was worth it. It had taught her that no one could take advantage of her vulnerability as long as she never allowed herself to be vulnerable.

Sara began pacing as she waited for Trey to come back with Hailey’s coffee. She didn’t understand why her sister insisted on getting a drink; it wasn’t the time or the place.

Sara cursed under her breath, desperate to get out of the tiny room.

She thought back to the night her mother died. It wasn’t a secret she could only remember bits and pieces of that night. However, she knew there was no way she could have killed her mother, even with how much coke she’d done and how much alcohol she’d consumed.

She remembered being upset about her breakup with Chase. She had wanted to forget about her problems, so she had tracked down her drug dealer turned ex-boyfriend, Thomas Smith, and the rest was a blur.

She and Thomas had met when she was fifteen. He had been a senior in high school, and she had been a freshman, eager to try anything to impress the troubled bad-boy. He had been the one who introduced her to drugs and alcohol, the substances that had slowly taken over her life. The so-called “solution” to her family problems had slowly begun killing her and she hadn’t even known it.

Eventually, they broke things off romantically, but she had never completely cut ties with him. Truthfully, she hadn’t known what to do without him in her life. He had been her source to the drugs her body craved; especially the night her mother died.

She had flashes of memories, but they were fleeting. It was as if she was reaching for something only for it to disintegrate before her fingers even grasped it. Her memories were there, but she could never pull them forward.

The house party Donna had taken her to was wild, even for Sara. She had danced with some guy that may or may not have been Thomas. She had even slept with him…whoever he was. Possibly even a few times. Or had it been a few different people?

At some point she had done coke…maybe Xanax, too? No, maybe it had been Ecstasy?

She knew for certain she had been more than above the legal limit of alcohol consumption, not to mention the fact she had been underage and shouldn’t have been drinking at all.

Honestly, she wasn’t sure how she hadn’t overdosed. That was a freaking miracle in-and-of-itself.

She didn’t remember getting into Thomas’ car, but vaguely remembered stopping at the corner store. Her anxiety skyrocketed as it always did when she tried to remember what happened next.

She had woken up at one point, staring at her mother’s lifeless body. At the time, she had simply wondered why she was in her mother’s bed. Warmth had flooded around her arm. She had touched her sleeve, red staining her fingertips. Sara had giggled, wondering why she was bleeding.

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