Page 24 of My Wife

And he did.

I shake my head. “Why would she do that? Didn’t you guys clear the island last night?”

After all, they were gone for so long, I could’ve sworn they had to have.

But Tyler shakes his head. “We gave up searching after a while. I headed back to my cabin. Vee went in hers. Summer was gone?—”

“Yeah.” She gestures at Tommy. “Because we were looking for you two.”

“I know. I stayed up until Tommy and Summer came back. Tommy went to check on Cyn, and me and Summer went to sleep. We had no idea that Vee must’ve gone back out after that until I saw her down there this morning. She had to have fallen. I just… are we sure he’s dead?” I can hear the hope in his voice.“I didn’t go down there. I didn’t check. Maybe she just broke her leg and… and she’s sleeping now. Right? It could happen.”

Poor Tyler. He’d never been the brightest bulb in the bunch, but if he saw the same twisted body I did, he knows she’s gone. For fuck’s sake, she’s on her back, but her head is turned away, face hidden. That’s a broken neck if I ever saw one.

Summer glares at him through her own tears. “Please. Don’t be a fucking idiot, Tyler. She’s dead. She fell… what if someone pushed her? Shit. What if it’s not an accident at all?”

What? No. Ithasto be.

The others seem to agree, but Summer turns her despair on Chase. “You were fucking Vee two months ago,” she snaps. “Maybe you did it. Where were you last night anyway?”

If she turned on me like that, I’d lose it. But Chase… he just keeps calm. “I know you want to protect Tyler, but my fling with Vee doesn’t mean I… what? Pushed her?”

“Maybe.”

Tommy gentles his voice. “Summer…”

She ignores him. “Does Chase have an alibi? I know you were pushing Vee to be exclusive, but after everything that happened with Aaron, she blew you off. That screams motive to me.”

I know Summer’s gone too far this time when Chase’s expression hardens. “Actually, I do have an alibi. If you don’t believe me, ask Madi. It would’ve been kind of hard for me to sneak out and kill Vee when I was fucking her all night. C’mon, Sum. She’s your best friend. You know how insatiable she is. Once she got my dick in that vice of a pussy she’s got, you think she was letting me go anywhere?”

Summer’s gaze lands on me. “Okay. Cyn’s the only killer we have here. Maybe she did it.”

I startle, gaping at Summer as it dawns on me what she just said. “Excuse me? What the fuck?”

“You heard me.” She’s more than a little hysterical now, but if she’s going to accuse me of something so heinous… “Death follows you around, doesn’t it? Your mom died and, whoops, you’re the one who found her. Clay disappeared, no body, just blood, and in a couple of years, you’ll get all his money. I don’t know why you targeted Vee, but she’s gone. Who’s next? Me? Tommy?”

I knew it. I fucking knew she believed I had something to do with Clay’s death. As if I would. As if I didn’t pray every goddamn night that my husband would return to me.

I’m so shocked by her baseless accusation that I just continue to stare at her.

As always, Tommy rides to my rescue. “Stop it, Summer. Just stop it. You know Cyn has nothing to do with any of that. Besides, Vee was already in her cabin when we went back. The light was on. You even pointed it out. If she left after that, I was already in bed with Cyn.”

“Of course you’d say that?—”

“We fucked when he got back.” I gesture at my thighs. “I’m still covered in come, if you want to check. If you need proof that damn bad.”

Tommy shields his mouth with his hand, hiding his sudden inappropriate smile.

Summer’s expression turns murderous.

I raise my eyebrows at her. “How do we knowyoudidn’t do it?”

Tyler pales. “That’s not funny, Cyn.”

Yeah? Well neither was his wife implying I had anything to do with the tragedies in my own life.

Chase sighs. “Okay. Enough. None of us did it. And since nobody ran into some phantom on the island last night, we’re going to call this what it is: a terrible fucking accident. Now, that settled, we have to figure out what we’re going to do next…”

I wishwe had a better answer for that.

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