Page 95 of In the Air Tonight

“Fine. Whatever. You don’t have to be so nasty to me when I sacrificed my lifelong best friend to protect you and your brother.”

Because I’m afraid of what she might do if I piss her off, I turn to face her. “I appreciate what you did. I truly do. But promise me you’ll stay out of it from now on.”

She gives me a defiant look, and just that quickly the closeness I felt with her a few minutes ago evaporates.

“Sienna, I mean it. You’ll do much more harm than good by getting involved.”

“Fine. I promise I’ll stay out of it. But I want to know what you’re going to do about it.”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“But you’ll do something, right?”

“Yeah.” I’ve got to do something before the past blows up in our faces and ruins our lives.

I call Ryder first thing in the morning.

“Hey, how’s it—”

“Ryder.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Sienna told me something last night that I didn’t know.”

“What did she tell you?”

“That she and Blaise Merrick witnessed what happened with Neisy.”

“What?” he gasps. “Theysawit?”

“They saw it.”

“And she never told you that before now?”

“She said she was protecting us by keeping it to herself.”

“Why’d she tell you now?”

“Because Blaise is back in town and hanging out in LE, according to Sienna.”

“What the fuck, Cam? How can we find out why she’s here?”

“We could ask Arlo.”

“Wouldn’t he have told us if he knew?”

“I would think so.”

“So what can we do?” he asks with a hysterical edge to his voice.

“There’re a million reasons why Blaise could be in LE. Maybe she met a guy on a dating app, and he lives there. Maybe she got a job over there. Who knows?”

“Can we ask Houston?”

“You want me to call him and ask if Blaise reported seeing you rape Neisy fourteen years ago?”

“Don’t even say it out loud. Someone might hear.”

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