Page 92 of The Engagement Party

“Nope.” Mitch shook his head. “You can’t talk your way out of this.”

He sounded resigned and exhausted. Whatever had happened in those last moments on the island changed them. Alex could see it in their expressions, in the way they stood alert as if being attacked had become their default presumption.

“Alex needs a hospital.” Cassie stepped out to meet them in the clearing.

Seeing the weapon at her back scattered his thoughts. He feared what else she might have planned. He shifted on the seat, moving closer to Cassie’s side and hoping his body would let him crawl out of the cart with some dignity and get to that gun.

“Mitch needs a jacket because he’s soaking wet but that will wait,” Sierra said in a flat voice. “Call the police.”

Alex hadn’t noticed Mitch’s hair and pants, the odd-fitting shirt he wore unbuttoned and hanging in front of him, before now. “Why are you wet?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Help me out of this thing.” Alex reached his hand out and Cassie grabbed it. She eased him across the bench and shouldered most of his weight as he stepped on the gravel and stood. His balance wavered and the world blurred in front of him for a second. The pain thumping in his head and radiating through his body made every muscle scream for relief.

Mitch watched every move. When Alex felt a sting of some new ache, Mitch winced. They’d been like that since they met. In sync. Loyal. Alex tried to hold on to that loyalty now.

Ruthie waited until they all stood together on that path that some called a road, only feet apart. “Who really killed Emily?”

“Come on.” Cassie’s shoulders fell. “We’ve been through this. Brendan.”

But Alex sensed that automatic answer wouldn’t be good enough this time. They’d walked into a showdown and neither side appeared ready to blink.

Mitch shook his head. “We need to hear the truth this time.”

Alex had to fight that one. “Are you serious?”

Cassie grabbed his arm. “Alex, don’t.”

“No, Alex.Do.” Mitch’s taunting voice issued a challenge. “What is it you want to say?”

Alex came close. All the pain and confusion, the threats and the frustration, balled up in him. He wanted to launch into ascreed that would shut them all up, but he held on. “This isn’t the time.”

“You two want us all to match our stories.” Ruthie threw her arms wide in a dramatic gesture that didn’t help anything. “Tell us the truth and we might.”

Cassie’s hands clenched at her sides. “I don’t believe a thing you say.”

Ruthie laughed. “I don’t care.”

Enough. Alex had enough baiting and bullshit. He was ten minutes from falling over and they still hadn’t settled anything. “Mitch, stop this.”

“Why? I want the answer, too.”

All the tamped-down, bottled-up anger inside Alex blew. “How exactly do you think this will end?”

Sierra’s eyes narrowed. “So cryptic.”

More poking. Alex was done with that. He pointed at Mitch. “I’msavinghim.”

Mitch just stood there.

His confused expression ticked Alex off. Years of restraint and practice backed up on him. “Maybe a little less bullying from you. Be fucking grateful.”

“Exactly. We’ve all been through so much.” Cassie used her mediator tone. Clear and concerned. Trying to sum up and fix things. “We’re not thinking straight. This is the time when people say things they don’t mean. I’ve been guilty of it, too. Back on the island you may have thought you heard—”

Mitch cut her off before she could spew more bullshit. “Honestly, just shut up.”

That comment had the potential to touch off a Mitch-Cassiefight that Alex didn’t have the energy to stop. He needed to convince Mitch of that. “You have something to lose here, too.”

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