Page 108 of Safe With Me

They padded to the door, bent down, and popped up at just the right angle to make out Amber’s face.

“Jesus Christ.” I fell back against the wall. How had I not seen this? I knew she was upset with me for being so busy with Lila, but I’d never once thought she was capable of any of this.

That all tracked. Lila’s car was scratched just as we started to spend a lot of time together, and the letter came right after Amber must have seen us at the beach.

She’d known what going after my sister would do to me, and Lila had told her about what had happened with Ted to explain why she’d panicked at the bar the night I’d come to see her home.

Without knowing it, Lila had given Amber the ammunition to use old wounds to torture her.

“You know, I didn’t think anything of it. But Claudia told me Amber quit last night,” Jude said.

“She quit?”

“Yeah, she told her that she wanted to find a job by school with better hours, which Claudia said she understood. But she quit with no notice, so Claudia’s been scrambling for coverage.”

“I saw Amber this morning. She said she was doing inventory with Claudia early and then she’d be off.”

I’d been running into Amber at odd places lately. How long had she been watching us—or watching me?

I had no clue if it had started with Lila or had gone on for years.

Maybe I really was a shitty cop because I never would have seen this coming.

“Maybe she wanted an alibi,” Keith said. “This is enough for an arrest. Whatever her motivation is, she’s dangerous and brazen enough to scare your sister, and those videos show a shit-ton of obsession and hate.”

I nodded, the chills still zapping up and down my spine from what I’d seen and what I’d realized.

“She’s staying at her parents’ house from what I know,” Jude said, “Although, if she quit the bar and told you she was going in for inventory, I don’t know where she’d be now.”

The shock cleared enough for my heart to stop a second time.

What had I done?

“I told her to stop by Lila’s later while I was at work because I didn’t want her all alone.”

“Then let’s get the hell over there,” Keith said, popping out of his chair.

I ran after Jude and Keith, all of us piling into Keith’s cruiser as we took off with the sirens blaring.

I wanted to believe that Amber wouldn’t hurt Lila, but I had no idea who she was anymore.

She’d had no issues with other women I’d dated, but maybe that was because I’d always sworn to her and everyone else I wouldn’t get serious with any of them.

Once Amber had figured out that Lila was different, she’d hated her enough to taunt her and then use what Lila had confided to her against all of us.

Amber needed help, but I couldn’t care about that yet.

Not only had I broken my promise to Lila that she’d be safe with me, but I’d also led everything I’d been trying to protect her from right to her.

25

LILA

Every second thatwent by without a word from Mike, the more freaked out I became. How long would it have taken to question Ted? He wasn’t good at hiding anything. With a little prodding, they would have made him angry enough to spill it all.

If it was really him doing all of this.

More than anything, I wanted to believe it was and that Mike would call to tell me it was over. We could just be together and enjoy it.

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