Page 69 of The Ruse

There was an awkward pause before he hurried to say, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“I-it’s okay,” I said. “And well, yeah, since I’ve never had a relationship get that serious so…”

“Got it,” he said all too quickly, like he felt uncomfortable.

Did he feel awkward because he now knew that he was the first guy I’d ever shared a bed with?

But then he surprised me by saying, “If it makes you feel better, I’ve never shared a bed with a girl, either.”

“Really?” I turned my head to the side to look at his dark form, not really believing him.

“Yep.” He turned his whole body onto his side to face me. “So, um, you should feel pretty lucky that you’re my first.”

“You and Bailee didn’t…” I stopped myself as soon as I realized how stupid it was to bring that up right now.

“No, um, we weren’t like that.”

They weren’t like that?

What did that mean?

Then, almost as if a belated thought, he rushed to say, “I mean, the dorm parents are pretty good at keeping an eye on everything. Uh, we couldn’t have even if we wanted to.”

But his phrasing kind of sounded like they hadn’t wanted to at all.

Was it possible they hadn’t been as close as everyone said they were?

Had I romanticized their relationship a little more in my head since I hadn’t known them back then?

“I heard you had a fight the night she disappeared,” I said in a soft voice. “Was that a regular thing? Or just a bad night?”

Some couples thrived off the fighting. They loved the high emotions, the ups and the downs. Was that how he and Bailee had been?

“It was just a bad night.” He propped his head up with his arm. “We really did get along most of the time. Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering,” I said.

“Were you worried that was the reason she never showed up at the school again?” he asked in a gentle voice. “Because our argument got out of hand, and she got hurt?”

“No…” I swallowed and turned on my side the rest of the way to face him. “I mean, I don’t want to think that. It’s just interesting, the timing of it.”

He let out a long sigh and rolled onto his back. He was quiet for a second, but then he asked, “Do you and your sister ever fight?”

“Yes.” Of course we did. I was pretty sure all siblings fought.

He rolled back onto his side again to face me. “And have you ever wanted to take her out into the woods and murder her because of it?”

“No,” I said, shocked by his bluntness.

He shrugged. “Bailee and I had a little argument. I was working my shift at The Italian Amigos when she came in and was on edge about something. So I took my break and we talked things over in one of the booths. She came there to talk about something I wasn’t expecting, and then we both got upset and she left.

“I finished my shift, thinking that we would just continue the conversation back at the school, but when I texted her to meet me down in the common room, she never responded.” He traced his finger along the sheet between us. “I went to bed when I got back, figuring she was already asleep, anyway. She’d been going to bed earlier than usual at that time and was always complaining that she needed more sleep. I really didn’t think anything of it.”

“And then you found out the next morning that she’d disappeared?” I finished for him.

“Yes.” He stopped tracing his finger along the sheet. “She never made it home from the restaurant that night.”

“So the last interaction you had with her was the fight?”

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