Page 78 of The Pawn

Believed his kind blue eyes and charming smile.

This time, I reallyamgoing to throw up. I barely make it to the bathroom in time, grateful that I still live here with Holly, where we get our own toilet. The sound of me throwing up echoes harshly off the walls of our half bathroom, and I have to look away as I flush the contents of the toilet, my stomach still heaving.

The truth is the truth, and it's undeniable.

It couldn't be.

It shouldn't be.

But it is.

* * *

I wake up in a fog the Monday after the Hallow's Eve Festival, uncertain what my life is going to be like post-fallout. Though I cut up the credit card and returned it to Holly's desk, and wrote her about a dozen text messages apologizing and promising to pay her back even if it takes me years, she's been radio silent since that night. Presumably she's with Cole, being comforted after my betrayal.

She doesn't know yet who he truly is. The post is set to publish in a few hours, before Visual Arts class but after lunch. I have no idea how she'll react to the information in it, but I have the feeling that whatever is left of their relationship will be over.

Some part of me wants to delay the publication of the post just to spare her. But the dead deserve justice, including the teenage girl who was in the trunk of that car when it crashed. Maybe if it all goes public, law enforcement will have to solve the crime once and for all.

I go through my classes in a daze. Blake doesn't even look at me in Calculus I; it's like I don't exist as far as he's concerned. Then I have English lit, but thankfully today we're working on solo projects, so I don't have to talk to Lukas. He waves at me as class starts, and I just duck my head and try to keep to myself, thinking about that tattoo over and over again.

It can't be him. But there's no other explanation. And given that I swore to take down all four of the Elites and fix my brother's reputation, this is an opportunity I can't pass up. I have to post about the video on Legacies. Especially if it means justice for Mariana.

I'm so busy thinking about the pending post and the video I received that I almost forget about Chrissy and Tanner. It's not until I'm walking towards lunch that I remember what I saw the night of the party. I haven't seen her in Rosalind Hall since, mostly because I've barely been able to drag myself to eat, and I'm just waiting to be called into Mrs. Reynolds office to be fired from the Rosalinds and assigned a new room.

It's all too much to think about right now, so after I grab my food, I find an empty table in the back corner of the dining hall, far away from the other students. Head down, I eat my food as quickly as I can before ducking out and heading across campus towards the library.

The post will be live now. I've got twenty minutes before I need to make it to my next class, so I might as well login to Legacies and check to see how this news about Cole is going down. It won't have spread far yet, but I'm sure it's gotten a few reactions, especially given that the Governor of New York State is involved.

Settling into a seat in the library, I open my laptop, glad I'll get to be completely alone for a short break.

What I don't expect is to hear Holly's voice from a few rows down, her volume low but her tone distinctly upset—and Cole's angry, unfiltered response.

"You can't actually think I'm a murderer, can you?"

Chapter 41

Ifreeze, uncertain which way to go in order to escape their notice. They're the last two people I want to see right now—though Blake, Chrissy, Tanner, and Lukas are also on that list, giving me a good half dozen people I have zero interest in running into today.

Their conversation is impossible not to eavesdrop on, though.

"I know you were in that car crash." Holly's voice is calm and measured, but I can hear the anger underlying her every word. "You nearlydiedin the hospital. I never got any real answers from you About what happened, either. Michael's story kept changing, and I figured it was just because he was drunk, too. But youneversaid anything about a body in the trunk."

"Can we talk about this later?" Cole pitches his voice low. "There's an explanation."

"How can there be an explanation for something that serious?"

"There is. Iswear, Holly, I had nothing to do with it. Any of it. You have to believe me." I've never heard Cole Masterson sound so weak or beg so hard. "By the time I woke up, the cover up was already done. And as for the rest, I didn't know about it until I saw the same post as you. I swear it on my life."

"I don't believe you."

A pause. I sink down into my chair, heart in my throat. The last thing I want is for either one of them to walk over in my direction and see me basically eavesdropping on them, intentional or not.

Cole asks, "Where does this leave us? What about our relationship?"

"You and me are over, Cole. I'm not going to be with someone who pulls that kind of shit."

"Holly..."

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