Page 81 of Twisted Minds

“No I didn’t,” I’m losing my mind. “Please, just listen to me. It’s not what you think.”

“I never want to see you again. What aren’t you getting! You should be in jail.” His brow pinches. “Wait? Why aren’t you in jail? I told Sawyer days ago.”

I go to open my mouth to tell him everything when I hear footsteps behind me. “Well, well.”Fuck. I swallow, turning around to see Derrick walking down the stairs to the rink. “Damn, you sure are desperate.”

Hunter’s face darkens and it actually scares me a little. “What the fuck are you doing here? What are you both doing here? Haven’t you both done enough?!”

“Whoa, whoa.” Derrick laughs, throwing his hands up. “He called me here. Don’t blame me.”

“What the hell are you doing?” he hisses at me.

Here it goes. I just hope Sawyer’s in place. “I want to tell you that none of what happened between us was fake.”

“Oh, bestie,” Derrick coos. “Yes it was. I mean, honestly, you should thank him.” His face darkens. “I wanted him to hurt you. I settled on emotional damage, though. You’re welcome.”

“What the fuck is wrong with both of you?”

I cast a nervous look to Derrick. It’s now or never. “I want to tell you that I didn’t want to do this, but he’s been blackmailing me for months.”

“The fire you started at the Blue Lotus—”

“No, I didn’t!” I snap. “I didn’t, but Derrick has been blackmailing me to take the fall for months. I didn’t do it.”

“Ah, yes you did.” Derrick laughs. “Lit that place up like the Fourth of July.” He laughs again. “Get it? The firework?”

“Firework?” Hunter asks, confused, because he’s one of the few people to know how it really caught fire.

“Exactly. You know it wasn’t a firework,” I say to Hunter. Derrick’s brow pinches, then his face morphs—darkens. “I was hanging out with Derrick the night of the fire in the community field behind the restaurant, but I didn’t light it on fire. The only—”

“You were still with him! Derrick’s a scumbag.”

“I know!” I rush out. I feel like I’m losing my mind. “I know he is. Listen, when I first came here I—”

“I don’t fucking care,” Hunter grits.

“Just listen to me,” I plead. “When I first started hanging out with him, I didn’t have anyone else. Slowly, I started to realize what a piece of shit he was.”

“Ouch,” I hear him deadpan behind me.

Ignoring Derrick, I look right into Hunter’s eyes. “I started to realize the trouble I was getting into, and I stopped hanging out with him as much. I knew he had a party that night on the Fourth of July and I didn’t want to go, but I got into a fight with my father earlier that day and I wanted to keep my mind off shit. There were a couple of girls who were smashed. I stayed there to keep an eye on them so they wouldn’t go off with him while they were drunk. I sent two girls home that he was going to leave with, and he got pissed. Went off. He started the fire.” Hunter’s eyes widen.

“Mark, stop lying. We both know you set the firework off—”

“It wasn’t a firework. They know it wasn’t the fucking firework!” I snarl. “You got mad and went off to take a piss. You think I’m fucking dumb. That’s your problem. I’m not fucking dumb. You’re so damn arrogant! The chances of a firework even starting that fire are near impossible. At the time, though, I didn’t understand why you would do something like that.”

“Why the fuck would I do that?”

“Jane.” I glare. “It’s because Jane tried to press charges against you! Although you got off scot free, people still look at you, huh? It’s not the same as before, is it? You were proven innocent by default, but some people still give you a look, don’t they?” Derrick’s eyes narrow on me, but I refuse to be intimidated. “That’s right. It’s not the same and you’re mad because someone finally called you out. While you didn’t pay like you should have, your reputation has a stain on it, so you set fire to their restaurant.”

“It was a firework.” He clenches his teeth.

“No it wasn’t.” I smile. “I know for a fact you poured gasoline around the perimeter. You lit it on fire with the baby-blue lighter they found at the scene.” His brows rise in surprise. “That’s right. I know. You took my fucking watch to blackmail me when you came running through the woods and grabbed my arms. You took that picture early on in the night so you could place me at the scene. You already knew what the fuck you were going to do. That’s right. I know. You fucking used me!”

Derrick scoffs, shaking his head and trying to keep his composure. “Nice try.”

“They know. The cops know. I know. I didn’t start that fucking fire!” I look back to Hunter. “For months I’ve tried to catch him slipping up to tell me. It’s the only reason I’ve been talking to him, I swear. Yeah, he blackmailed me, but none of what happened between us was fake.”

“I don’t . . .” Hunter looks to Derrick. “I don’t believe you.”

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