Page 105 of Doesn't Count

“What is this?” I gasp, looking up at my friend.

“Ash?” Khaos’ concern sounds distant to my ears as blood rushes to my head, making me dizzy.

“That friend I mentioned, the one that went missing? He’s been found.” I tell him, my palms sweating.

“Keep reading, Ash.” Sam tells me softly.

Matthews has recently been spotted at an event held by Musical Genius, LLC in which he attended as the lead singer, Khaos from the band Night’s Deadly Deeds. He was captured leaving the event with none other than Ashton Crawford, his former best friend and current partner.

The photo below was taken by Justina Sampson, journalist with Musical Genius, LLC in an attempt to uncover the singer’s true identity.

Now the question is, did the two conspire together? The police have been notified and are on the move to complete a full investigation.

More to come.

“What the fuck?” I spin, my eyes landing directly on Khaos.

He meets my stare, searching for my reaction.

“Oliver?” The name tumbles from my mouth in a question that’s begging to be denied.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Khaos

Fuck.

“Say something!” She cries, panic lacing her tone.

“What do you want me to say?”

Her jaw drops, but her words struggle to break free. By not immediately denying the accusation in the article, I’ve already told her everything she needs to know.

Ash's chest moves with rapid breaths, the palm of her hand flying to her forehead as if she’s testing for a fever. Little by little, I watch her world fall apart as if every single star above is dropping from the sky around her. The fiery balls of rain blinding her to everything that’s led up to this moment.

I inch forward, but she keeps the distance with a step back. The blue in her eyes glitter behind a well of tears that take nothing but a small shake of her head to fall. Without even blinking, steady streams cascade down her cheeks.

“No.” She whispers, shaking her head. “No. Oliver is dead. We buried him. He’s gone.”

“He is dead. He died the day he disappeared. I’m all that’s left now.”

“I don’t understand.” Her lips quiver and I try to take another step forward.

“After everything I’ve done, Ash, I couldn’t come back.”

She stares at me incredulously, “I mourned you. So many people mourned you.”

Finally, she allows the gap between us to shrink, my toes touching hers.

“I’m so sorry.”

“This whole time you knew. When I walked into that barn five months ago, you knew who I was.”

I nod, chewing my bottom lip.

“And you treated me like shit.”

“When I first saw you, I thought the universe was playing morbid tricks on me. There wasn’t a day that went by when I didn’t think about you, Ash. It was on the worst days that I thought of you the most, on days where all I wanted was to die, but you were always there to keep me from fading away. By the time I became Khaos, those days were too many to count, and I slowly began to resent you.”

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