Page 10 of A Christmas to Die For
"Well, thanks again, and sorry for the confusion," I say, backing away. "Have a great day."
"You too, Mara!" he calls after me.
For a second, I almost correct him—It's Phoebe—but I catch myself just in time. I give a quick wave instead and headback the way I came.
I meet the girls at the car, everything already loaded in the trunk. It's only once I'm buckled safely inside that I realize: I never told Robert about the guy carryingthe file.
"Where'd you come from?" Mara and I wait patiently in the car for Phoebe's return.
Mara is in the passenger chair, relinquishing the driver's seat and letting me take the wheel on the final stretch of dangerous roads ahead.
"I was talking to Aiden," Phoebe reveals as she gets comfy.
Interesting. While she was "talking to Aiden," I was texting him, and he's always been honest about not being able to juggle conversations with both of us at once. It's a messy situation where he could easily slip up, say the wrong thing to the wrong person, or call us by the wrong name. He definitely doesn't want Phoebe finding out he's been sleeping with both of us.
Oh, right. Oops.
Phoebe has no idea about that little detail. It started one night when the three of us were out celebrating our biggest episode yet—the one that gained new listeners and finally set us apart from the copycats.
We drank well past the point of making good decisions, letting our inhibitions drop. I got ridiculously drunk, didn't want to Uber home, and Phoebe asked Aiden to walk me back to my condo around the corner. No hesitation—she trusted her boyfriend with her good friend because I'd never given her a reason not to.
What started as two idiots drunk enough to make a bad decision but aware enough we would regret it later, spiraled into something worse. An obsession. A craving I couldn't satisfy with anyone else. It wasn't even the act itself, but the forbidden nature of it that kept me coming back for more.
I'm not proud of it. I never meant for it to go this far. I swore I wouldn't get emotionally involved, especially knowing Aiden was committed to someone else.
But deep down, I know I care about him more than he cares about me, and I hate myself for it.
And Phoebe? If she ever finds out, she'll kill me.
We're at the base of the mountain, a huge sign threatening over its fellow travelers, "Last Chance for Gas."
I glance at the girls. "I might stop one last time just in case."
Mara nods. "Good idea, a full tank will weigh the car down and maybe give better traction."
"I'm going to take a power nap in the backseat." Phoebe yawns, already curling into herself.
The gas station looks like it's been sitting there since the seventies—an old-school setup with a bell that dings when you roll over the black cord. The clouds hang low and unmoving, with the kind of weight that means snow is coming.
"We better hurry." I rub my hands together, feeling the cold creep in through the windows now that the car is turned off.
"You're on the wrong side," Mara points out, nodding toward the pump.
"Son of a bitch," I mutter.
"You've owned this car for how long?"
"Shut up, I never get gas! You always do it for me!"
"There's literally an arrow on your dash indicating which side." She taps the screen, and I wave her off.
"Okay, okay. Let me change sides."
Without even glancing at the reverse-angled camera, I hit the gas, only to spot someone lingering a few feet behind the car, just standing there, waiting to be run over.
"Jesus!" I shriek, slamming the brake. The sudden jolt jerks Phoebe from her attempt at sleep.
"What happened?" Phoebe blinks hard, scanning the windows like she's expecting an ambush.
