Page 47 of His Pretty Little Lies
“This is like a whole new drug, you're saying? Movie shit.”
“You can call it movie shit, but new drugs do come along.”
“Oh, Jax.” I wiggle to try and get up, but Jax doesn’t release his hold on me. “I need to pace. It helps me think.” He releases me, and I hop up and start to walk back and forth.
“You got something?”
“My parents will often talk about work.” Who am I kidding? When we share a rare family dinner, it’s all they can talk about. They live and breathe it.
“Trent is in North Saints.”
“Okay, right, on the outer edge.” There are two main hospitals. One that handles a big chunk of the city, Center Saints Hospital. “My parents work at Center, but just like Center hospital has coverage per its county, the police do too, and communication isn’t always the best. Especially when things are new. It hasn’t been connected yet.”
Jax shifts, leaning forward. “Keep going,” he encourages.
“My mother and father told me this crazy-ass story of a girl that the cops found running down the street.” His brows lift. “Well, let’s do story time,” I tell him. “A girl is seen on surveillance running down the street at six in the morning.” Not sure why, but I do the action of running, I suppose getting into it. “Then a group of people go running past her. She pauses and watches them and then turns and joins their run in the opposite direction.” I spin around to face the other way.
“She got lost from a race?”
“One might think that, but she’s not dressed for a race, and her running is really awkward. Something is off. That’s clear from the surveillance the police pulled up.”
“We got cops now.”
“We got cops now, but let’s not get ahead.”
“All right.” He leans back, waiting for me to continue.
“Now they’re all running but start to slow because up ahead they see fire trucks and ambulances. They come upon an accident. A shiny new Lexus slammed into a van. They areworking to save the people in the van. That's where my mom comes in. She was in the ER when the people in those vehicles were brought in. They couldn’t be saved.”
“The Lexus driver?”
“Nowhere to be found. Just gone.”
“Or in a random marathon?”
“Hey, don’t spoil my story.” I give him a pointed look. “The girl ends up turning and keeps going down into the…” Now it’s me who pauses. “The fucking warehouse district! I mean, not right by the one you lured me to with the disappearing girl, but same-ish area.”
“Then what?”
“Well, she starts taking off her clothes, just tossing them off. A bunch of construction workers spot her and are wondering why a girl is running down the road naked.”
“Shit,” Jax mutters.
“It’s a fight to get her to stop. Then it’s a fight for the cops to get her under control. All she is screaming is that they are after her. Out of her freaking mind. They think she’s clearly on drugs. My mom said she kept saying her name was Lexis.”
“As in the car that hit the van.”
“Bingo.” I use his word. “Mom said she’s never seen anything like it. And she’s dealt with some people that are fucked up in a whole other world, but it’s been driving her crazy because they still don’t know what was wrong with the girl. When she woke up, she didn’t remember shit. Didn’t even remember the party she was at the night before, so she couldn’t tell them what she took, but Mom said they ran everything. It’s still bugging her because she does not believe it was a mental break. Not one that wasn’t triggered at least.”
“It has to be connected. All of it fits. You’re brilliant.”
“I like to think so.” I smirk, only teasing. Jax is standing and coming over to me. His fingers sink into my hair as his mouthcomes down onto mine. The expression on his face captures my attention as he lifts his head. The way he stares at me with such adoration. Except I’m not sure where we go from here. “Now what?”
“Now I feed you, and I need to talk to the parentals.” I nod.
That’s for the best. I’m an editor for the newspaper at my prep school. As much as I want to keep digging on my own, it’s not the smart choice and would be a selfish one at that.
The only thing I find myself wanting to be selfish with is Jax. I don't think he'll be too upset about that at all.
