Page 19 of Games We Play (Thistle Cove 2)

I walk over to the bed, pick up the iPod and type in a reply.

Hi BD! My idea of paradise is not having to worry about bills and student loans, being able to take care of my family. But most of all, I want to find someone to spend my time with that has the same desires in life that I do. Too bad paradise is lost, right?

Before I lose my nerve, I press send, watching the little button turn into a heart.

I shove the device into the drawer and slam it shut, then cross the room and grab my towel.

I definitely need a shower.

13

Ezra

“This setup is pretty sweet, Holloway,” I say, his name coming out in a grunt. I’ve got a twenty-pound weight in both hands and my biceps burn with each curl.

Finn hangs from a chin-up bar, pulling himself up and down with a quick pace. He drops and exhales, wiping his forehead with the bottom of his shirt.

“My dad got pretty into helping me set it up this summer. It’s way easier than dealing with gym hours.”

He walks over to a bench and grabs his water bottle. I rack the weights and pick up my own, drinking half of it in one swallow.

“What happened with Kenley yesterday? She looked upset when Ozzy and I got back to the house.” She left before I got a chance to ask her what was wrong. For a second, I thought she was upset with me. We hadn’t really talked about what transpired between us in my room the night before. I couldn’t get the whole scene out of my head, the way she felt, looked and sounded, coming apart like that, but maybe she had regrets.

She was barely out of the driveway before the other kids started talking about it— there’d been some kind of scene with Monica Chandler.

“She started asking Mrs. Chandler questions about some girl that was murdered that went to Thistle Cove back in the '90s.”

“Murdered? I’ve never heard about that.”

“Yeah, that’s her point. Someone just told KK about it, and she’s really worked up. She’s convinced the town or powerful people in town are hiding something.” He reaches for a medicine ball and gestures for me to move back. I get into position and he thrusts it toward me. I catch it, the weight slamming into my chest. “To be honest, I think she’s still struggling with losing Rose and she needs an outlet.”

If she needs an outlet, I think to myself, I’ve got a couple ideas.

“For what it’s worth, I think she may be on to something. Calling Rose’s disappearance a suicide without a body or any other evidence doesn’t feel right.”

I frown. “Seriously? If that’s how you feel, why haven’t you said anything about it?”

He grimaces and thrusts the ball at me again but doesn’t reply to my question.

“Are you afraid they’d make you a suspect again?” I ask, flinging the ball toward him. He catches it but stumbles back a step.

“Am I glad they took the heat off of me? Yeah. I didn’t kill Rose, but that doesn’t mean I fully buy this suicide story either and I never thought her parents would stop looking for her or for answers.” He drops the ball with a heavy, solid thud and sits on the bench.

“That’s the thing,” I say, sitting next to him, “I’m not really that surprised.”

He gives me a perplexed look. “Why?”

“Your parents are cool—like normal people—people that have normal jobs and activities. People that didn’t live here their whole lives. But Waller? My dad? They’re tied up in this community. Both of them need it to survive, financially, politically, professionally. Waller’s election is next week. Sure, Rose’s disappearance was enough to get him the sympathy of everyone in town, but you and I both know Rose wasn’t squeaky clean. The more they pushed this—the sugar daddy shit—the more questions people would have, and the more skeletons may fall out of the tightly locked closets of the Thistle Cove elite.”

“That’s cold, man.”

“That’s how these people work,” I say, grabbing my towel and wiping my face. “They’re playing a long game and I can’t imagine they’d let Rose, missing or not, fuck that up.”

Finn stares down at his feet, processing what I’ve just said, what I’ve been holding in for weeks. I agree with him and Kenley, I have no idea what really happened to Rose, but I’d bet the state championship that it wasn’t a suicide.

14

Kenley

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