Page 73 of Sweet Like a Psycho (Secrets of Suburbi 2)

He dropped my hand and unbuckled his seatbelt. “She doesn’t like to leave the house.”

“Okay…” Was that the big reveal? I’d put a little too much hope in this conversation.

“I think it’s because of the truck she drives, not the mean peoples. She cleans it a lot more than anything else. The back of it the most. And she’s always hardest to get to stop counting when she’s cleaning it.”

I already knew she liked to do everything in multiples of three. Cleaning a whole truck bed three times would take a while. “That’s not bad, Zeke. It’s good to take care of things.”

He grabbed his backpack and lunchbox and opened up the door. “No, it’s different. Like she’s stuck cleaning up something on repeat. Over and over and over again.” He looked down at his lunchbox and then in a rush he spit it all out: “I think she murdered my daddy and hid his body in the back of it. And I’m only telling you because I don’t want her to kill you too.”

What the fuck? I thought about her old truck. With all the money she had, it didn’t make sense for her not to turn it in for a new one. But a lot of things she did were inconsistent with the inheritance she’d mentioned. Like the fact that they lived in that old house in the middle of the woods. The fact that she was unpredictable was part of the reason why I found her so alluring. Zeke was just confused. He was being manipulated by the rumors too. He didn’t give me a chance to correct him, though. He jumped out of the car, slammed the door closed, and ran up to the school.

Chapter 25

Violet

I thought back to yesterday in Tucker’s car. He said anyone who murdered someone was a monster. No ifs-ands-or-buts about it. No exceptions. Nothing. He was a detective for Christ’s sake. Of course he thought that.

And Tucker didn’t believe that people could change either. He’d finally altered his answer after I kept pushing it. But that didn’t mean he believed what he said. He was just trying to appease me. There was no chance at redemption in his eyes.

Ow. I looked down at my wrist. I had been scratching it so much that my nails had broken through the first layer of skin. There was blood dripping down my palm and embedded underneath my fingernails. Shit.

I went to the bathroom and turned on the faucet. The water stung my skin as I washed away the blood. I stared at the pink stained water hitting the sink. What was I doing? I couldn’t tell Tucker. I couldn’t. I started counting down from three repeatedly, trying to calm myself.

Water splashing onto my thigh pulled me out of my trance. “God.” I turned off the faucet before the sink could overflow anymore.

I felt nauseous. I tried to swallow down the bile in my throat as I bandaged my wrist. It was easy to tell myself to calm down. It was another thing entirely to actually do it. I ignored my hands shaking as I finished up with the bandage.

It was hard to talk myself out of something after I decided to do it. I was going to tell Tucker this afternoon. But I needed a backup plan in case things went south. I needed a way out.

I was going to be sick. I grabbed the edge of the counter. No one knew the truth. Sometimes I doubted it myself. The rumors were ingrained in me. Manipulating my mind.

Air. I needed fresh

air. I changed out of my robe and ran down the stairs, my stomach churning.

I grabbed my new coat, a hat, and gloves, and shoved my feet into my boots. I pushed the door open and inhaled. The cold air was a slap in the face, but it didn’t calm me.

The lake always made me feel better when I was younger. I forced myself to not look at my truck as I walked past the driveway. I just needed one minute of peace. I needed my mind to stop. For just one second. Please.

“Big lies have big consequences.” My mother’s voice seemed to be echoing around the woods.

Stop.

“Consequences, Violet. There are consequences to big lies.”

Stop.

I took a huge breath. Three, two, one. Three, two, one. Three, two, one.

Coming out here was a mistake. The lake was a reprieve when I was young. Now? It was the key to my demise. But I couldn’t stop walking.

My pleas were answered when I finally reached the lake. It was frozen solid. My secrets were trapped beneath the icy surface.

“I’m sorry,” I said into the silence. “I didn’t mean to do it.”

Chapter 26

Tucker

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