Page 45 of Stalked

I’d kept Lily in the dark about many things. She had been told about Cami’s attack, but not that we suspected it was a witch who did it. I finally sat her down and carefully opened up about the secrets I had been keeping from her. I told Lily everything. How Caleb and I suspected Cami’s coma was caused by a witch who had been stalking me for months. How my dreams weren’t dreams, after all; they were visions of my past life. The scene she had run into last night was my reaction to the moment I saw something terrible when I kissed him.

She tried her best not to show how scared she was, but I could tell. I probably shouldn’t have told her all of it, but she couldn’t help me while left in the dark.

Lily had to head out to the café to open it up, so I splashed water on my face and got dressed. A knock at the door startled me. Before I reached the door, I looked at my phone and saw two text messages.

Shannon:We’re coming over.

Caleb:Answer your phone. I need to explain what you saw last night.

The reality was, I wanted him to explain, but not right now.

Riley and Shannon were standing on my porch when I opened the door.

“Come on in,” I said, gesturing to the family room.

“You don’t look like you’ve slept,” Shannon said as they came through the doorway.

“Yeah, it was a long night.”

“We didn’t sleep much either,” Shannon said.

Riley’s worried expression told me there was something else they needed to talk about.

“I called Laurie this morning,” she continued. “There’s been no change with Cami. The doctors still tell her they don’t know when she’ll wake up.” She threw her hands up in the air. “They’re saying she had drugs in her system, which could explain how unresponsive she’s been with the treatment.”

“Drugs?” I said.

“That was my response,” Shannon said.

My stomach dropped to my knees.

“The police have been interviewing all the patrons from the bar to see if anyone saw anything, but apparently, shit like this happens all the time in that area. They’re suggesting she was there for a drug deal gone wrong,” Shannon continued. “It’s bullshit. She doesn’t do or sell fucking drugs.”

Riley opened his mouth to speak, but I stopped him with a discreet head shake. His mouth closed, and he creased his brow. He knew my secrets now, so he would need to know what had really happened with Cami.

“Shannon, maybe we don’t know Cami as well as we thought.” She stared at me as if I had just slapped her across the face. Riley shook his head at me and turned away.

I hated what I had just said, but she needed to let it go. I couldn’t risk Shannon digging into Cami’s attack. If she did, whoever had hurt Cami could come after her, too.

“What are you trying to say?” Shannon asked me.

I could barely look at her. My eyes shifted to Riley, who looked at her briefly and then back at me.

He placed his hands in his pockets and looked toward the ground. “Shannon?—people hide stuff all the time,” he added. “It can explain why she’d been ignoring us all week. Why she acted so damn weird.”

My heart shattered at the lie we were pushing. I didn’t just tell Riley my secrets the night before?—I had involved him in this life.

Shannon walked up to me with tears in her eyes and let out a hard sob. “She wasn’t on drugs. Cami wouldn’t do that.” She glared at Riley and me for an uncomfortable ten seconds or so. “I’m out of here,” she said, choking back her tears.

My heart sank as Shannon stormed out the door and forcefully slammed it behind her.

“Was it another witch?” Riley asked.

“We don’t know for sure,” I said, wiping my eyes. “But whoever it was, they’re coming after me, and I have to stop them.”

There was another knock. I hurried to the front door and looked through the peephole. Caleb was standing there, running his hands through his hair, looking frustrated.

Oh, Jesus Christ.

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