Page 94 of Am I the Only One

The light goes off.

Carly

It’s good to finally be home after a stressful afternoon. I was assisting a student with his schedule and Emma kept calling. Even though I should’ve taken the call, knowing what she has hanging over my head, I didn’t. To be honest, if it had only been one call, it wouldn’t have spooked me, but it was several.

Standing in front of my dresser, I’m slipping my earrings off when the doorbell chimes. It catches me off guard. It isn’t like we live close to any neighbors. We’re pretty secluded out here. I look over to Tripp’s nightstand where the small monitor to the security cameras is. When I see it’s a woman, I step closer to the screen and gasp.

It’s Emma.

The doorbell rings again, and I step back, irrationally paranoid that she can tell I’m watching her through the camera.

I don’t move, hoping that maybe she’ll just go away, but she rings the doorbell again and again and again.

When she finally turns and walks down the stairs, I release a hard breath.

Thank, God. She’s leaving.

She then stops short of her car and pulls out her phone. I continue to spy on her as she wanders across the yard, talking to someone. When she curves around to the back of the house, I go to my window to get a better look.

What the hell is she doing?

My fear shifts into agitation as I watch her walk toward the dock, and I just want her gone. She has to leave, but with her being as persistent as she has been today, trying to get ahold of me, I don’t see how I can continue to avoid her. I’m going to have to face her.

I tell myself to get it together and harden up before hitting the lights and making my way down the stairs. Silently giving myself a pep talk, I head out the back door and find she’s still standing on the dock, but she’s no longer on the phone. It takes her a moment to hear me walking through the snow to get to the dock, and when she does, she’s pissed.

“What the hell, Carly? Why are you ignoring me?”

“I’m not, it’s just been a hectic day. I was going to call you tomorrow,” I lie as I approach her. “What are you doing here? How do you know where I live?”

She cocks her head. “Your husband. This isn’t the first time I’ve been here.” Her eyes turn to daggers. “Care to tell me why you opened that stupid mouth of yours?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I met your friend Liz today.”

“Who’s Liz?”

“Stop bullshitting me! You told her about Tripp and me! About Luca and the photos! Are you fucking crazy or just dumb as shit?”

She spits her words so fast that it takes me a moment to grasp on to them. The only person I ever told those things to was Margot.

“Clearly, you suck at choosing your friends. Did you know that she called me and offered to pay me for the photos? It seems I’m not the only one you’ve ticked off.”

Holy shit.

My mind races in every direction possible, I can’t even think straight as she continues.

“You do know that you aren’t only putting me in danger—you’re implicating yourself too. It’s like you just want everyone to know what we’ve done!”

“And what about Luca?” I lash back.

“Unlike your friend, he’ll keep his mouth shut.” She turns away from me and paces farther down the dock. She rakes her hand through her long hair before turning back with more anger in her eyes. “This is all your fault!” she screams. “You dragged me into your fucked-up life, and because you can’t keep your mouth shut, my reputation—my life—is in your hands and your untrustworthy little friend.”

“You expect me to feel sorry for you?” I snap, furious at this girl’s audacity, furious that Margot would go after those photos. “You set me up!”

“You paid me to be your husband’s whore! And then you decide to renege on your word.”

Her yelling echoes through the night, and I’m terrified someone—anyone—might hear her. “Lower your voice, for Christ’s sake,” I seethe, following her as she nears the end of the dock. “And you’re wrong. I never reneged on anything. I paid you exactly what we agreed on and you threw a tantrum when you couldn’t get any more out of me.”

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