Page 127 of Spooked

“That was never going to happen—she’s been a thorn in his side for years. But if I stay with him, that means I can’t get married either.”

“What do you mean,ifyou stay with him?”

“I can’t hide forever. When my family finds me, they’ll try to make me go home.”

“Tell them to get lost. You have a job and a boyfriend now. Did you and Brax…?”

I knew exactly what she was asking, and my cheeks burned as I nodded.

“And?”

“Meera! Don’t ask me that.” But maybe the question was a good thing? Was talking about sex part of the healing process? Novo had raped Meera the day she arrived at the estate, she’d admitted that much, but she’d cried when the police tried to ask her more questions. “It was mind blowing.”

“I’m glad you finally found a good one.”

“But my father won’t leave me alone unless I have a ring on my finger. He still sees me as property, plus he does business with Karam’s family.”

He wouldn’t want to lose face with a work associate, which was clearly more important than his daughter’s future happiness.

“Brax won’t let him interfere.”

“You think?”

“Have you seen the way he looks at you? Just tell him you’re worried.”

“Maybe.”

If he gave me bad news, I wasn’t sure I could take it right now.

“Maybe?”

“I have to go and see Elsa.”

“Don’t mess this up.”

“I’m trying, but I’ve never been in a relationship before, and I’m so unprepared. I just assumed that I’d marry a man my parents chose and spend the rest of my life taking Xanax.”

Meera rolled her eyes. “Talk to him.”

“Are you going to talk to your parents?”

She sank farther under the quilt, and I realised I’d said the wrong thing.

“They keep leaving messages. I wish I could tell them what happened, but I don’t want to hurt them, and if they find out that I’ve spent the past year lying, that I ran off with Alfie and then got kidnapped, then they’ll never trust me again. And yeah, yeah, I know I deserve that. But I just want to be able to go back home for Christmas and Thanksgiving and not have to deal with their disappointment.”

“So you’re going to keep all this a secret?”

“What benefit would telling them have? Nothing can change the past, and I want us to keep a good relationship. At least I broke up with Alfie, right? Now I just need to learn to live with what Cass did to me, and I have to believe that’ll get easier with time.”

How could I argue with her logic? If I were in her position, I sure wouldn’t want to tell my parents either. And while she’d never had the closest relationship with her family, they got along okay, and I understood why she’d want to maintain the status quo.

“You can always talk to me.”

She wrapped me up in a fierce hug. “You’re the best friend I could ever have.”

“Ditto.”

“Then listen to me and talk to Brax.”

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