Page 31 of Lies and Other Drugs

“She’s here,” Young whispered with a frown.

“So? What difference does it make? You’re supposed to be a secret, right?”

Young pulled away, and after briefly glancing over my head inherdirection, he then turned back to me. “She gets...jealous. She doesn’t like seeing me with other people.”

"Go," I whispered. I swallowed. My body contradicted my words, and my fingers tightened as they clung to him. What kind of fucked up situation was this?

"It won't always be like this," he whispered while pulling away to leave me on the dance floor. What a cliche.And he was right. It wouldn't. Because this ended tonight.

Chapter 19

Imade my way back to the table where I had set my purse down, preparing to hide behind gunsmoke and mirrors for this little showdown, but when I got to where I’d discarded my purse earlier, it wasn’t there. I didn't usually consider myself to be a negligent or forgetful person, but when I noticed that it was gone, as well as the gun inside of it, my heart began to race. I had to find Samuel.

I looked around the room, searching for his easygoing smile. I was hoping to see the pretty boy that made me forget shit with his body. And of course my eyes wandered over to where Young was standing. In the light of day, the woman holding him by the balls looked just as ugly as she did in the dark when she was gripping his cock. But now, each wrinkle and sign of age was covered in caked on makeup. She was wearing a black dress which artfully covered her skin, hiding the unfavorable parts of her body that no amount of plastic and makeup could disguise the aging of.

I then noticed that she was artfully holding on to the arm of President Robinson, looking like an accessory as he patted Young on the back.

Holy. Shit. She’s the Dr. Robinson’s wife? Did he not notice how she was looking at the younger man standing next to him? Her eyes savored every inch of Young like she was getting off knowing that they were getting away with the affair right under his nose.

Everything was suddenly making sense. She had the power to help sweep William’s death under the rug. The night after I caught them was when President Robinson had the police bring me in. His wife must have tipped him off. And nowonderYoung and Samuel felt trapped, she literally could end them.

How had I missed this? My fingers itched, and I closed my eyes pretending that the heavy metal of Mrs. Mulberry's gun was in my palm. I reached into my dress pocket and pulled out my phone to send a quick message to Samuel.

“Where are you? I need my purse.”

After a few moments of staring at Dr. Robinson, I got impatient and sent Samuel another message. All the while, I made my way towards the back of the room so as not to be spotted. I knew that if President Robinson saw me, tonight would be over before I could end it with a bang.

"Samuel?"I texted once more.

Mrs. Robinson placed a hand on Young's arm, throwing her head back and laughing all while her husband looked adoringly at her. Was this some kind of civic arrangement? Did her husband willingly help hide William's death? Image waseverythingfor these people, and it wouldn't surprise me if they’d doanythingto keep it under wraps.

And I was about to let the entire world know.

Finally, Samuel responded.“I have it with me. I went to one of the back rooms. Follow the east hallway all the way to the end.”

I read and reread his message a few times, confused why he would escape to the other side of the building with my purse. For the third time that night, I got an uneasy feeling about Samuel.

I kept my face and gaze to the ground as I shuffled between the finely dressed crowd. Once out the door, I increased the pace of my strides and made my way down the hallway, following his instructions. It was dark, the only lighting a red glow from an emergency sign at the end. The classroom and auditorium doors lining the hallway were closed, and the murmur of the crowd in the banquet hall quickly faded.

At the end of the hall, I took a moment to steady my breathing. One of the many things that William taught me was how to trust my gut. I wasn't sure if it was our hard toxic home life or just his empathic ways that made him so connected to the energies around us, but I learned to sniff out danger long ago—and the end of this hallway reeked of it.

I placed my hand on the door knob, lingering for a moment to breathe in the musty air and settle my racing heart. I was anxious, but strangely at peace. Whatever happened would happen. I was helpless to stop it. There was no winning this race for answers. When I opened it, I took in the empty classroom and the silhouette of Samuel's frame as he stared out the window.

"Your purse is by the door," he said in a low voice. I took a moment to stare at his back, cataloging the rigid way he was standing. It was so unlike the playful, easy-going man that I'd gotten to know these past couple of weeks. The room filled to the brim with tension, and I kept my eyes on him as I bent over to pick up my bag. It was significantly lighter.

"If you're looking for your gun, I took it," he said.

Still, he didn't turn around, but I noticed movement. He was shifting his weight between his legs and looking down at something in his hands. That familiar sense of danger was banging against my chest with full force.

"Is this the part where you reveal that you were the bad guy all along?" I asked in a playful voice. Everything was finally coming together, and I couldn't believe how I didn't see it sooner. "It was you. This whole time, it was you." At that, Samuel spun around, revealing his red eyes and shaky palms. Mrs. Mulberry's gun was in his hands, and he looked like someone had punched him in the gut.

"I thought for sure you would've figured it out before now," Samuel said. Shifting the pistol into one hand, he used his free one to run it through his hair. He wouldn't look me in the eye, and it was the first time I had ever actually seen Samuel Smith. “You’re so smart. Chronically distracted by your own inability to settle. It was easy to guide you where I wanted, but still, here we are.”

"Young was going to choose William, wasn't he?" I closed my eyes, a rookie mistake. But I was already at Samuel's mercy.

Samuel let out a sigh before answering me, "We just had one more year. We couldn't just end it now, and he was going to ruin everything. It wasn't just the degree, it was our reputation." But what kind of reputation did you get from murdering someone?

"Do you plan on killing me here, Samuel?" I asked.

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