Page 16 of The Lies that Bind Us, Part One

I was in my car within two minutes, pulling us out onto the road. I took a page out of the old lady’s book and didn’t speak, letting the radio playing in my car do the speaking for me.

Brett, on the other hand, wanted to talk, because he said, “I figured you’d be more excited today. You’ll have me close by. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” He was staring at me; my eyes were firmly on the road in front of us, but with my peripherals, I could see him studying me. “Having a serial killer watching over you at night to protect you from your mysterious stalker, who hasn’t made a peep since leaving you with that picture.”

I didn’t say anything, but my hands did tighten on the wheel.

“You’re being quiet. Why? Regretting this whole deal now? Tell you what, we can forget any of this happened. You can pull off right here and I’ll get out and go my own way. I have some business to finish up, anyway—”

“No,” I told him, shooting him a fast glance. “I didn’t turn you in. I didn’t take you to a hospital. I got you antibiotics and pain meds and paid for that motel room after your cash ran out. You owe me, so we’re doing this.”

Brett shrugged. “It was worth a shot.” He ran a hand through his hair, a honeyed brown that didn’t look half bad on him. He was a better blond with those piercing blue eyes, but they paired with brown hair just as easily.

There was nothing stopping him from running away. I knew that. But at the same time, there was nothing stopping him from running away after he got free from my restraints. He could’ve killed me and ran, but he didn’t, and that told me he was willing to go along with this little idea of mine.

“So, you’re a college student living at home with her parents. What else? You don’t really talk about yourself that much. It occurs to me I don’t really know much about you. You know all about me and what I’ve done. I think it’s time we get to know each other a little better, don’t you? Let’s start small: why do you go by Charlie instead of Charlotte?”

I didn’t really want to talk about me or my life, but I guess the more he knew about me, the better he’d be able to help me. The more pieces to the puzzle he’d see. I sighed and told him, “Charlotte’s an old woman’s name. Charlie was easier for everyone to pronounce when we were kids. The nickname just stuck.”

“Okay, understandable. Let’s go a little deeper with this next one.” Brett cracked his knuckles, as if it was physical work he had to prep for, asking me personal questions. “Why’d you and Zak break up?”

My mouth fell open. Hearing Zak’s name from Brett’s mouth… let’s just say it wasn’t something I expected, not in a million years—mostly because I’d barely mentioned my one ex to him, and I’d definitely never mentioned his name. Not once.

“How do you know his name?” I asked.

“I found you online and did some digging when I was bored out of my mind,” Brett replied simply, as if it was no big deal he’d pulled on his own pair of stalker pants. “You haven’t really posted anything lately, so it wasn’t hard to go back and see. He’s still tagged in a bunch of your shit.”

I swallowed. I didn’t know how to answer his original question, mostly because it was the last thing I thought he’d say. Hearing my ex’s name out loud threw me back in time, to when things were a little simpler, and a little better. I wouldn’t say it was before everything turned to shit—things were pretty much always shit in my life, but there was a time when things had been better.

Because of Zak.

My mom could not hide her excitement. I’d just come downstairs, mostly because Zak had messaged me and told me he was on his way over. He’d just turned sixteen last month, and had gotten his license immediately, so his parents were letting him borrow the car tonight. It was sophomore year, smackdab in the middle of winter, the snowball dance.

And it just so happened it was my first time going to a dance with a date.

It was the first time I had any date, actually, and that was why I was so unbelievably nervous. Amelia had tried to talk me through my nerves. We’d spent hours on the phone, getting ready together even though we weren’t side by side. She had her own date; they’d meet us at the school.

“Oh, you look beautiful,” my mom crooned, taking picture after picture of me in the living room, posing me however she wanted. My dad was standing near her, though he wasn’t as visibly excited as she was. “When’s your date coming?”

“He’ll be here soon,” I said, my voice quiet. Of course I was nervous. I’d had a thing for Zak for a while. Since eighth grade, to be exact. Three years of crushing, and somehow he’d finally noticed me and decided to ask me to the dance. I still couldn’t believe it. I was so nervous I wanted to throw up, but also so excited I was riding cloud nine.

Time passed impossibly slowly. I could’ve sworn an entire year went by before Zak was here, knocking at the door. I tried to go answer it, but my dad beat me to it, assuming his stone-cold father demeanor as he opened the front door with a scowl.

I couldn’t get a good look at Zak, but I heard his voice say, “Uh, hello, Mr. Mulanie. I’m Zak—” He probably offered my dad his hand, which my dad wouldn’t take, because he was trying to seem intimidating.

“Yeah, the kid taking my youngest daughter to a dance, I know who you are,” my dad muttered.

My mom paused in her picture-taking, rolled her eyes, and hurried over to them. “Oh, shush. Zak, hello dear. Don’t mind him. Come inside. I want to take some pictures before you two go.” Outside, the world was one of white, snowflakes falling from the clouds in the sky. Cold, but from my experience with last year’s snowball, you got hot once you got inside the school, so jackets were totally unnecessary.

Zak carefully stepped around my dad, dusting the snow off his tuxedo before following my mom to me in the living room. My dad, to his credit, softened his glare as he shut the door, but that glare did not vanish entirely.

The moment Zak laid his hazel eyes on me, I about melted right there. His short blond hair was a little messy, but that’s what I’d come to expect from him. Just under six feet, he was so much taller than me, and I loved it. His tallness was one of the things that made me go crazy. He looked so freaking amazing in that tux.

He grinned, looked me up and down, and said, “You look amazing, Charlie.”

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” I managed to say, sounding what I thought was cool.

My mom posed us how she wanted to pose us, and maybe it was because I was so excited, maybe because it was Zak, the boy I’d had a crush on for years, but when he set his hand on my back, I didn’t flinch or shrink away. In fact, standing so close to him, leaning into him… it was the opposite of bad. I didn’t mind being so close to him. I could smell his body spray, and I loved it.

He made me feel protected, even if this was just a date to a dance. He made me forget everything that was wrong in my life, the mistakes I’d made and how the world would look at me differently. With Zak, I was just a girl in high school, ready to have some fun.

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