Page 91 of Such a Good Girl

My eyes widened as it all came together.

I turned, ran, shouted to Violet and Everleigh all at once.

“Run! Go!” I demanded, running towards the living room and hoping they’d listen.

My footsteps pounded down the short hallway — one, two, three, four, fi—

The explosion threw me the rest of the way, my body violently crashing to the living room floor.

“Kaylee! Fuck!” Everleigh screamed. Violet stared down at me in shock.

“Run!” I shouted again.

Violet grabbed my arms, pulling me to my feet as the three of us stumbled through the cloud of smoke to the outside.

“What the fuck just happened?” Violet cried once we reached the front yard.

“I heard it before it went off, thank fucking god.”

“What was it?”

“A bomb, I think,” I said, my voice sounding like it was coming from outside of my body. “I — if I had been holding it, it would have killed me.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Violet asked, her eyes scanning my body.

“I think so,” I said, rubbing my arm. It would be bruised, but other than that, I seemed to be in one piece. “I need to call the cops.”

“The cops? Shit.” Everleigh said.

Violet gave me a wide-eyed look, and I nodded. “You two stay here. I’ll grab my phone.”

I went back in the house, shocked to see the damage in the kitchen. I felt numb. Confused. Everything in the vicinity of the package was destroyed. The floor was littered with the tiny rubies of the bracelet, remnants of the boxes and wrapping paper, and a mess of wires and pieces of metal.

I made a point not to touch anything and fetched my phone from my bedroom, my head working quickly as I dialed the phone. I told the dispatcher who I was, that I was working undercover and not to blow my cover when they showed up. I couldn’t risk Everleigh knowing who I really was. Not yet. Not now.

Had West done this?

None of it made sense. After I hung up, I walked back into the living room and saw the note lying on the ground where I’d fallen. I picked it back up and scanned it again. Then, I found my purse and dug the note from my locker out and compared the two. I was convinced they were written by the same person.

Now I needed to figure out who that was.

My gut told me it wasn’t West. While I waited for the cops, I dialed his number, my heart pounding violently.

“Kaylee! I was waiting to hear from you!” heesaid, his greeting filled with sunshine. I was even more convinced he wasn’t behind this. “Did you get the package? Did you like it? I wasn’t sure if you’d like rubies…”

“West, can you come to my place?”

“What’s wrong? What happened?” He read my tone of voice instantly.

“I did get the bracelet, West, but…there was a bomb. In another package. It doesn’t make sense.”

“A bomb? What? Are you okay?”

“Yes, we’re all okay. Everleigh is here, too. And Violet. The police are on their way, can you come?”

Suddenly, all I wanted was to be wrapped up in his arms. I didn’t feel safe. This kind of thing happened to celebrities all the time, I knew that. But I wasn’t one. Unfortunately, my relationship with West had put me right in the very spotlight I didn’t want to be in. And if some crazy person had figured out my address, then what else did they know?

It was only a matter of time before I was exposed completely. All I could think was that I needed to be in West’s arms one last time before that happened.

---