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I thought I’d made that pretty clear.

‘Holy shit, Jessie,’ she said, putting her face in her hands.

‘You said you didn’t want to know,’ I reminded her. ‘We made a deal.’

‘I didn’t know what had happened!’

‘Yeah, that’s the point!’ I surged to my feet and threw my hands in the air. ‘You didn’t want to know, and I didn’t want to think about it.’

It took a moment, and then everything hit me like abrick smashing into my face. I dashed to the still-steamy bathroom to throw my guts up.

My knees hit the tiled floor with a sickening crunch, and my fingers clenched around the toilet seat as my stomach heaved. I hadn’t let myself go back to the house – back to the Creep – because I’d known this would happen. I’d known my body would betray me. And now the box was open, it was all coming out. After a moment, Brooke came into the bathroom and carefully gathered my hair to the nape of my neck so I didn’t get puke on it.

She didn’t say anything, just rubbed my back in slow circles as I purged all the poison out of me. When I was done, she got a washcloth and cleaned my face of puke and tears and snot, then handed me my toothbrush and got me to scrub the sour taste from my mouth.

‘Come on,’ she murmured.

I let her lead me back into the bedroom and tuck me under the covers. I laid there shivering as she shut off the lights and bolted the door and pulled the curtains tightly closed. Then she got into bed behind me and held me close.

I wanted to protect her from all the ugliness that was still swirling inside me. It was too late for that now, though. The cat was out of the bag, and it wasn’t going back in. Whatever came next, I had to find a way of living with it.

I fell asleep with her fingers brushing gently through my hair.

It was early morning when I woke, but after the events of last night, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again.After my breakdown last night, I’d slept deeply for a few hours with Brooke safely next to me, then I’d woken up and only managed to get little snatches of sleep since. I watched the sky lighten through a crack in the curtain while Brooke breathed slowly next to me, her eyelashes barely fluttering, so I knew she was fast asleep.

I didn’t want to wake her, and I really couldn’t lay still any longer, so I quietly slipped out of bed. I made a quick pit-stop in the bathroom to wash my face and tie up my hair, then found my jeans, pulled them on and took one of the key cards from the dresser.

I hesitated for a second, then grabbed Brooke’s hoodie out of her duffel bag. She’d barely worn it since we’d gotten past Idaho – it had been too warm. It gave me a layer of protection, though, while I was outside. With the hood up, it would be difficult for anyone to see my face.

At the last moment, I paused to scrawl a note on the pad of hotel paper on the desk:

Getting coffee. Be back soon.

The last thing I wanted was for Brooke to think I’d run away.

Ha.

Run awayagain.

It didn’t take me long to pick up our regular order from the Starbucks across the street, and when I let myself back into the room, Brooke was just stretching awake.

‘Hey,’ I said softly. ‘I went to get us coffee.’

‘Thanks,’ she said, reaching to take the cup from me. ‘How are you this morning?’

‘Fine,’ I said.

‘Really?’

I forced myself to consider that. ‘I’m worried about you.’

Brooke looked taken aback. ‘Me? Why?’

‘I feel like you think I’m lying. About what happened to the Creep. And maybe you’re thinking about calling the cops and turning me in.’

‘I don’t think that, and I’m not going to call the cops on you.’

Brooke put her hand on the bed, palm up, and I hesitated before laying mine on top. Her fingers curled around it, holding me tight.