Page 78 of Love Me

It was now Monday and Colt, Creed, and I were walking into school.

“It’s kind of chilly out today,” I said, feeling grateful. I had my hair down to hide my stitches, and heavy hair and heat were a miserable combination.

“It’s chilly now, but it’ll be right back to being hot in the afternoon,” Colt said as we walked up to our lockers.

“It’s November. It should be cold out,” I grumbled.

Creed smiled. “Are you missing that Alaskan weather?”

“No. Maryland weather. I’m used to having all four seasons. Fall has been completely skipped here.”

“I can’t do anything about the weather, but we can pick you up a pumpkin spice latte on the way home if that will make you feel better,” Creed suggested.

Colt laughed into his locker as if that would hide the fact that he was.

“You two are terrible,” I grumbled even though I was teasing.

Colt whipped his head in my direction. “What did I do?”

I turned up my nose and started walking toward class. I didn’t make it far before Creed caught me from behind. With his arm around my stomach, he pulled me against his chest. “Is that a yes or no on the latte, you little tormentor?”

I smiled. “You started it.”

“And I regret nothing,” he said.

Colt came to stand next to us. “Why are the police here?” he asked as he stared down the hall.

I looked in that direction. Outside our first class were two police officers. Not a second later, the sheriff walked out of our class with the school’s principal. His eyes scanned the crowded hall of students until they landed on me. I knew he was here for me. That gut feeling was confirmed when he, the other police officers, and the principal started walking toward us.

I pulled my phone from the back pocket of my jeans and slipped it into the front pocket of Creed’s shorts.

“What are you doing, Shi?” he asked.

“If anything happens, call Logan,” I said in a low voice as the sheriff approached.

“Shiloh Pierce, we're going to need you to come with us,” one of the police officers said.

* * *

They said Gabe and Amber were missing. Whether or not that was true, I wasn’t one hundred percent certain.

The sheriff and his lackeys had brought me to the police station and held me in a locked interrogation room all day.

As soon as I’d been brought in here, I had been questioned by a Detective Miller, who was an older man with graying hair and a large mustache, and Sheriff McAllister.

They had asked me where I’d been on Halloween night. I had been honest, but not completely. I had told them that I’d been with my boyfriends all night and a few of our friends had come over to celebrate the holiday. Theboyfriendscomment had gotten me a strange look from the detective, but the sheriff hadn’t looked surprised. Next, they had asked me what I had done all night and I had vaguely said we had listened to music, eaten some candy, hung out.

Toward the end of the interrogation, they had begun to ask me about Gabe and Amber and if I had seen them that night. I had looked right at the sheriff when I had answered. “No.”

His eyes had narrowed. “My daughter said she saw you speaking with them that night.”

Speaking? What a load of bull.

“I don’t know why she would say that, because Cassy was not at my boyfriends’ cabin Saturday night. Neither was Gabe or Amber. If you don’t believe me, you can ask everyone else who was there if they saw them,” I had said.

Sheriff McAllister had glared at me, and I would have allowed myself to look smug if the detective hadn’t been in the room.

Finding it strange there was such a focus on Gabe and Amber, I had asked, “Why are you asking me about Gabe and Amber?”