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CHAPTER FOURTEEN

GARRETT — PRESENT DAY

Holy fuck.

I thought we’d left all of that in the past. I thought she’d moved on, thought I’d moved on, but what was that? Why did she…

Why did I…

What the fuck was that?

I stand, staring toward the hallway, prepared to bang on the door and demand that we talk this out or…sort things out another way.

Preferably without clothes on.

In her bed. My mouth on her…

Jesus, I need help.

How am I supposed to spend the next few days in this house alone with her? There is still so much between us that we’ve never resolved, and I’m ready to resolve it now.

Except…

My eyes fall to my phone, where there’s a text from hours ago waiting from Will. I pick it up and call him, eager for a distraction and a moment to cool down.

“Yeah?” he asks, voice groggy like he’s been asleep.

“We’ve got a problem.”

“What’s that?” He sounds more awake now.

“Tessa and I went to visit your mom today. How long’s it been since you went by there?”

“Come on, dude, don’t start with that right now. It’s been a long day and?—”

“It’s not that.” I stand up and move into the kitchen, lowering my voice. “Someone else had visited her and left a note.”

“What kind of note? For us?”

“No. Well, I don’t know. It was just this little torn slip of paper that said ‘Murderer.’”

He’s quiet, but I know he understands the gravity of what I’m telling him.

“Tessa took it, so there’s no chance the cops will get it, but,” I pause, heaving a breath before I say the sentence I hoped to never utter, “do you think it could be about…”

“Yeah.” His voice is dry and emotionless. “Yeah, I do.”