Page 68 of Liar
I’d go back to the cabin. Maybe they’d tried to take a shortcut back and missed me, somehow. Maybe they’d found Sawyer already, and were under suspicion that I had something to do with it. I mean, I did, I set the whole thing up, but I wasn’t ready to come clean yet. I’d only come clean once every other obstacle was out of the picture. And that included Travis.
Not yet.
I rushed back, almost out of breath by the time the lake came into view. The grey sky above me threatened to let loose more rain, but getting wet was the last thing on my mind. Ash and Declan were first. I had to find them, had to know where they were. I had to…
When I made it back to the cabin, I stumbled to a halt, only seeing one vehicle parked. Sawyer’s car. My car was gone.
What the hell? My brows came together, my heart flipping wildly in my chest as I sought to come up with a reason why the car would be gone. The keys were in my room. The only other person who’d driven my car in the past had been Declan, but I didn’t see him taking my car out for no reason whatsoever.
No, something wasn’t right here. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.
My skin felt cold, and I turned to look at the steps leading up to the front door of the cabin. With the dark, wet trees around me, blocking out the darkening sky, it was an ominous sight. Eerie and threatening in a wordless way. Suddenly everything felt so off. A ragged breath left me as I placed my foot onto the first step.
If Sawyer got out somehow, if he wasn’t hanging in that cabin dead, he wouldn’t have taken my car. He would’ve taken his—and I doubted he’d be well enough to drive himself anyways. He’d probably crash and kill himself.
At least he’d be dead, but still. Not the death I wanted.
No. I wouldn’t jump to conclusions before I found Ash and Declan. I wouldn’t leap to ridiculous conclusions even if the signs were weird. I would look at everything with a logical frame of mind and take things one step at a time.
And that’s what I did. Up those steps, one by one. To the front door, one foot in front of the other. My hand reached for the doorknob, and I twisted it and opened it, stepping inside.
The living room was empty. No lights on. Everything was very dark, due to the dying daylight outside and the lack of sun behind those dark grey rainclouds. As my eyes drifted to the right, towards the kitchen and the table—where I should’ve seen a hanging Sawyer—I saw someone else. Someone I wasn’t expecting to see.
Someone who wore a grim expression, her face covered in shadows. A sharp knife from the kitchen sat near her on the table, and her legs were crossed. She actually sat in the same chair that Sawyer should’ve been hanging near.
Ash.
I couldn’t say anything at first, couldn’t speak, couldn’t catch my breath as I looked at her through the darkness. It didn’t matter much, though, for she had her tongue and was able to say, “Hello, Will.”
Hello, Will.
As if she’d been waiting for me all along.
Chapter Twenty-Six – Ash
There were some things you had to do in life that you didn’t enjoy. Some things you were forced to do, even if you hated them. Public speaking in speech class, the mile run in gym, and confronting one of your murderous boyfriends were all examples of things I really wished I didn’t have to do.
You’d think, after Ray, I would’ve seen the signs better. You’d think I’d have it all handled. I didn’t. I pretended at being strong, at being bold and brave, but in the end, I was just like every other girl out there. I wasn’t special. I wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
So why the fuck did I keep luring psychopaths into my arms?
As I sat at the table in the cabin, the knife near my hand on top of its flat surface, the note and pen sitting not far from me, I thought back.
Will had just left to check on Sawyer. I thought everything was fine, content to hike with Travis and Declan, but we didn’t get far. Ten minutes into it, Travis stopped us both, turning around in front of us and holding out his hands as he glanced all around to make sure we were alone. “I think we should head to the cabin,” he said, sapphire eyes unmistakably heavy as they looked at me.
“Why?” I asked, not understanding.
Travis waited a moment, moving his gaze to Declan as he said, “I think something’s wrong.”
Declan’s dark brows came together. “What do you mean?”
“I think the more time we waste here is a bad thing,” Travis said, being so remarkably vague that I couldn’t help but wonder what he knew that he wasn’t telling me.
We weren’t supposed to keep secrets from each other, but didn’t I just think to myself that sometimes secrets were better left locked away and forgotten than brought out into the light of day? Some secrets would only hurt the ones who’d hear them.
What secrets had Travis been holding now?
“Fine,” I said, causing both Travis and Declan to look at me. “Let’s go back. But when we get there, I want an explanation.”
