Page 28 of Crossed Up

“Before you say anything, I swear to God, Ly I didn’t say a word to Aidan.” Wren’s voice is frantic on the other end of the phone, and it’s almost enough to make me smile, but the subject brings me back to being annoyed with my best friend.

The bite to my tone is unintentional, and I’m sure I’ll feel guilty later, but I can’t find it in myself to care at the moment. I feel like a caged animal with eyes on me all the time since my last conversation with Aidan.

“Then who did tell him, Wren? Because nobody is that perceptive. It makes me feel like all of that therapy was for nothing if somebody who was a complete stranger only a month ago can see things about me I’ve worked so hard to push past.”

“Did he say or do something that made you uncomfortable?” Her voice sounds like the crack of a whip through the spacious room as I pick up my phone and move to the window seat facing the water.

With a sigh of resignation, I put the phone on speaker and cross my arms over my knees, bringing them to my chest so I can rest my head. I can already feel a migraine building behind my eyes. “Yes. But that’s more of a me issue than a him issue.”

I can practically feel her sympathetic grimace through the phone. “I get that. I didn’t meet you until after I had started therapy again, but I kind of stopped dealing with all the negative shit for a while after Derrick cheated on me, and it took thinking I was going to lose Rhodes to stop running from my problems.”

Wren and her fiancé, Rhodes, had been best friends and secretly in love with each other since college even after she got married and moved away. It took her ex-husband publicly cheating on her for them to finally admit their feelings last spring, and aside from the incident she’s talking about, they’ve been inseparable ever since.

The hidden meaning in her words hits me full force, and I snort, glaring at the phone and hoping she can feel it on her end. “He told you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, babe. If Crew is spending the weekend with his pseudo-grandparents, that’s between them and the lord. I had absolutely nothing to do with it.”

I wish she could see my eye roll.

“I can hear you rolling your eyes, and sassy is not a good look on you, Ly.”

That finally brings a smile to my face, but I quickly sober. “What if he doesn’t want me anymore after finding out about my past?” I whisper fearfully. The anxiety that’s had a grip on my very soul since Aidan asked me out earlier this week is stifling. “I’m terrified I’m going to end up dragging him and Crew into my mess.”

She’s quiet for a moment before clearing her throat. “Aidan knows you’re running from something, babe. He doesn’t know what or who, but he does know, and he’s fully prepared to deal with the consequences of starting something with you. I know he’ll wait for you to tell him your story, but you need to know that you have a lot of people here and ready to help if you’ll let us.” After a minute of silence, Wren cackles suddenly, startling me.

“Oh man, just wait until Copeland gets ahold of that info. He’ll be chomping at the bit to get started on the little sleuthing thing he does.”

My brows raise. “What do you mean? And remind me which one Copeland is?”

Wren snickers. “He’s been out of town with some family thing, so I doubt you’ve met him yet. But he’s got pretty black hair and is covered in tattoos and metal. Looks like he belongs in some sort of emo rock band.”

I chuckle at her description because I remember seeing pictures of him with Crew in the hallway, and now I know exactly who she’s talking about. I remember thinking he looked like Andy Biersack, so her description is spot-on.

“Anyhow,” she continues. “Cope can find out anything about anyone if given enough to go on. I swear he must have been a detective in a past life.”

I think about everything she just told me about running from her problems and then take a moment to truly consider what she’s saying right now before coming to a decision that I hope will change things for the better. “Wren?” I interrupt her rambling.

“Yeah, Ly?”

Taking a deep breath, I lay down the first card in my hand. “What all does Copeland need to start digging?”

A quick inhale is all I hear for a second, followed by Wren’s whispered voice. “Lyla, are you sure?”

“You’re right. I’m letting him control me, and I don’t want to live that way anymore. If this weekend goes well, I have two more people to think about when it comes to their safety. So what does he need?”

I can hear her tapping away in the background like she’s typing on her phone, and it’s a fifty-fifty toss-up on if she’s texting Copeland or Rhodes. “All he needs is a name.”

With terror freezing me to the spot, I give up my first secret and pray it won’t doom us all.

“I could’ve flown separately, you know. I didn’t need to fly with you guys.”

I’m in a large, comfortable seat on the team jet with Aidan seated next to me while Wren and Rhodes, who are currently sitting in front of us, beam at us like proud parents sending their kids off to prom.

Wren scoffs. “As if we would have let you fly alone. Plus, Aid is a nervous flyer, so now you can hold his hand.” She winks at him, a sly glint in her ocean-blue gaze.

I don’t know what they put in the water here, but I swear everyone in their friend group is freakishly gorgeous. Even Rhodes’ parents look like they should be playing lawyers on TV, not in actual courtrooms.

Aidan turns pleading eyes to me when the engines fire, and I feel my own widen in response. “Wren is yankin’ your chain, but she wasn’t lying about the nervous flyer thing. I hate airplanes and usually latch on to the person next to me. It was Cope, then it was Rho, and now…” he trails off.

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