Page 91 of Like A Moth To A Flame

“It means,” I said with a sigh. “Barrett has been lying to me this whole time.”

“So Barrett is…?”

“My abductors son.”

Even saying the words had my stomach flipping again.

“So does that mean he’s…?” I heard her swallow audibly and looked up at her. She looked as sick as I felt. “The stalker?”

I snorted a laugh.

“Nope,” I said, forcing a smile. “That means my stalker found out about it and beat the living shit out of him, and then showed me the evidence.”

I couldn’t even be angry about that anymore. Barrett had lied to me my whole life. He wasn’t even who he said he was.

Maybe he deserved what happened to him.

Probably?

It was a conflicted thought that made me feel small and heavy, but I couldn’t shake it. I was angry, and I think I had reason to be. When the hospital had called last night to update me on Barrett’s condition, I’d let it go to voicemail, and it was gonna stay that way for a while.

He didn’t have his cell phone, so he couldn’t bother me. Maybe he needed to sit in that hospital bed and think about what he’d done.

But yet again, maybe there was a reasonable explanation.

Sighing, I shook my head and forced the mug to my lips, swallowing a thick drink to chase away the headache that pulsed at the edges of my vision.

“So,” Amelia said, her finger tracing the edge of her mug of coffee as she looked over at me. “What’s the deal with the dresses?”

Reaching into my bra, I pulled out the crumpled flier that I’d slept with in my bra. I unfolded it, smoothed it out, and shoved it across the table at her. She plucked it up off the table with two fingers, eyes narrowed as she read it. When she’d finished, she looked up at me with her brows furrowed, a look of concern creasing her face.

“I don’t get it.”

“They do this every year,” I said, returning to my mug. I pulled down another drink. Now that I could finally force it down, it had become the elixir of life, and I couldn’t put it down. “It’s a harvestthing. It originated back with this was Apache land, and all the settlers kept it as a tradition. It’s the kick-off to our Halloween.”

“So it’s like a party?” she asked.

“Basically,” she shrugged. “It’s a masquerade ball that they have in the basement of the big courthouse.”

“So you think the stalker will be there?”

“I do,” I took another sip, this one longer and deeper. Slowly, the fog was retreating from my brain, and I so desperately wanted to keep it away. I just wanted to feel as normal as I could.

“So what’s the plan?” she asked, placing the flier on the table and shoving it back toward me.

I folded the flier and took a moment to stuff it back into my bra, keeping it close to my heart. It also gave me an excuse to check and make sure my phone was right where I left it, on the dresser upstairs. I didn’t need him listening in on me right now.

“I’m gonna go to that ball lookin’ like a rockstar,” I said with a knowing grin. “And when he tries something, I’m gonna let him.”

Amelia raised her eyebrows so high I feared they were gonna fly away.

“And when he gets close enough, I’m gonna snatch that mask right off his face.”

Her face lit up in a sly grin.

“Damn, Ness,” she said, taking a drink of her coffee. “Love it.”

“So I figured, today is Wednesday. That gives us three days to make sure we have everything we need.”

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