Page 49 of Liars

“I haven’t seen her,” Maddox mumbled, his lips barely moving.

Another minute passed, then another. The tension in my chest tightened. “Mason,” I said sharply, my tone cutting. “Go inside and get her.”

Mason didn’t look up from his screen. “She’s not there.”

I turned to glare at him. “What do you mean she’s not there?”

“She left before I got up this morning,” Mason said casually, like he was talking about what he had for breakfast.

A slow, seething breath left my lips. “And you’re just now telling me this? Why the fuck didn’t you say something instead of making me sit here like an idiot?” I swore. Sometimes the twins made me want to drive off a cliff…with them in the car.

Mason finally looked up, a smirk playing on his lips. “You didn’t ask. Besides, how the hell am I supposed to know what’s going on inside your head? I’m not a mind reader. Iassumedyou knew she was gone.”

“Unbelievable,” I muttered, starting the car. “We’re supposed to be keeping tabs on her.”

“After yesterday, I figured we’d gone rogue,” he reasoned.

I flexed my fingers. “You figured wrong.”

Mason let out a low groan. “This is bullshit. I don’t want to spend the last few months of my junior year babysitting some orphan Dad decided to take pity on.”

“Now you know how I feel. All I do is keep you two out of trouble.”

“How far could she have gotten?”

I pressed harder on the gas. “For your sake, you better hope not far.”

The drive to school was tense, the silence only broken by the occasional curse under my breath. My eyes scanned every sidewalk, every street corner, searching for her, but she was nowhere to be found. We took the usual way to school, and at each intersection, stop sign, and turn, I expected to see her figure sauntering down the road.

No sign of her or her long platinum hair. Or her saucy walk.

Did she even know where to go? How to get here?

When we pulled into the school lot, I didn’t bother looking for a spot, parking haphazardly near the front entrance.

“We’re late,” Maddox said as we climbed out, sunglasses still shielding his eyes. He pulled the ball cap lower on his head.

“Don’t care,” I snapped, heading straight for the office. “Find her,” I growled.

“How do you propose we do that?” Mason asked.

“I don’t give a shit how. Just get it done.”

Maddox snorted. “You sound more like Dad every day.”

I stilled for half a second. A low blow, but that didn’t make it any less true. Even I could recognize my tone matched the one our father loved to use on us. I hated it. “Fuck off.”

“I’m not getting detention for this shit,” Mason muttered.

“Why not? You get detention for everything else,” I retorted, heading straight for the office.

The woman behind the desk looked up as we entered, her smile faltering at the sight of us. “Can I help you?”

My lips carved into a deep frown. “What’s Kaylor’s first class?” I asked sharply.

The woman blinked, clearly taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“Kaylor Steele,” I said, leaning against the counter, annoyance more prominent as I stated her full name. “What’s her first class?” The bell rang, marking the start of the day, but I didn’t move.

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