Page 24 of The Road to Ruined

Is that what we are? Are we victims? Did Hazel mean everything she said on TV?

"Did you bring aphonein here?" Hazel asks, mouthing the word 'phone' instead of saying it aloud.

"Yeah…I did."

She holds out her hand and gestures for me to hand it over, so I do. Then, she opens the living room window and tosses my phone outside before closing it.

"You can grab that on your way out," she says before dropping down into an armchair. My expression twists with confusion.

"I know what you're thinking—and you're right. Weareparanoid fuckers now," Hazel says.

I sit beside River on the sofa. "What's going on?" I ask.

"We're not safe," Hazel says. "The shit we've been dealing with…" She pauses, scoffing. "Not all of us have rich parents to come to our rescue and send us to some mountain retreat."

"It wasn't a retreat," I say. "It was a mental hospital, Hazel."

"Hazel, calm down," River says. "Do you want some water, Teagan? It's hot as fuck; we can't seem to get this place under seventy-eight degrees even though the AC is running on high all day."

"That's okay, River. I'm fine. But…what happened to you guys? Where have you been? What's up with the phone?"

"They're following us," River says softly as if there's someone nearby who might hear. "Watching us. Have you seen them?"

"Seen who?" I swallow hard, the air in the room suddenly becomes heavy, holding me in place as my pulse picks up again. I can't move my arms.

"Oh my god," Hazel says. "She thinks you mean Declan and Luca. No, Teagan. Think a little harder—think less big dicked, manipulative assholes and more…cut you up and stuff you in a suitcase."

Oh…them.

"Yep…there you go," Hazel says once she sees the realization on my face.

"I just got out. I haven't noticed anyone following me."

I'm not sure if it's a lie. I don't know if what I've seen is real. It doesn'tseemreal.

And River says they're being watched. That's not how I'd describe what's happening to me.

"Teagan," River says, "you need to be careful. Be careful what you say, and be careful what you do. Maybe just…go back to Rancho San Flores."

"What? It's a glorified jail cell."

"But you were safe."

"That's not how it felt. And I thought about you…every day. Not knowing where you were…I hated it."

"Well, we were in jail, mostly," River says.

"We sat in that jail for over a month, Teagan," Hazel says. "No one came for us, and they wouldn't let us see each other. If it weren't for that last part, I'd say we were better off there, too."

"It was awful," River adds.

"I had no idea if River was even there, let alone if she was okay. They told me that if I'd just tell them the truth about Declan and Luca, they'd let us go, but I just kept thinking if I waited long enough, Declan would come and save me—saveus—just like always," Hazel says, her eyes pooling with tears. "Obviously, that didn't happen. It was the fans who put together a GoFundMe and paid our bail and our lawyer. And now…we're pretty sure these fancy ankle bracelets are the only things keeping us alive. They areeverywhere, Teagan—everywhere we go. And talking to you now is a violation of our probation."

"I'm so sorry," I tell her. "I had no idea."

"It hurt," River says. "It hurt a lot. The police got us before we made it to the back of the hangar. We didn't even know about Brady and Rhett; we didn't know how they just left us until we saw it on TV. The funny thing is…I wasn't even worried when we were in jail. I was just waiting, like Hazel, because I was so sure they wouldn't leave us. Because I thought they loved us. It broke our hearts."

"Mine, too. I just…I still don't understand how it could have been fake. How do you fake that?"

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