Page 138 of King Luna

“You really think I’m going to believe your bullshit ideas about what you did to her after all the lies you told her today?”

This time, Steven is silent.

Noah puts the phone back on speaker again, crossing his arms.

“I have no fucking clue what you’re going on about,” Steven says.

“Alright, let’s start with something real fucking obvious. It’s Friday, and you’re in Westview, supposedly. Why would you be outside ‘the office’ in the middle of the night?”

I freeze.

If I were in Steven’s place, it wouldn’t be hard to come up with a lie; he could claim he’s working overtime. Maybe he has a big project due tomorrow, but he’s taking a walk. Maybe he’s on a business trip in another time zone, and not actually in Westview tonight.

Steven doesn’t say a single thing.

Noah’s jaw flexes. “What’s the name of this hunter event last night? Do you have proof it happened? I bet you didn’t even talk to the cops.”

Steven sighs. “Look, man, I don’t know what you want me to say. It sounds like you’ll never believe me, even if I defend myself.”

“Uh huh. Whatever. If you’re not going to try, I’ll just keep calling your bullshit out. I’ve got more.”

My gut flip-flops, unsure what to believe at all now.

Maybe Noah is right: I feel so confused and disgusting inside. It's how Steven wanted me to feel all those years. Confusion kept me trapped—made it easier for him to blame me. And if he convinced me everything was my fault, I became all the more manipulatable.

“Dude, seriously? The hunters’ event was a private event hosted by the Westview Hunting Club. If you look it up, it won’t show up. Since, you know, it was private, and all.”

Noah rolls his eyes. But then we both pause as we’re mindlinked by Dave and Yasmine.

Yas and I dug for more info on ‘stbarrett92’ across various platforms. He only has two photos, and the caption from his last photo says he was in Westview yesterday,Dave says.

Bullshit,Noah says.He knows we’re tracking him and is faking his location. He claimed he met Jack Hart in Westview last night, so we better keep an eye out for Jack, whether Steven is lying or not. This level of effort to frame Jack formurder makes me think they’ve been in contact locally—enough to become enemies.

Yasmine mindlinks,What if he's trying to distract us? Wasting our resources to find Jack while you're gone and Steven plans some sort of coup?

Good point,I say.Noah just called him out for lying about being at his Westview office job, and he didn't defend himself.

It's still possible Jack pissed Steven off recently, even if it wasn't at a Westview Hunting Club event last night. Or that Jack killed them, but it wasn’t a solo job. Steven is trying to pin this murder solely on Jack, and when you’re guilty of something, the closest target to pin the blame on would be someone else involved, so...Noah’s mindlink trails off, leaving me gutted.

“You don’t think...?” I whisper.

Noah hangs his head, unable to meet my eyes as he shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“Hello?” Steven says. “If you’re going to whisper to each other, I’m just going to hang up.”

Want me to look up that event too?Dave asks.

Sure. Thanks, cuz.Noah sighs, shaking his head. “Alright, Barrett. Maybe you are at the office at two in the fucking morning. Maybe you did go to a private hunters’ event. Even if you told the truth about all that, there’s one thing I can’t believe.”

Running a frustrated hand through his hair, Noah somehow makes his hair even messier.

“Are you fucking kidding me, man? You expect us to believeJackwould attend a hunters’ event at a dive bar? What the hell is your motive? Frame that asshole for what you really did? Did you fucking kill my dad? Or did you kill Aliya’s dad, and let Jack take mine out?”

My fists wrinkle my skirt, clenching hard enough to make my fingers ache.

It’s just a millisecond of silence, but it punches me in the soul; I don’t like how long Steven waits to respond. That was a guilty silence.

“Steven, really?No—” I choke out, just before the phone speakers garble Steven’s words from his shouting.

---