Page 93 of Insincerely Yours
The facts of my situation leave me recoiling. I pull out my phone, switch it to silent mode, and shove it between a small gap in the wall before I dart over to the farthest corner of the cave, not caring that water from the falls peppers my entire body at this site. Unless you go all the way inside to the back wall, you won’t find me here.
And by the sounds of it, I need tonotbe found. Sienna and the other Untouchables have shown up to the falls immediately after Jase invited me.This spot doesn’t offer the chance of having a crazy, random run-in, so this clearly isn’t a mistake.
Jasebroughtthem here.
I’m frozen in place even as panic seizes every muscle in my body. The result has me simultaneously stock-still and trembling, making my bones feel like they might snap under the tension.
Because Jase brought them here.
What’s the plan? To lure little, unsuspecting me down to the falls, only for the Untouchables to gang up on me? I’m all alone out here, and even if I screamed, I’m not sure anyone would hear me up on the road. It’s hot as hell right now, so there won’t be foot traffic, and most drivers will have their car windows rolled up and the A/C blasting. Sienna and the others could do anything to me, and no one would be the wiser.
What if they decide to go allMurder By Numbersand try their hands at homicide? It seems like a stretch, but who the hell knows with these people? When you’re as rich as the Untouchables and everything is handed to you, what’s left in the world to give you a thrill?
A vision of Trent dumping my broken and bloodied body on the floor of the cave where no one will ever find me skitters across my mind, only revving my anxiety. Why not make it easier and shove me into the waterfall? If I survived the plunge and missed the rocks at the bottom, the tides below would undoubtedly finish me off. I’d be dragged under and deemed as nothing more than an accidental drowning like the others over the years.
That’s stupid, Ali. Nobody’s going to murder you. But then why are they here? Even if Jase only brought Sienna, what’s the endgame?
I can’t reconcile the motive behind this, so I just stand there.
And stand there.
And stand there.
Eventually, footsteps echo across the space, and a shadow stretches across the cavern wall to my right. The silhouette comes to stand where I store my belongings, and I hear the plastic garment bag crinkle as the person seems to be looking inside it.
No doubt Jase. He’s the only person apart from me who knows it’s there.
I hold my breath, waiting for the horrible moment when I’m found out. Thankfully, he doesn’t come any closer. The footsteps retreat, but I still don’t dare to move. I continue standing there, shaking and shivering as the cold water mists over me.
I’m not sure if a storm system is moving through the area or if I’ve waited so long that the sun’s finally setting, but only after the natural light outside is smothered do I finally slide out of my hiding place. Thank God I stored my phone away, because I’m soaked through. My fingers are damn near numb, making it impossible to operate my cell.
When I risk stepping out of the cave, I find it’s still light enough out that the sun hasn’t set, but the ugly rumbleof thunder overhead and the ensuing downpour reassure me nobody’s hanging around. Maybe my body temperature has just been so thoroughly ravaged by the falls, because even the humidity outside does nothing to thaw me. My teeth chatter, and my muscles spasm with every step as I try, slip, and trip my way up the slick rock path to the roadside.
This town has never looked so desolate in my life.
An occasional car passes, but not one person slows down to check on the gangly, sopping-wet girl caught in the rain. I don’t remember the trip back home—not really. It’s just a haze of cutting across streets and through backyards. There’s laughter from the kitchen when I arrive home, but nobody seems to hear me, and I don’t wait around.
My trembling legs carry me into the shower, where I scrub my skin raw beneath the unrelenting hot water. If I could remove my lips, I would. Everywhere Jase touched has left an invisible stain I can’t wash away, and I’m the most pathetic excuse for a person because even once I’m in bed bundled under my comforter, I still keep staring at my phone. Like I can will a text message or call into existence.
I want to wake up and find Jase climbing through my window, assuring me that this entire day was just a nightmare.
But it’s not. It’s my reality, which is why I slam the window shut.
If Jase was willing to bring Sienna to the falls—tomysacred place—there’s no way of knowing what else he’s told her and the others about me. What if a certain someone does decide to climb through my window, only itisn’tJase? I could easily picture Sienna going allI Know What You Did Last Summerand slipping into my room to chop off my hair in my sleep. I also witnessed Trent Easton kick a stray dog outside the gymnasium last semester. Isn’t torturing animals an early indicator ofviolent criminals? Any one of the Untouchables could do God only knows what, and I’m not about to risk it.
For the first time in years, I fasten the lock on my window.
CHAPTER 21
MY TEARS RICOCHET
AUGUST, 4 YEARS AGO
I don’t knowwhat I was expecting. For the rest of the summer, I hid inside my house with the shades pulled over my windows, blocking out the world. I couldn’t even stomach being in my room. Everything reminded me of Jase, so much so that I was actually relieved when theA/Cstopped working in my room, forcing me to relocate to the guest bedroom on the other side of the house. Still, some stupid, naïve part of me assumed Jase would text at some point over the next month and a half, but it’s been radio silence on his end, and I won’t dare reach out to him, even if it’s only to blast him with a chain of expletives. He deserves it, but I refuse to give him the satisfaction of seeing I care enough to be mad.
We hung out together for a month and kissed a couple of times. That was all. No big deal. Who would be clingy and neurotic enough to get all twisted up over something so simple?
Not this girl.
