Page 146 of The Silent Note

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not staring at your back anymore.”

I give him a puzzled look.

“You were always walking away from me. Every time we met, it always ended with me staring at your back and you getting further and further away.” His fingers flex on the steering wheel. “But now I’m looking at you and you’re looking back at me.”

My heart squeezes tight.

Zane smiles with eyes so blue they hurt to stare at. “Who wouldn’t smile if they had you beside them? And Sloane, of course,” he adds.

Shyly, I glance in the backseat. “Now that you mention it, Sloane hasn’t been around since yesterday.”

“I thought she only disappeared when we touch.”

“She does.”

Zane clears his throat and I can tell he’s approaching me delicately. “When exactly did you start seeing her?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve always felt her presence, you know? And sometimes, I’d see things?—”

“Things like what?”

I swallow hard.

His voice remains gentle. “Things like what, Grey?”

“Blood.” I wait a beat. “On my hands.”

Zane inhales sharply.

“But it stopped that night.”

He quirks a brow.

I admit quietly, “The night I met you. I just recently started seeing things again. Seeingher.”

“Do you think it’s something you need to talk to a professional about?”

The knot in my chest—the one I felt when mom begged me to leave Redwood, Zane, and my investigation behind—returns. It throbs painfully.

“Looks like we’re here.” I let out a nervous laugh. Fingers hooking on the door handle, I undo my seatbelt. “I need to prepare for my first class. I’ll talk to you later.”

Before he can park the car properly, I hop out of the truck and shuffle to the stairs. Students stare at me and then stare at what isobviouslyThe Kings’ vehicle with Zane in the front seat.

I barely notice them, too preoccupied with my thoughts. Zane was looking at me like I’m crazy. Like I’m Sol. Like I’m the fragile one in the group.

But I’m not crazy.

I’m not traumatized.

And I don’t need to talk to anyone about Sloane.

I’m fine.

As soon as I find my best friend’s killer, the visions of her, the blood on my hands, the guilt, it’ll go away. And everything in my life will be perfect.

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