Page 57 of Beneath the Scars
Lottie is flipping through the journal as she talks. “It looks like it starts a year before they went missing, so I think it would behoove us to read it from beginning to end.”
“I’ll do it,” Gia offers. “I just wrapped up a project and only have one other in the pipeline, so I’ve got some extra time.” As a freelance graphic designer, Gia’s projects come in waves. Sometimes she’ll be too busy to leave her office for days; other times, she’ll basically be on vacation for a week.
“We might have to work together,” Lottie says. “Her handwriting is beautiful, but the pages have aged pretty drastically. Some of this is tough to read.”
Gia’s hum is contemplative. “Let’s do what Ginny suggested then, and take pictures of the pages. We can print them out and write notes on what we can read and what we can’t.”
“Alice could probably help interpret anything you can’t figure out,” I suggest.
“It’s a little hard to fathom that this belonged to a real person. These were her inner thoughts about her life. It feels wrong to be snooping through her private things,” Lottie muses.
Ryan, ever the voice of reason, chimes in, “Since our intentions are honest, I’d imagine she’d encourage us to do whatever is necessary to bring her justice.”
“And Alice wouldn’t have given it to us if she didn’t believe in us,” Carson points out.
“Do you guys really think we have a chance to solve her disappearance?” Lottie asks.
Gia shrugs. “Probably not, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. We’ve gotten pretty far, given the limitations of time. Who’s to say that won’t continue?”
“I’ve got news.” The words are out of my mouth before I can even think about it.
Five pairs of eyes fall on me, overwhelming me with their attention. I stare down at Nina to escape their scrutiny.
“I… Well…” I take a deep breath. “Adalaide and I are dating.”
My news is met with a beat of silence before my friends explode into noise.
“What the hell?”
“Are you serious?”
“How long have you been keeping this from us?”
“Did you know?” That one was directed at Ryan by Gia.
Pride shines in his eyes as he looks at me before he turns to our friends. “Yes, I knew. I didn’t say anything because it wasn’t my news to share.”
I’m grateful he leaves out the part where he caught us instead of being told directly.
“This is so exciting.” Lottie claps. “How long have you been dating?”
“I guess it’s been a couple of months now. We weren’t ready to tell anyone until we’d established a foundation for our relationship. Now, it seems silly to have held it back.”
“No, it makes sense,” Ginny says. “Our family can be a lot at the best of times. You guys needed to figure yourselves out before we got in the middle of it.”
“That was our thought too.”
“How are you doing with the touching thing?” Gia asks. She’s not prying. They know I’ve struggled to date because most of the women don’t like that they can’t touch me as freely as they want.
“We’re making it work. She’s one of the few people who’s an exception to the rule, and she’s always careful.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. Addie knows you as well as, if not better than, we do,” Carson says.
“She sure as fuck does now.” Gia winks. I roll my eyes, but can’t help the chuckle that rumbles through my chest.
I’ve never told my friends where my sexual interests lie. I’d imagine they have some general idea that I have to be careful, but I doubt they know the full extent of it. The night at the club with Addie pops into my head. She was so fucking beautiful. The way she surrendered to me was the sexiest thing I’ve ever experienced. I can’t wait to take her back.
The ideas that I’ve come up with since that night are too numerous to count.
