Page 225 of Ominous: Part 1
She yanks her arm from my grip and spins around, her eyes flashing. “Don’t start,” she says, her voice low. “Dominic said you were in a psych ward last year.” She steps closer, anger making the vein in her neck stand stark under her skin. “I asked you about it. You saidnothing.”She jerks her thumb toward Dom, still sitting in the water. “What happened with his sister? Why does he think you had something to do with her death? What is he talking about, all these secrets you’re keeping together?” She drops her hand, curling it into a fist.“Did youhave something to do with what happened? Why don’t you care at all?”
I don’t say anything.
We stare at one another in silence for long, long moments.
Then she laughs, a callous sound. “That’s what I thought. When you decide you want to tell me something aboutyou,then you earn the right to ask me questions.” She turns her back to me again, intending to stalk off.
I think of the blood on my bed. Her in the bathtub. Letting me fuck her, after she said no.
I think of how she could twist Dominic’s pain into anger toward me. She has a heart. She would feel for him, and if she somehow found out, from anyone else, about what happened that night…
“I saw her leave.”
Eden stops, her spine stiffening. She doesn’t turn around.
I glance at Dominic again, and marvel over the fact he’ll miss the truth because he’s a dozen feet away. That’s it. It’s the only thing separating him from answers. Strange, the way life works.
“It’s blurry. I drank a lot that night.” I wait for her to ask why, but she doesn’t, so I keep going. It’s better this way, anyway. Some things I’m not ready to discuss, and probably never will be. “I don’t remember everything. But she had been on her phone. She was talking to someone inside. She told me she was going out. The lake. It was dark. I think I followed her.”
Eden still doesn’t look at me.
I remember the rain. It was cold, unusually so. I pushed my feet into my shoes, by the door, and I followed her out, because of the night. The lake. She could swim, but she wasn’t very good at it.
“She ran around the lake. She was laughing. And drunk. Very, very drunk.” I remember her golden hair. Her high-pitched squeal. “She said she was going somewhere. A man was picking her up.” I clear my throat, but I don’t look away from Eden’s crown of braids. “I followed her, my shoes were sinking into the mud, I told her to come back, that I was done with this game, and she was going to drown out there. The weeds were thick around the lake, but on the other side, I could see a car at the bridge that borders the neighborhood. I asked who was picking her up. She asked if I was jealous.”
Eden asks, “Were you?” It feels like a shot to the heart.
I don’t say a fucking word. That question doesn’t deserve an answer.
Eden turns to face me, tilting her head. “Answer me, Eli.” There’s ice around her words.
I don’t.
Her beautiful eyes narrow into slits. Then she pushes me. My spine jars into the counter at my back as I stumble.“Were. You. Fucking.Jealous?”
I smile at her.
She looks more pissed, and her gaze slides to Dominic, just for half a second.
My smile widens, cold coursing through my veins. “Are you going to tell him? Is ithimyou’re in love with, Eden? If I really hurt him last night, would you have been the first to call the police?” I step closer, until we’re toe-to-toe.
“Are you stupid?” she asks flatly.
“Areyou?Playing games with me would really hurt my fucking feelings.” I keep a smile on my face as I say the words.
She smiles back. “I could say the same to you.”
I lift a brow. “Oh? And what is it you would do if I played games with you,nightmare girl?Would you have me arrested? An accessory? Would you make your brother’s shitty friends rob me at gunpoint or—”
“Don’t.”
I stop talking.
We take a minute to rein in our tempers, so close to breaking the more time we spend around each other. It feels like an omen, but I’m drawn to those.
“Tell me the rest of the story.” Eden’s tone is laced with a hint of hostility.
“I let her go.” That’s all there is to say.
