Page 137 of Tell No Lies

“Actually, I can’t miss today. It’s a team practice. I only have three days until the competition.”

“Don’t you get how much danger you’re in? I’m not letting you go anywhere without me.”

My heart started to race, and I glared up at him. “You don’t get to decide where and when I go somewhere, Mike. I have to get to the studio. Mckayla is driving me there, and Cassie is giving me a ride home. I won’t be alone.”

“I don’t feel good about you going. I want you in my sight until we figure out who’s doing this.”

“I can take care of myself. You can’t put a leash on me and expect me to follow you around.

My frustration was growing quickly, but luckily Mckayla walked up. “Hey, guys.” She looked between us and put her hand on my arm. “We have to go, Aubrey. You’re going to be late.”

I shot Mike one last look and turned to follow Mckayla. He looked ready to tackle me and force me to go with him, but I couldn’t let him treat me like he owned me. He had no right to try to force me to miss dance. If he was so concerned, he could have skipped his practice and taken me to the studio himself.

“I don’t know if I can take this for another day, Mac.”

She looped her arm through mine. “He does it because he cares about you. Just remember that.”

“There’s a difference between caring about someone and keeping them locked up. How can he expect me to sacrifice the things that are important to me when he can’t?”

“He’s a boy, and boys are dumb. Especially teenage boys. Cut him some slack.”

We reached the car and drove in silence. I knew she was right. Mike had good intentions. He just failed at executing them.

Hopefully, Brandon and Carter could find something soon that would put a stop to this.

Seventeen

I secured my hair in a high ponytail with enough hairspray to help it survive a nuclear blast. I was finishing applying my lipstick when I caught the reflection of Brandon staring at me in the mirror.

I reached over and turned down my music as I glared at him. “You scared me to death!”

“I yelled your name a dozen times before I came in here. Are you almost ready? We need to leave soon.”

“Give me two seconds.”

“Is your bag packed?”

Blotting my lipstick with a tissue, I looked myself over one last time. As much as I despised wearing stage makeup, I knew it was a necessity. I turned back to him and nodded. “I got everything together last night.”

“Do you have the emergency stuff in here?”

“What are you talking about? Like Mace or something?”

“No. You’ve been walking around for the past two days mumbling about extra tights and reminding yourself about an emergency bag.”

Chuckling to myself, I followed him out of my room. “I didn’t realize I was thinking aloud. Yeah, I have everything I could possibly need, and then some. I’m all set.”

“Good. Then let’s get going.”

He seemed unusually tense on the drive to the convention center by Disneyland. I turned up the music to get myself pumped up, since he was ignoring me. Usually when we drove together, he asked me about school and my friends, but today he was solely focused on the traffic.

When we parked and got out of the car, he grabbed my bag without me even asking. Before I could ask him what was wrong, I was grabbed from behind.

“You look so great!” My body relaxed when I recognized Mckayla’s voice. She released me and spun me to face her. “You hardly ever wear makeup. This is quite the transformation.”

“I know what I look like, okay? We have to wear red lipstick, smoky eyes, and lashes so the judges can see our facial expressions.”

“It might not be an everyday look, but I like it. You look pretty.” She winked and slipped her arm through mine, leading me to the entrance doors.