Page 28 of Tell No Lies

I spotted the enchiladas and grabbed them.

Carter laughed behind me and nudged me toward the stools at the island. We ate in silence for a few minutes, but Carter quickly seemed to reach his limit.

“How are you doing?” His brow was furrowed, and I could tell he had been stressed all day as well.

I shrugged and pushed my plate away. “I just don’t understand.”

He reached forward and scooted me toward him so I was facing him in my seat. “I don’t understand either, but I promise I will be here for you. I don’t care if I sleep on the floor next to you from now on. I’m not going to let anything happen.”

There was such sincerity in his eyes, I knew he meant it. I watched as his gaze dropped from my eyes to my lips. I sucked in a breath. Is he going to kiss me again? I was surprised by how badly I wanted him to. Despite his flip-flopping between being a flirt and being another brother, I couldn’t deny my attraction to him.

I leaned forward just slightly. His eyes snapped back to mine, and he pushed his chair back and stood. He grabbed our paper plates and threw them away without another look at me.

Apparently, I’d been wrong. I was just the little sister. I sighed and shuffled into my room, shutting the door behind me, needing a few moments by myself.

I sat down at my desk and opened my laptop. An envelope icon was on the center of my screen. I gasped, remembering seeing it before packing for the trip. I had forgotten about it that night, and now there was a little number two attached to it.

I looked around my room, feeling like I was being watched. While I hovered the mouse over the icon, an internal battle was taking place. Should I open it or not? Finally, I clicked and waited for something to appear.

The older message appeared first. It was dated last Thursday, the night I’d been packing. I skimmed over the message and had a familiar feeling wash over me. Déjà vu. I tried to keep calm as I opened the newer message.

My body was trembling, but my mind was frozen.

As soon as I had the strength, I called out for Carter. He burst into the room exactly as Brandon had this morning. He scanned the room before looking at me. Concern washed over his face as he rushed over. Kneeling so he was eye-level with me, he held my face in his hands. This felt too familiar.

“What’s wrong?” His gaze was so intense I couldn’t turn away. I lifted a hand to point at the screen while keeping my eyes locked with his.

He broke contact and followed my finger. He read the message then moved the mouse to open the second. He swore quietly under his breath and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. After a few seconds, he began talking. “Brandon, you need to get back here. This is worse than we thought.”

He hung up and read the messages over again. “When did you see these?”

“I noticed the envelope last Thursday, but I didn’t click on it then. I forgot about it until just now. When I opened my computer, the icon was there, showing two messages.”

He stood and began pacing the room. I watched him for a moment before turning back to the screen and rereading the messages.

The first made me uneasy.

My Aubrey, you tried to run, but you can never hide. I will always be watching.

He’d proven his point with the delivery of the photographs. No matter where I moved, he was going to find me. He was going to continue to haunt me from inside his prison.

The second message sent shivers down my spine.

How dare you betray me? You are mine. Forever. I’ll make sure of that.

I read it over and over again. What did it mean? Was I putting my friends in danger?

I started to feel sick as I stared at the screen. Carter was yelling after me as I ran into the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time. After my stomach was empty, I rolled onto my side and let my tears fall freely. Pretending was too hard; I wasn’t strong enough to act like I was okay anymore.

Eleven

Despite the messages, Brandon decided it would be best if I went to school the next day. He wanted me to act as normal as possible until they could figure out who sent the messages. He assured me he would spend the day working on it and would dedicate an entire team to the task, if needed. I should have been grateful he was a computer genius, but it made me nervous having him more involved.

The message had been a threat to anyone close to me. It wasn’t clear whether it meant just other guys or anyone in general, but I didn’t want to take chances. If it was up to me, I would move out to some remote location by myself to keep everyone else safe.

I hadn’t told anyone else about the messages or the photos. It felt wrong to keep something like this from my friends, especially the girls, but I figured the less they knew, the safer they would be.

Everyone assumed I’d been sick yesterday. People told me they were glad I was feeling better, and I didn’t bother correcting them. I tried my best to act normal, but it felt like I was in a haze … or maybe this was all some bad nightmare. No one seemed to catch on to my anxiety, though.