Page 9 of Tell No Lies

He was looking down at his hand grasping mine, stroking my palm with his thumb. “I must have scared you. You were sneaking around the house holding a knife, and when I came out of your bathroom, I slammed right into you. You scared me just as much, and … I don’t know, you just collapsed. I tried to hold you up, but …”

He took a deep breath and finally looked me in the eyes. “I called 911, and they told me to do compressions if you didn’t start breathing on your own. Thankfully, you did just that a few seconds into the call.” He stopped and looked over to Brandon then back to me, guilt on his face.

“I came by to check on you and drop off a gift. You’re usually home from dance by five, but when you didn’t respond, I decided to just put your gift in your bathroom. I swear, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m so sorry!”

I sat up and squeezed the hand that held mine. “You’re not making any sense. What gift? And what were you saying about a knife?”

Brandon spoke up this time. “Liv went to this new soap shop in L.A. It’s all organic, handmade stuff, and she bought a bunch for you. I gave it all to Carter to drop off since I knew I wouldn’t make it home until late tonight.”

I was more confused than ever. “What does soap have to do with my waking up to an EMT in my face?”

Mckayla snickered behind me and rubbed my back. “You went all 007 and tried to attack Carter with a kitchen knife.”

I snapped my head toward her. “What?”

She laughed and pointed to the ground where one of our knives lay, looking very out of place. Hmmm.

I pulled my hand away from Carter’s and sat back against the headboard. I held my head in my hands, resting my elbows against my knees. Seeing the knife reminded me of something. After a few seconds of concentration, it all came back. I burst out laughing. They probably assumed I had lost my mind as tears rolled down my face. I began hiccupping through my giggles.

Mckayla began laughing, shaking the bed. “You guys, this is it. We’ve officially lost her!”

That seemed to break the tension in the room, and soon they were all laughing.

“Sorry, I just remembered. Carter, I’m so sorry!”

He reached for my hand and held it in both of his. Did he realize that Brandon could see him?

“Don’t apologize. You have enough to worry about without me sneaking around your house.”

“It’s fine. When I got home, I could hear someone inside, but I knew Brandon wouldn’t be home.”

He nodded in confirmation.

“I assumed it was the person who’d left the note.”

Brandon stopped me. “So, you went in?”

I shrugged. “It made sense at the time. I brought my phone with me!” As if that explained anything.

“Yeah, I noticed that was the only thing you brought. Your bags were sitting outside the door when I got here.”

“Sorry. My instinct was to find out who it was.”

“Well, next time, why don’t you use that phone of yours and call me or the police or security. Maybe I should just have them escort you from now on.”

“No! That’s ridiculous!” He was treating me like a child!

Carter was nodding his head, agreeing with Brandon. “That’s actually a really good idea. Everyone coming and going should have to check with them. Even if they know us.”

Brandon agreed before I could argue my side. Great, a babysitter.

We finished filling in the holes of what happened by the time dinner arrived. Diane ordered it while they were waiting for the EMT to finish with me. She was always so on top of things.

They let me relocate to the living room as long as I allowed Brandon to carry me. They were being ridiculous about me relaxing, but I could get used to being treated like a princess.

After a few minutes of silence as we ate, Diane spoke up. “I hope this doesn’t affect your decision to let Aubrey go this weekend.” She winked at me as we waited for Brandon to answer.

“I don’t know. She lost consciousness. That’s kind of a big deal, Diane.”