Page 39 of Pretty Nightmare

Adam sighs again. “Well, she seems to think—” My phone buzzes again. “Jesus. Just answer it. Then you can block it and it’ll leave us alone.”

I pull the phone out and it buzzes in my hand as I look at the screen. Then I just… stop. Go still.

“Who is it?”

I hold the phone up so Adam can see.

“Payphone?” He lifts one eyebrow up at me. “Someone’s calling you from a payphone.” I don’t say anything. So Adam says, “Answer it.”

I don’t answer it. Because I think I know who’s on the other end of that call. And I’m not sure—

Adam grabs the phone, tabs accept, presses speaker, and says, “What?” in his mean, I’m-an-asshole voice.

“McKay?”

And a chill runs up my spine when I recognize the voice.

Adam looks at me. Because he recognizes it too.

“McKay?”

“This is Adam. Who is this?”

But all we get are the hang-up beeps.

Adam holds the phone up and glares at me. “What. The actual. Fuck, McKay?”

I run my fingers though my hair. My turn to be unsure of myself.

“I thought you fucking killed him.”

“What?” I laugh.

“I knew Indie didn’t kill him. I saw him moving around on the ground when I was pulling out to take Maggie to the hospital. So I thought you finished him off.”

“Jesus. I’m not that big of an asshole.”

Adam gets to his feet and starts shaking his head. “You let him walk away. You actually let that little fucker walk away. Core McKay! What the hell were you thinking?”

I get up too. And then take a step towards the shore because one of us is gonna fall off this fucking dock if we try to stand shoulder to shoulder.

“Are you gonna answer me?”

“Look, I get it. He’s—”

“He’s the whole fucking reason she attacked me, McKay.”

“That’s not true and you know it.”

“Really? And you know this how? Because you were there? That little rapist—”

“Oh, come on, Adam.”

“—was filling her head up with shit. All these years!”

My phone buzzes again. I snatch it out of Adam’s hand and press accept. “McKay.”

“McKay?”