Page 69 of Pretty Nightmare

After we’re done eating, he asks Maggie if she wants to ride home with Donovan. And she jumps at this.

“I’ll ride with you too,” Indie offers. Then she squeezes my thigh under the table. Like she’s in on some secret plan.

And it does feel like a plan. Because now Adam and I have forty minutes to ourselves on the ride home.

I expect him to bring up what happened this afternoon. And he does. But it’s not the part I was thinking about.

Because he asks, “What are you gonna do about Nathan?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you gonna tell Indie?”

“Fuck, no.” I just stare at him. “Why? You think I should tell Indie?”

He shrugs as he pulls onto the highway. “Secrets, McKay. You should know better.”

“This is not the time to tell her. Trust me. She’s in a good place now.”

“Yeah. She is. But the longer you go—”

“It’s too late. The time to tell her he was alive was four months ago when we listened to those tapes together.”

“Yeah,” Adam says. “I don’t understand that. Why did you lie?”

“I thought he was dead.”

“McKay. She thinks she killed him. Indie thinks she killed her best friend in a fit of PSYOPS rage. You knew that wasn’t true. That’s the lie that’s gonna get you in the end.”

“I know.”

“And he’s not dead.”

“I know.”

“So what if he shows up here?”

“He won’t.”

“You don’t know that.” He’s quiet for a few moments. But then he glances over at me. “If you’re gonna keep this lie going, then we need to find him. Threaten him, or pay him off, or…” Adam shrugs.

“Or what?”

“Kill him.”

“You’re not serious.”

His eyes dart over to me again, then return to the road. “Are you trying to tell me that thought didn’t cross your mind this afternoon?”

I draw in a deep breath. “Maybe.”

Adam laughs. “Asshole. Don’t try to make me feel like a psychopath.”

“But then I came to my senses because—”

“Listen. We either have to tell her or we have to take care of it, McKay. Those are the options. I don’t really fucking care either way. But we need to figure it out.”

“You should care.”