“Excuse me.” I fumble, holding my pills up. “I’ve been missing these for days, and I knew Puck hid them.” I kick the beanie, doing my best to push it back under the bed without him seeing I found out his secret. “I didn’t see anything else.”
His gaze angles down in a wide sweep, his nerves evident by his brow pinned together as he checks his side of the bed. Thankfully, it’s clear. The air is thick as I slide my feet toward the door, hurrying along.
“We missed you at the banquet.” Bill’s tone is neutral.
“Ah, sorry. I wasn’t feeling well.” I hold my pills up again, thankful to have tangible proof to show him. “I haven’t had any meds in days. Everything caught up to me.”
“I saw Paisley downstairs.”
“Yeah, I invited her to hang out.”
“I’m about ready to turn in for the night and watch the news.” He nods toward his bed, a kind smile on his face. “I hope you feel better.”
“Thanks.” My fingers tighten around the bottle. This time my feet don’t stop until I get to the bathroom. I fill a large cup of water and swallow my pill. Relief washes over me as I know I dodged a panic attack. I turn the faucet on, letting it run for a minute before I lower my face over the sink basin and splash cold water on it.
I’m already feeling better when I emerge from the bathroom to return to Paisley. Hopefully, my mind clears up, and I can figure out how to help her.
twelve
Paisley
I pace around the circumference of Noah’s living room, phone tucked to my ear. “I know what you are saying, Dad. I’m trying not to worry too much.”
“I would worry,” he responds, his gruff voice ticking up a notch. “There are a lot of weirdos out there. The fact that they held onto the photos for so long tells me they have a plan of some sort. You didn’t find any notes or anything? Did you look all around your car in case it blew away?”
“Nothing.” Goosebumps dot my spine because that’s the thing that bothers me the most. Without a note, I have no idea what this person is trying to accomplish.
“I don’t think you should be staying alone anymore. Can you come back here and stay with your mom and me?”
“I don’t want to leave until morning because it’s dark already, but Noah was concerned too, so he insisted I stay at his place for the night.”
Silence, before I hear how that sounds to my old-fashioned dad. “It’s not like a bachelor pad. He lives with his mom and . . . stepfather.” I purposely retract Bill’s name as I cringe, holding back every intention I had of being honest about Noah’s relationship to Bill. I’m going to tell him about it, but I wasn’t planning on also getting a stalker. Too much stress at one time will kill my dad.
“Noah?” His voice crescendos. “The same guy you went on a date with?”
“Yeah.” Folding my lips in, I now regret even telling my dad about the stalker. He had called, and I was still upset, and he could hear something in my voice. When he asked me what was wrong, it slipped out. Now I regret answering the phone.
“Don’t you think the timing is a little weird for all of this? You start dating this guy, and now you have a stalker.”
“It has nothing to do with Noah.” I shake my head vehemently. I know that as fact. If it has to do with anyone, I guess it is my dad since I’m here working for him, and he does have an interesting way of doing business, making many enemies.
“I don’t like this one bit, but you’re a grown woman.” An audible sigh waves through my phone. “Let me know when you get on the road in the morning. I’m glad your travel assignment is over. It’s time for you to come home.”
“I will.” Noah’s footfalls coming down the stairs sound in the background, and I push the conversation to end. “I’ll text in the morning. Love you.” I press end on the call right as I turn to Noah.
He jerks a thumb over his shoulder. “Did you see Bill come in?”
“Briefly.” My eyes trace the invisible trail he created when he motioned to the steps. My heart feels heavy being in this house after everything I had planned to do to hurt Bill. “They came in and said hi and reiterated that I am welcome. He said somethingabout a carnival this weekend that I was invited to and then went upstairs.”
“Oh, yeah, another one of Bill’s charity things. He takes his charity work almost as seriously as hockey.” Noah’s gaze dances over my face as if he’s studying me. “You’re welcome to come if you want.”
I hang my head as guilt washes over me. When I accepted this assignment to come to Mapleton, I only had one mission—to make my dad proud. I never thought about the people who I would be hurting. I know now with every ounce of blood in my body I would never be able to intentionally hurt anyone. The thing is, before I came here, the team didn’t feel like real people. It was like fictional characters made out to be villains, with Bill as their headmaster. I loved to despise them because that’s the story I was always told.
I lock eyes with Noah, and shame overcomes me. With those pictures in someone’s hands, it might be only a matter of time before they are exposed in a more public way.
This might be my only chance to explain to Noah.
I want to give him an explanation not to cover myself, or make excuses, but to let him know I was wrong and that I had an awakening. And it was largely because of the kindness he showed me.
