“Well, that’s a little odd… because you and Mr. Landon seemed pretty involved the last time we spoke.”
My brows draw together. How does he know it was Jax who played drunken boyfriend? And why does him knowing who Jax is make the back of my neck prickle? Nix looks at me in confusion, probably wondering when we’ve spoken.
“Might I ask how long you’ve known Jax Landon?”
“What… what does that matter?” I feel like I’m being set up for a punchline, but I have no idea what it could be. I glance at Nix, hoping she doesn’t blurt something out, but she seems too busy looking Layton up and down in disdain.
He shrugs. “I’m just wondering how well you know him.”
“I…” Jesus, I wasn’t expecting this. It’s kind of hard to say I don’t know him that well when I’m set up here on his dime, and it’s also kind of hard to say I do know him when the ways I know him are not exactly things I can divulge. “He’s…” I flail.
“Right,” Layton says too quickly, as if my hesitation is all the answer he needed. His attention slides off me and lands on Nix. “Nicole Noland, I presume?”
My sister narrows her eyes, tilts her head, but says nothing.
Layton doesn’t seem bothered by the silence. “Where were you on the night of October fourteenth?” he asks.
Oh, God. My stomach turns. Why her? Why is he even looking at her? Nix isn’t supposed to be on his radar. If this all explodes, it’s supposed to fall on me. The machine hooked up to my chest starts to beep faster.
“Don’t… don’t you need her to have a guardian present?” I ask as if I haven’t been her unofficial guardian her whole life.
“That’s only for minors,” Layton says without missing a beat, and the words feel like a slap to the face. He’s dug into us. He knows she’s eighteen. He knows I’m not her legal guardian. He came in here prepared.
My mouth goes dry. “Well, she was with me,” I say quickly. Too quickly.
“I think I’d like to hear it from her.” He doesn’t even look at me, studying Nix too keenly for comfort.
But she holds his gaze just as determinedly and doesn’t say a word. What the fuck is she doing?!
“Nix,” I grit, silently begging her to justanswer, to give him something boring, something normal, something that doesn’t make us look like we have anything to hide.
“Cat got your tongue?” Layton challenges.
She raises an uninterested brow at that and folds her arms, still not answering.
What in the world?! She’s making us look guilty by not speaking. “I…” I try to convey the most scathing and scolding look at her that I can. “I’m sorry. She—she wasdropped on her head as a baby,” I hiss between my teeth.
“If I was dropped on my head,” she says, twisting to look at me, “you would have been the one to do it.”
“Yeah,” I snap, losing my cool because my nerves are raw and my heart is a ticking bomb, and she’s choosingnowto be a menace. “And I should’ve done it more often.”
Turning to Layton, I straighten the best I can with the adhesive patches on my chest and take a shaky breath. “I’m sorry. She’s a moody teenager. I—I barely get her to talk to me. But she was with me. Or I was with her. On the fourteenth. At night.”
Oh my God. I sound like a fucking idiot. What iswrongwith me?! Why can’t I get it together? It’s Nix. She’s messing me up. This is her fault. Why is she acting suspicious?
Layton’s gaze returns to me, sharpening. “Are you sure that’s the story you want to go with?”
“It’s not a story,” I say quickly, even though some part of me knows I’m walking into a trap. “We were together. All night.” Doubling down is wrong, I know it, but I can’t help it. I’ve already said it. I have to stick with it.
Layton nods, but it’s more in disappointment than agreement, and my stomach sinks.
“You see, I find that kind of odd, too,” he finally says.
“Oh?” I blink. “Why’s that?” My voice is embarrassingly high-pitched, and I clear my throat.
“Well,” he says casually, almost bored, “unless Bell’s Bar and Grill is in the habit of allowing underage patrons, your sister wasn’t with you.”
My blood runs cold, my breath stilling at the mention of Bell’s. Oh, fuck.
