“We know, princess. The police are canvassing the area, trying to find witnesses who saw where the shots came from,” Dad adds, throwing a warning look in Chad’s and Ares’s directions. Meaning The Luminaries are on the case, and they’ll have the culprit locked in their basement in no time.
The moments leading up to the shooting come back to me, and I hiss under my breath.
“What?” Jase leans down, putting his obnoxiously gorgeous face in front of mine. “What have you remembered?”
“Anita Hoare,” I rasp. “She was there, being annoying on the sidewalk, stopping me from walking to my car.”
“She was stalling you,” Ares says.
I nod without thinking, almost crying when pain spreads across my skull with the motion. I sink back against my pillow, briefly closing my eyes. “This was Julia,” I say after a few beats. “Anita doesn’t have the balls to try to take me down or the contacts to make it happen, but Julia does.”
Shocked silence rings out for a few seconds.
“This is your fault. Both of you,” Ares says, and I don’t need to look at him to know he’s glaring at Chad and Jase.
“Ashley, you can’t accuse your cousin of something like this.” Shock splays across Mom’s brow. “I know you two have your differences, but she wouldn’t do this. She couldn’t.” The meaning is clear, but Mom can’t verbalize it with two plebs in the room.
“Let’s go grab some coffees,” Dad says to Ares and Chad. “You boys can come with me.”
“Fuck no. Take the jock, but I’m staying.”
“Ares, please.” I plead with my eyes. “Just go with Dad.”
Darting forward, he presses a soft kiss to my lips. “I just needed to touch you to know you’re okay,” he whispers in my ear. “You gave me one hell of a fright, dollface.”
“I’m okay. Go sneak me a coffee. You know how I like it.”
He places another kiss on my brow before straightening up.
Jase chuckles at the furious expression on Dad’s face.
“I warned you she was off limits,” Dad hisses as he ushers the two guys out of the room.
“Ashley,” Chad calls out, twisting away from Dad and staring at me with the most tormented expression. “I didn’t fuck her. I never could. Not when I’m still so in love with you.”
If that’s true, it means he deliberately set it up to look that way to hurt me. He purposely planned it to inflict the worst pain, and I’m not sure I can ever forgive him. I know I hurt him deeply, but I didn’t plan it, and I tried—albeit weakly—to stop it from happening. He can’t say the same.
Mom mutters something I can’t hear under her breath.
Ares scowls at Chad as Dad yanks them both out of the room.
“When did that happen?” Mom slants me with a knowing look.
“I’m not discussing it now.”
“Temptress.” Jase occupies the space vacated by my father, threading his fingers through mine.
“You lost the right to call me that,” I say, immediately extracting my fingers from his.
Bree slants a sympathetic look in her brother’s direction, and if I find out she has been keeping other things from me, our friendship is forever dead.
Mom glares at Jase, furiously shaking her head. “Need I remind you of the danger?”
“What don’t I know?” I ask, my blurry gaze bouncing between the three of them. My eyelids are growing heavy, and I’m fighting to stay awake.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about now,” Jase says, softening his voice and his expression. “I’m glad you’re okay.” He lifts my hand to his lips, placing a kiss on my knuckles. “I almost crashed my car when Bree called.”
For the second time, I pull my hand back, and he frowns.
