“Is that the truth?”
“It is.” He maintains eye contact with me. “You’d have known if I did anything unless you weren’t still a virgin then?”
“I was.” I knot my hands on my lap. “If I hadn’t been passed out, what did you plan?”
He purses his lips before saying, “I planned to take your virginity. Not by force,” he rushes to add with whatever he sees on our faces. “I would never do that, but I hoped to seduce you into giving it up to me.”
I don’t know if I believe him. Old me would’ve accepted this, but I’m determined not to be that same gullible fool. “If you didn’t touch me, why was your shirt off, your jeans unbuttoned, and why did you have your hands up my skirt?”
He chews on the inside of his cheek. “I swear I didn’t touch your pussy, but I was running my hands over you, and I laid down beside you, trying to wake you up.”
“You motherfucker.” Renee hops up, enraged.
“I was a piece of shit, Astrid, and I am deeply sorry. I truly am.”
“What else do I need to know?” I clip out, just wanting to get out of here now.
What is with me and my shitty taste in men?
“I believe Gwen tampered with my brakes that night.”
All three of us stare at him with our jaws trailing the ground.
“That’s a very serious accusation, Joe,” Renee says. “I know she’s a crazy bitch, but attempting murder is on a whole other level.”
“Renee, Gwen is a fucking psycho. She is not just a crazy bitch. She’s not sane.”
“Do you have any evidence?” I ask over the lump wedged in my throat.
“Unfortunately, not. My dad tried to get something to pin on her, but my car was wrecked in the smash, and it was too hard to determine exactly what caused the brakes to fail.”
“Why do you think she did it?” Nikki asks, beginning to pace the floor.
“Gwen found me staggering around the side of Thor’s house after the guys knocked me around. I told her it was no use. That Callan was obsessed with you, Astrid, and you didn’t have any interest in me anymore. She threw a hissy fit and threatened me if I didn’t keep trying. I told her I was done with her and I was going to tell you everything. She said she’d kill me before she let me breathe a word to you.”
He exhales heavily. “She hit me with a rock to my temple, and I blacked out for a bit. When I woke, she was gone, and I was lying on the ground with blood leaking from a gash in my head. I shouldn’t have gotten in my car. I think I probably had a concussion, but I wasn’t thinking straight, and you know what happened after that.”
“Did you tell the cops all of this?”
He nods. “I told them everything, but it was months later, and they didn’t believe me. I was very confused when I first came out of my coma, and I had some temporary amnesia. When I remembered, I told the sheriff, but Gwen and Scott had already given statements stating they were with each other all night and the next morning. The sheriff said I was confused, and it happens in tragic accidents like mine.” His eyes darken with barely contained rage. “I don’t care what anyone says though. I know she did it. I know she messed with my brakes and tried to kill me.”
He directs his chair forward until he’s right beside me. “Astrid, please be careful. I don’t know exactly what went down with Callan and Gwen or what you’ve been told. All I know isshe was obsessed with him, and she wanted him. She would do anything to get him.”
“Well, she succeeded,” I say, standing. “And she’s welcome to him. I am done with them.”
“I’m worried she might try to harm you.” Joe places his hand on my arm, stalling me. “She is very jealous of you, Astrid. She was never a true friend. You might think the danger has passed because she got Callan, but she is a dangerous bitch, and you need to watch your back.”
“I took out a restraining order. She can’t come near me without risking arrest.”
“Just promise me you’ll be careful. Stay well away from her. It’s why I had to tell you, because if anything happened to you and I hadn’t said anything, I would never have forgiven myself.”
53
ASTRID
“Let’s face it, anything is possible with cuntface,” Nikki says as we nurse coffees in the newest coffee shop in Ryemont after our meeting with Joe. The coffee is not great, but Cake and Coffee is a trigger for me, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to set foot in there again.
“But murder?” Renee worries her lower lip between her teeth.
