Katarina, Kricket, and Krow are sitting around the kitchen table. I imagine they don’t know what went down on that table last night.
I’d love to tell them that just hours earlier there was a ten-inch purple dildo hanging from the lights.
They’re staring at each other, and I keep walking toward the stairs. I hate to wonder where Bradley is, but it’s only a matter of seconds before my wonderment is no more.
“Why are you in my room?” This conversation feels familiar. Bradley is and always has been a snoop. I had to lock everything in my bedroom with one of those locker pad-locks so he couldn’t reach my journal, notes between friends, and whatever else I had that I didn’t want him to see. I had a stack of locked crates in my closet for the sole purpose of keeping him out.
“What’s your password?” he asks, trying to log in to my computer.
“What? No, Bradley.”
“I need to see something.”
“Bradley, I have nothing to say to you right now other than … leave my room. Go be with your wife and your future psycho sister-in-laws.”
Bradley is ignoring me as I speak and finally guesses my password. It wasn’t exactly challenging, being the month and date of my birthday, but what the hell?
Bradley pulls up some weird code on a black screen and types the word “abort.”
“What are you doing? What is that?”
He twists in his seat and shakes his head at me. He then opens up my notepad and begins to type.
I’m in a real tight spot right now. I just took the internet tracker off of your computer. Ronald, Kat’s dad, is watching everything. It’s “all in the name of research.” He’s crazy, Ashley. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I agreed. I promise you. It all happened so fast.
I grab the back of his shirt, forcing him to turn around. “Fix it,” I mouth.
“I will,” he whispers back. Bradley continues typing:
There’s another bonfire tonight. Just be yourself and know I’m taking care of things behind the scenes. Please, just go?
Everything in my body wants to pummel him, but I see the nervous glint in his eyes, and for once in my life, it’s nice to be on the side that didn’t screw up. He knows he messed up, and he’s going to have to pay the price now. I’m actually fine with going to the bonfire because it will give me a chance to check up on Noah, and make sure he’s okay.
“Leave,” I tell Bradley again. I may be agreeable to this situation, but I am not ready to forgive him for this.
Reluctantly, Bradley stands up from my desk and leaves me in my bedroom. I wonder how he’s planning to fix this, or if he was just saying that to get me off his back.
After I spend a few minutes calming down, I check my phone to see if Noah responded to my message. He hasn’t.
Tonight. Crap. I just made plans for tonight with Olivia. This isn’t going to turn out well. I have to find a way to avoid the bonfire.
I sit down at my computer and click off of the notepad Bradley opened, searching for the black screen he had open. I find it, along with a bunch of gibberish. Thankfully, I haven’t used my computer for anything significant, but it’s lovely to know it was being monitored.
If I ever meet this asshole who duped us all into being part of his research, I’ll knock him straight in the jaw. I wonder how much the rest of the men know if they missed some fine print too. I mean, in all seriousness, anyone who is given the offer at a chance for prize money like they are should definitely read all the fine print. I shouldn’t be one to talk, but I didn’t think Bradley would pull the rug out from beneath me like he has.
I sent Olivia my address with plans of keeping her from the circus in my house. I’ve been sitting on my front steps waiting for her to arrive, watching Theo tend to his garden like he does every night at the same time. Theo waves over at me, but he doesn’t stop to chat like has been. I wonder if he’s embarrassed after our last encounter.
A black Jeep Wrangler slowly pulls into the development. Since I haven’t seen that car around here before, I assume it’s Olivia. Taking the chance, I wave my arms, so she spots my empty driveway.
Theo raises his hand to shield his eyes from the sun. He looks confused when he must see a woman in the driver’s seat. No one new seems to pull into this place unless they live here.
The Jeep comes to a stop in the driveway behind the white stucco wall, and Olivia steps out. “I found a sitter,” she sings out. “And I have wine coolers.” Her hair is done tonight, versus the other night when it was up in a messy ponytail, one that screamed I need a shower and a break. She’s wearing a little make-up and is in a beachy white sundress. She looks younger than she did the other night, except for the puffy discolored bags beneath her eyes.
I wasn’t expecting the excitement to pour out of her, not after the way I saw her the other night. “Sorry, I have had no one to watch Mia in over three months. This is officially my night off.”
“Liv?” I hear. Theo’s shouting over as if he knows her, which he must if he’s calling her Liv. “Oh my God, Liv, what are you doing here?”
Olivia looks a little confused as she squints in Theo’s direction. “Theo?” Olivia moves away from her car, toward me, but still squinting off into the distance to figure out if she’s seeing Theo. “What are you doing here? You don’t live in Tybee anymore. You couldn’t stand this place any longer, if I remember correctly.” A soft laugh trickles from Olivia’s throat.
