He ignores me, flipping through channels, and Dax throws his arm around me. "Hey…come on."
We head upstairs like that, and he leans in and whispers in my ear, "Just leave him alone, okay? What are you worried about, anyway?"
"Nothing."
I walk into Dax's room, lie in bed, and pull the covers up to my neck, my eyes immediately heavy. "Are you worried he's going to be mad and start fucking with you again because I found out your secret?" Dax asks, climbing into bed next to me and holding me tightly against his chest.
"Yeah…" I lie. "I guess so."
But that's a definite possibility, too.
"I don't think you need to worry about that. Hockey is good for him; I think he'll be better. You might have just fixed him, baby—fixed what you broke. You're a good girl."
"Ididn't break Elias. I didn't do anything to him."
"Maybe not. But he thinks you did."
I close my eyes and lace my fingers with his. "I don't care what he thinks. I don't care about him at all. I only care about you and Nolan. And my dog."
"It's okay, Saige. Go to sleep."
But I don't. Not until after the sun comes up.
25
it's existential, baby
Dax
Iswap out Elias's playlist for my own before spotting Saige across the room, laughing at something Kira said. Dropping onto the couch, I stare at her thighs in her tiny black skirt as she walks toward me, standing between my legs before I grab her by the bottom of her skirt and pull her into my lap.
"You look fucking good," I tell her.
"I can't see you at all," she says before pulling off my Ghostface mask. "There are too many of these masks here. It makes me feel weird."
"Really? I'm kind of into the mask thing. You don't like them?"
"No…especially not now."
She looks somewhere over my shoulder, and I realize she's probably looking at every single mask, wondering if the person underneath it is the one who's been tormenting her for over a month.
"Well, I'll make you like it later, Ripley." Tugging the braids on her wig, I kiss her, tasting vodka on her tongue, sucking onher lower lip before I think better of it. "Shit. I'm covered in black lipstick, aren't I?"
Saige laughs. "Yeah…"
"How bad is it?"
"It's pretty bad."
"No…really?"
She laughs and buries her head in my shoulder while I check it with the camera on my phone. "Damn it. Eh, that's okay. You'll pay for it later."
Before I put it back in my pocket, I check my texts messages, ignoring several and opening the one from Nolan.
NOLAN There's an accident on the bridge, and I'm stuck here. I'm not sure how long it'll take, but I'll be there as soon as I can.
"Shit…"
