I huff out a laugh.I do now.I keep that to myself.
“I thought it was just a rumor, but I’m assuming it’s Josslyn?” she asks, and when I don’t respond, she adds, “She’s really pretty. I love her videos. They make me feel like we’re besties.”
“Yeah, she has that effect on people,” I say, feeling my lips tug as I think about the way she lights up any room she’s in.
And now she’s lighting up as some other guy stuffs his cock inside her.The thought makes my heart drop hard.
The sound of my car behind me kicks my adrenaline back into high gear. I rush to the driver’s side, not even bothering to say goodbye to Tasha as I give the guy a tip and floor it.
35
JOSSLYN
“Ireally am sorry for your loss,” Leo says across from me.
I give him a tight-lipped smile. As enlightening as the night has been, I’m no closer to getting answers than I was before I got here. It’s why I ended up telling Leo—in a roundabout way—the reason I’m here, as I’ve been practically begging him to give me the names of everyone Mallory may have come into contact with at Onyx. I’m pretty sure that Titus is the only reason this man hasn’t already tried to bribe me with sex for information. Not that he’s said much about my stepdad, but he sang his praises when we first sat down and started talking, so that must be enough. Not enough to keep his eyes from staring at my cleavage, though.
“I just really need closure,” I say after a moment.
“It’s been, what, a year? Why now?” He takes a sip of his drink.
He says a year like that’s enough time for someone to process and move on from something this big. I guess it is for some people. It probably should be for me, considering I didn’t know Mal my entire life or anything. Grief doesn’t work that way, though.Guiltdoesn’t work that way.
“I guess in the beginning, I was in shock, and then I filed it allaway so I didn’t have to think about it, but lately it’s been haunting me.”
“Understandable,” he says, offering me a sad smile. “It was such a horrible accident.”
“Were you there that night?”
“I was out of town. My brother-in-law and sister were there, but they left early.” He takes another sip, eyes on the table like he’s lost in memory.
“I was supposed to drive her home.”
“Were you there when the fire started?” His eyes widen as he sets his glass down. “Do you remember what happened?”
The quick way in which he asks the questions makes me wonder if he’s covering something up or has his own suspicions about what happened that night.
“I don’t know.” I press my lips together momentarily to gather my thoughts. “I don’t remember.”
He frowns. “What do you mean?”
“I think my brain blocked the night out,” I say, not wanting to give him too many details. “That’s part of why I want to speak to people she was close to. I guess I just want to understand what happened.”
“You don’t believe it was an accident.” His brown eyes narrow slightly. “Do you believe she took her own life?”
I know I can’t trust this man, and I’m scared that if I give away too much, he’ll pull back and not help me at all, but I need to play this right.
“What do you believe?” I ask.
“I think there is a lot of mystery surrounding this. I know the rope was found intact. Do you know how they identified her?” he asks.
I nod, swallowing hard. “Her teeth.”
They said it was so bad that the Barlows didn’t even have a choice to have an open casket. No one ever spoke about it, but from the research I did, I don’t think there was anything left of her but bones. The media said the rope that remained gave detectivesa “clear understanding as to what probably happened.” They reported that she took her own life, but I’ll never believe that narrative. I probably should. It’s not like I thought my father would ever take his own life, and he did, so why not Mal?
I clear my throat. “I don’t think she committed suicide.”
“We can’t know that,” he says, offering a sympathetic smile. “I know you want the list of people who were there that night, but there’s the issue of privacy.”
