Like I was in high school?I thought, digging my nails into the countertop instead of speaking. I wanted to let him relax a little more. I wanted to catch him completely off guard.
“I’ve matured quite a bit since then,” I whispered.
“I can see that.” He reached for me, pulling my mouth to his. His kiss was frenzied, too eager. I locked my hands behind his neck, responding as enthusiastically as I could.
I moved my mouth to his neck, sucking on it for a second before I let my teeth graze the skin. This, he seemed to like. He grabbed me, pulling me up so I was sitting on the countertop, and fitting himself between my legs. I could feel his erection pressing hard into my thigh, making it clear how badly he wanted this to happen.
I let Bradley’s hands explore my body for another second, his breathing becoming rabid with want.
“So, tell me,” I said softly, as his lips moved to my neck. I reached my hand down and stroked his dick through his jeans. Bradley groaned, his eyelids fluttering. “What?” he asked, his lips pressed to my throat. His hand squeezed my breast again.
“How long were you going to lie to me about fucking Alex Hopely?” My grip on his penis tightened.
Bradley’s lips stopped moving on my neck. He pulled back to look at me.
“What did you just say?” he asked.
“You heard me.” I released my grip on his dick.
Bradley moved away from me quickly, taking several steps back. His face paled and his arms hung loosely at his sides. “I don’t …”
I felt anger coursing through me. I hated the terrified way he was looking at me. “Well? Were you sleeping with Alex or not?”
He stared at me silently. We both knew the answer. The veins in his neck were bulging and his mouth was pulled into a line.
“Who told you that?” he asked, avoiding the question.
I pushed myself off the counter, readjusting my top so that I was covered. Bradley was under no more delusions that he’d be getting me into bed tonight.
“I spoke to Victoria Hopely today,” I told him. “Did you know she caught you and Alex hooking up? It’s weird that you never told me that, or the police for that matter.”
Bradley held his hands out defensively. He looked nervous. “Listen, Rose—”
“Were you sleeping with her or not?”
“Yes, but listen, please—”
I cut him off. “Then why didn’t you tell the police? Or me?”
Bradley’s face shriveled with desperation. “Because it would have made me look guilty!” he said loudly, his hands knotting in his hair.
For the first time since I’d gotten here, I felt a flare of panic. I didn’t like the way he was watching me. I realized that I never actually thought he killed Alex, or Hazel. I had been under the delusion that Bradley was disgusting, but not a murderer. I had come here for a confrontation, because I was angry and I wanted answers, but what if he had actually done it?
What if I had come over here, alone, to the apartment of a murderer? What if I hadsleptwith their murderer? I’d been with Bradley more times than I could count. I’d thought I knew him, but I realized I didn’t know him at all. Ihad been a teenager, and it had been years since I last saw him. It was the first time I’d ever considered that I had put myself in actual danger.
There was nothing to do but double down.
“Where were you the night of Will and Alex’s graduation?” I asked gently, trying to find the most innocuous way of phrasing it. Bradley’s eyes narrowed in disbelief, understanding exactly where I was going with this. He ran his hands over his face, looking exasperated.
“Are youseriousright now?”
“Answer the question.”
Bradley’s mouth hung open. “Holy shit, are you afraid of me? You’re shaking.” I didn’t realize that I had been, but I looked down and saw that my hands had started to quiver. “You are. Look at you!”
My jaw set. “You lied about sleeping with Alex. You had every reason to want her dead. And now with Hazel missing, it’s suspicious as fuck, Bradley. Did Hazel come asking about this too? Did you—”
“This is why you came over here?” Bradley asked, stepping toward me again, looking more emboldened. “To pretend you wanted to have sex so you could accuse me ofmurder?”
