In a low-cut tank top and jeans that made my ass look incredible, I padded my way to Jay’s room.
If I can’t get him to hear me out, maybe I can get his attention this way.
I took a deep breath. “Hey.”
“What’s up?” he responded, never looking up. He was sitting quietly on the edge of his bed taking dirty clothes from his duffle bag and putting them in the hamper.
“Can we talk?” I wondered, staring at his profile.
“About what?”
I was in uncharted territory with Jay, so I took a deep breath. “Everything.”
He didn’t say anything for a while. “I don’t think you want to hear what I have to say.”
“Yes, I do.”
He didn’t respond so I sat down in the chair next to the closet and started talking.
“Everyone in class must’ve read that bullshit email because they were staring at us the whole time. After class, Aiden asked me to ride with him to get food so we could talk privately.” I paused. “He went to the police.”
That got his attention. He stopped what he was doing and finally looked up at me.
“He told them the truth,” I continued, recounting the whole conversation. By the time I was done telling him what happened with Aiden’s interaction with the police, Jay was sitting up and nodding contemplatively.
“So, does that mean you’re off the hook?” he wondered.
“I don’t know. He said the police said they would be in touch. They haven’t contacted me. But between Aiden and Kim confirming my whereabouts, that should be enough, right?”
“It should be.”
“But there was something I found out in the conversation that’s been bothering me. Remember when I told you that Kim said that Olive said that Carter went looking for me?”
“Yeah.”
“Aiden said that Carter never came back inside the house. And then the next morning, they found her out back.”
Jay rested his forearms on his knees and leaned forward. “But if you were in the house and she was looking for you, why would she go to the lake?”
“Exactly. And since Mrs. Yates said she died of smoke inhalation, she would’ve had to been close to or on the boat.”
“Do you think she set the fire?” Jay asked. “The Carter I knew wouldn’t have, but the new Carter…” He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I don’t think so, but I don’t know. Just knowing that she was in on them pranking me makes me question everything I’ve ever known about her,” I sighed.
Her notebook flashed in my mind and I shook it off.
“She would’ve had to be on the boat or at least near the boat to inhale enough smoke to die from it,” he speculated. “The only thing that makes sense is that she either started the fire or she was trying to stop the person who started it. Does Kim know who started it?”
“Kim was in the dark, too. She was tasked with the same job as me—distract some PROs for a bit. Some of the others were getting the keys to the boat—Dakota! Dakota came down and held up the keys!”
“Dakota starting the fire makes sense.”
“It does. Especially since she was trying to get back at Trevor and frame me for it.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket, looking to see if Kim had called. “I want to talk to Kim about it. She was in the living room so maybe she saw something else.”
“Why don’t you call her?”
“Well, I called her yesterday and it was weird. She was clearly talking in code. I assumed she was with Trevor. She said she was going to stop dating him after she went to the police, but maybe she reconsidered. I don’t know. Either way, she said that she was having a burger and hoped they didn’t burner it.” I made an exaggerated gesture with my hands. “Burner was obviously a hint that she needed to talk to me on her burner phone. She said she was going to call me today, but I haven’t heard from her yet. Should I be worried?”
“Hm…” He sat up. “From what you said about her wanting to meet you at the furniture store, she was afraid of being overheard. Maybe she’s just waiting until the coast is clear.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I think this whole situation is just making me paranoid.”
We stared at each other quietly for a moment.
“I found the book of words Carter talked about creating in one of the crates,” I started, feeling the flutter in my belly.
“Oh, she finished it?”
I nodded. “And she dedicated it to us.”
“Yeah, she must’ve done that freshman year,” he said with a hint of amusement. “Last season during basketball games she didn’t even acknowledge me.”
I smiled. “I’ve been thinking a lot about her. Obviously with everything going on, I’ve been focusing on the good. But she was a real bitch last year when she wanted to be.”
“I don’t know if you can say that now that she’s gone,” he chuckled.
I closed my eyes and savored the deeply sexy sound. “I don’t mean it like that! She always called herself a bitch,” I giggled. “And she was.”
He nodded. “What was the thing she used to say?”
“Looks like Belle with an attitude from Hell,” I quoted, remembering fondly. “That was her signature on her email for two years.”
“Where was Belle from?”
“Beauty and the Beast,” I answered. “Remember that time she referred to the two of you as Beauty and the Beast?”
He
