“You’re sick,” I spat.
“And then it hit me,” she said quietly. “It’s because you don’t want him to remember why he left Newdale because it has something to do with you, doesn’t it? I think I’ll ask around. Take a trip to the drugstores. Ask Fiona about Brad’s love for soccer. Maybe I’ll talk to Keenan. Figure out if you’ve bought clonazepam before. Make no mistake, Maya. Very soon, everybody will know exactly what kind of a manipulative piece of shit liar you really are.”
I stared at her. Lily was more dangerous than I’d thought. Most of us were when we had nothing left to lose, but she’d always been at least two steps behind me. She still was, because I’d prepared for this. Hoped for it, even, if I’m being completely honest. A tingle zipped down my spine and I forced my face to fall for a second or two. I had to let her think she’d got to me, and believed I was scared.
“Let’s get a few things straight,” I said, lowering my voice to a trembling and not very convincing stern whisper. “One, you’d have to find proof first, which you never will, I can promise you that. Two, you’ve lost Ash. Again. And three, I’ll make sure it’s permanent this time.” When she opened her mouth to respond I kept going. “We’re leaving in the morning to pick up his things. I suggest you go back to Maryland, too. Go home, don’t come back and don’t contact either of us again.”
I turned and marched to my car, and as I drove off, I looked in the rearview mirror. She stood in the doorway, her cold, hard glare boring into me. No point in believing she would follow my advice. I didn’t want her to, but I couldn’t let her get Keenan on her side. Together they’d be a dangerous combination, and Fiona, too, if she ever told Lily about Dealer Dave.
“One step at a time,” I whispered. “One step at a time.”
When I headed down our road, and as I got to Keenan’s place, I saw him working on his Subaru in his garage, tools laid out, front left wheel on the floor, the car raised with a scissor jack on the old, uneven concrete floor. I parked and walked over. Keenan raised an eyebrow.
“I haven’t done anything,” he said. “I haven’t even seen Ash.”
“I know,” I said, smiling.
“Then why are you here?” he said with a smirk. “My irresistible charm?”
“I wanted to thank you for the info about Lily.” I moved closer. “You were right about her. Ash was so shocked he threw her out. I know you hoped it would hurt him, and it has, but you did him a favor in the long run. She’s crazy.”
Keenan rolled his eyes. “Christ, that didn’t take you long, did it?”
“What do you mean? You didn’t think I’d tell him? I’ve always looked out for him.”
He reached for a can of beer, his fifth or sixth judging by the amount of debris scattered across the floor, and attempted what he maybe thought was a sexy wink. “Yeah, sure you have.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, come on. Everyone knows you’ve lusted over him for years. I sure as hell always did. I knew it the moment I found your notebook with all those cutesy double hearts and that—” he made quotation marks “—Maya and Ash forever shit.”
I let out a gasp. “You found my notebook?”
“Not as much as I took it,” he said with a laugh. “It was right there, on top of your bag. Besides, who else did you think started the nickname brotherfucker?”
“You bastard,” I shouted. “It’s because of you Ash never wanted—”
“You?” Keenan said, laughing again. “You think that’s my fault?”
I wanted to grab the wrench from him and swing it hard enough to crush his skull or take off half his face, but instead, and without another word, I got into my car and drove home.
As soon as I parked out front I pretended to go to the garage before heading for the woods on foot, making sure I stayed hidden from the road, watching where I stepped as I got closer to Keenan’s place, so I didn’t alert him to my presence by snapping dry branches.
I watched him slide underneath his car on a creeper, and my heart rate picked up. Willing myself to cross the road slowly, carefully, I checked for traffic, pedestrians and dog walkers, but, as always, our lonely street was empty.
Keenan disappeared farther under his vehicle, almost to his knees. I looked around, saw he’d opened another can of beer and had left his cell phone on the floor, that little bit too far out of his reach.
Two quick steps and I bumped the side of his Subaru with my hip as hard as I could. The car wobbled, falling as the scissor jack gave way and landed on the ground with a metal clang.
Keenan let out a scream. It was louder than I’d anticipated, he still had a bit of fight in him. I walked to the garage door and hit the close button with a shirt-covered finger before kneeling beside him. His head was turned toward me, his face red, eyes bulging from the weight of his pride and joy that was now crushing his lungs.
“Help...” he gasped. “Help...me...”
“You ruined my life,” I said slowly, smiling as he cried out again and took another breath, much shallower this time. “Now I’m going to ruin the rest of yours, and you’ll never, ever know what really happened to Celine.”
31
LILY
I couldn’t sleep, spent the entire night tossing and turning, trying to figure out what to do. One thing was clear, I wasn’t wrong about Maya, and Ash needed to know the truth. I couldn’t believe how she’d come here, how she’d had the downright audacity to mock and challenge me, and any doubts I’d had about how deranged and twisted she was had long
