The Dead List

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  Jensen didn’t respond right away, but he reached up with one hand, tilting my head back so that my eyes met his. “And you.”

  My heart skipped a beat.

  “Whoever is behind this tried to grab you a week ago, but you got away.” He pressed his forehead against mine, his chest rising sharply. “God, you got away.”

  I didn’t want to think about it, but it was no use, because it was reality. The three of us were related to this—Vee. Monica, and me. He’d tried to grab me and had most likely gotten his hands on Monica while he still had Vee.

  And she most likely had to still have been alive.

  Shivering, I closed my eyes as Jensen’s lips brushed over my forehead. “This is all so terrible.”

  “It is.”

  “She just wasn’t dead,” I told him, because I needed to say it out loud. “There was a cardinal in her mouth, Jensen.”

  He gave a little shake of his head. “Damn…”

  “Just like the kind of cardinal that was in Wendy’s bag.” I bit down on my lip, thinking of the cardinals, the clown masks, and… and Penn. “That’s too much of a coincidence isn’t it?”

  There was a beat of silence. “I want you to do me a favor.”

  I opened my eyes. “What?”

  His thumb smoothed over my cheek as his gaze searched mine. “Let me take you to school and bring you home.”

  Drawing back, I shook my head. “But—”

  “Or let Gavin or someone. I’m not trying to be pushy. I just don’t want you to be alone,” he explained. “And it’s not because I don’t think you can take care of yourself, but this is serious. This is real. Something terrible is going on and I want you…” He took a deep breath. “I want you to be safe as possible.”

  How could I say no to that? I also wasn’t stupid. This was serious, and the idea of going anywhere alone wasn’t a good idea and not something I even wanted to do. “Okay.”

  A lopsided grin appeared. “Okay to me taking you or someone—anyone other than me?”

  “To you.” I flushed, ducking my chin. “I mean, if it’s what you want. You don’t have to. I’m sure Gavin—”

  “No, I want to. Not Gavin.” Jensen’s hand moved, his fingers curling around my hair. His hand lingered there a moment, and then he reached down, wrapping his hands around mine. He rubbed them between his. “Is your car still at the farmhouse?”

  I nodded.

  “If you want, we can go get it tomorrow. I don’t think going out there tonight would be smart.”

  “I don’t want to go back out there at all,” I admitted. “I don’t even want to see those buildings tomorrow.”

  “Then I’ll take care of it. Nope—don’t argue with me. I’ll get your car here. Just need your keys.”

  When I nodded, he tucked my head under his chin. We sat there, listening to the chirps of the crickets and the wind moving among the branches. I was okay with him being here—more than okay—and right then our past together didn’t matter.

  Jensen was here when it mattered, but how had he known? I doubted it had hit the news that quickly or that it was me who had found the body. Discomfort tightened my muscles.

  “How did you hear about what happened?” I asked.

  “Brock texted me,” he answered, his chest rumbling against mine. “He said that you found Vee’s body.”

  I wondered if he’d also told Jensen about how hysterical I’d been. How I screamed until my voice had given out on me. Strange thing was, Brock hadn’t been around when I went upstairs and, I didn’t remember seeing him afterward either.

  #

  Jensen picked me up for school on Monday morning as offered. I had no idea how he’d gotten my car back to me on Sunday, but it was there before I even got up. We didn’t talk about Vee or Monica on the way. Instead, it was a normal conversation. Well, as normal as making plans to go to the warehouse after school for more self-defense was.

  When we pulled into the school parking lot, he turned off the engine and looked over at me. With a baseball cap pulled low, the strong line of his jaw stood out. “You ready for today?”

  I nodded.

  “It’s probably going to be a little rough.” He reached over, poking my leg. “Not that you couldn’t handle it.”

  A wry, tired smile twisted my lips. “I know. I’m ready as I’ll ever be.”

  “Okay.” He pulled his keys out, leaned back, and grabbed our bags, handing mine over. “Let’s do this.”

  Jensen and I walked into the building together, and any other day, this would’ve been the talk of the school.

  Not today.

  Everyone was talking about Vee. As the day progressed, there wasn’t a pair of lips her name hadn’t passed through. Grief counselors were called in, and throughout the day, long looks were sent in my direction, and I knew people were talking. Very few approached me about it.

  Mason was one of them. At lunch, he dropped into the seat next to me. “Hey,” he said.

  “Hi.” I glanced over at Heidi, who looked as surprised as I felt. I picked up my plastic fork. “What’s up?”

  He wet his lips. “You got a second.”

  “Sure.”

  Mason lowered his head and dropped his voice. “The cops made the rest of us leave Saturday before—well, before we could see anything.”

  “Jesus,” muttered Heidi, dropping her hands on the table.

  He ignored her while I tensed up. “Man, what did she look like? I mean, I know that’s a gross question, but I wanted—”

  “Are you serious?”

  Mason turned at the sound of Jensen’s voice. One look at his face, and it was evident that he was angry. His pale eyes flashed a dark, thunderous color as he stared down at him. “What? I’m just—”

  “Get the hell out of my seat.”

  Jensen’s knuckles bleached white around the tray he held. “Before I get you out of the damn seat.”

  Standing up, Mason raised his hands as he glanced at Jensen and then me. His cheeks paled. “Look, man, I didn’t mean anything by any of that.”

  “Whatever.”

  Mason hesitated for a moment and then he spun off, hurrying back to his table.

  “Your seat?” I asked, brows raised.

  He took Mason’s spot, placing his tray in front of him. “Yep.”

  I pressed my lips together, stealing a peek at Heidi. Her eyes were bouncing back and forth between us like we were her own personal tennis match.

  “Thank you,” I said. “But I could’ve shut him up.”

  One shoulder raised as he stared at what I was guessing was Salisbury steak. “I know you could, but seriously, what was I supposed to do when I’m just walking along, minding my own business, about to have a seat and that dick is sitting here, asking a question like that?”

  “Wait to see what I was going to do?”

  Heidi snorted. “I for one am glad Jensen said something. I cannot believe he was going to ask you that kind of question.” She shook her head. “Didn’t Linds get with him?”

  “Yeah,” I murmured. Sickened by the crassness of Mason’s questions, I’d lost my appetite. And, as the day progressed, there were others like Mason, ones who didn’t give two craps about Vee, but were compelled by a sense of morbid fascination.

  On Tuesday, the cops arrived at the school and, at the beginning of each class, a handful of kids were pulled and sent to the office, which had my nerves stretched taut. The lack of sleep and everything else was getting to me.

  Rain thundered off the windows and roof as I stopped by my locker after lunch. Jensen checked it out before I looked in, inspecting the inside for something that would most likely ensure a lifetime of therapy. When there were no masks or other creeptastic things, he leaned against the one next to mine, his baseball cap pulled on backward. Dark blond strands curled up around the edge of the cap.

  “If it’s still raining after school, I’ll pull the truck up to the back.”

  I smiled as I grabbed my art text. “
Rain won’t hurt me.”

  “Sugar melts,” he replied, grinning slightly.

  Rolling my eyes, I laughed softly. “Did you just compliment me?”

  “Oh, that’s right, I’m not supposed to do that. I’m supposed to be keeping it real.” Those lips of his pursed thoughtfully. “I need to come up with a good insult. It’s going to take me awhile.”

  Smiling, I shook my head.

  “Is your Mom still going out of town tomorrow night?” he asked, changing the subject.

  I was so not looking forward to tomorrow night. “Yeah, she needs to since she stayed home last week. She wants me to go stay at Dad’s, but that’s not something I want to do.”

  “It would be smart.” He reached up, adjusting the bill of his cap. “You shouldn’t be staying alone.”

  “I know, but…” But staying with Dad meant staying with Rose and eating raw vegetables and being lectured on how I needed to do at least thirty minutes of cardio a day and—

  “Hey!”

  We turned at the sound of Linds’ excited shout. She was speed walking down the hall, dodging students. The hem of her skirt fluttered around her slim legs.

  “Hey.” I shut my door as I shoved my book into my bag. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

  “I’m using the bathroom.” She slid to a stop between Jensen and me. “But I needed to come find you. It couldn’t wait until—oh, hey, Jensen. Whoa…” She stepped back, looking him up and down. “I like the baseball hat. It’s a good—”

  “Linds,” I interrupted, tapping her shoulder. “What couldn’t wait?”

  Eyeing Jensen until he grinned at her, Linds’ cheeks flushed before she got back on track. “Have you talked to Gavin?”

  “On Sunday.” He’d stopped by to see how I was, claiming he would’ve come by Saturday night, but he’d seen Jensen’s truck out front. “We really didn’t get a chance to talk yesterday.”

  “What about you?” she asked Jensen.

  He shrugged a shoulder. “Nothing longer than a few seconds since Sunday. He actually went out with me to get Ella’s car.”

  I blinked. Once. Then twice. “Gavin went with you to get my car?”

  “Yeah,” he replied slowly. “Why wouldn’t he?”

  Why? Whenever Gavin and Jensen were in the same room together, it was like a contest with who could out stare the other the longest. “Well…”

  “That’s not important.” Linds stamped her mule-heeled foot. “The police pulled me out of last period to question me again about Saturday. They’ll probably get to you again,” she said, and I winced, not looking forward to talking about what I found again. “Anyway, they asked me if I’d known that Vee had been seeing Gavin.”

  I gaped at her. At first I didn’t think I heard her correctly. “Come again?”

  “Did you know that Gavin and Vee were dating?”

  It took me a moment. “What?”

  “Exactly!” she whispered-yelled. “I had no idea and I’m assuming you had no idea either.”

  “No.” I slipped my messenger bag up my arm. “They’ve must’ve been mistaken. Gavin wasn’t seeing anyone since we broke up.” I glanced over at Jensen, but he was staring at Linds, his jaw locked down. “Gavin wasn’t dating Vee.”

  Looking me straight in the eye, Linds clasped my arm. “Yeah, they were. Supposedly all summer. And I heard them talking among themselves as I was being ushered out. He was with her the night she supposedly disappeared.”

  Then

  We sat in a circle on the floor of the tree house, cross-legged with our knees pressed against each other. The sun was setting, splashing deep blues and violets across the sky. We didn’t have much longer before we had to leave. Penn wouldn’t climb down the wooden planks nailed into the tree at night and even though it was summer, his parents wanted him back before dark.

  Air humid, the thin wisps of hair that had escaped my ponytail stuck to my damp neck. I wanted to dunk my head in a vat of cold water as I nervously rubbed the palms of my hands along my legs.

  I hated playing truth or dare, because inevitably, one of the boys—usually Jensen or Gavin—either asked an embarrassing question or suggested a dare that I’d end up getting called a girl for not doing.

  Gavin wiggled his brows at me, and I sighed. Another reason why I hated this game was the fact that I couldn’t come up with a cool question or dare. “Truth or dare?” I said.

  “Truth!” he said boldly.

  My brain whizzed as I searched for something to ask and I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Is it true… that you…?”

  Gavin leaned forward, waiting.

  “Sleep with a fuzzy teddy bear?” I finished.

  “What?” He sat straight, glancing at Jensen, who grinned. “Are you serious?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “No,” he sighed. “That’s not true. And that was also lame, Ella.”

  I slept with a blue bear—a Care Bear, so whatever. I wrinkled my nose at him, and he grinned before looking at Jensen. “Your turn.”

  Tensing up, I held my breath.

  Which meant it was also my turn. Moving my hand to the toe of my sneakers, I peeked at Penn and bit down on my lip to stop grinning. He wasn’t even paying attention, staring off at the trees.

  “Truth or dare, Ella?” Jensen said.

  My heart did something strange in my chest, and I didn’t understand the flipping motion as I turned back to him. I don’t know why I said what I said. “Dare.”

  Oh my gosh, I wanted to take that back immediately. I knew better than to pick dare, but it was too late.

  Jensen’s lips split in a wide grin, and my heart did that weird flopping thing again. “I dare you to… kiss me.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “Ew,” Penn said, and then he giggled, proving he was paying attention.

  Jensen leaned toward me, his eyes a dark blue in the fading light. “That’s the dare.”

  I stared at him. Kiss me? Kiss him? Like put our lips together?

  “Duuude,” Gavin murmured low. “She’s not going to do it.”

  My gaze snapped to him. Why did he think I wouldn’t do it? Because I was a girl? I was chicken. My fingers dug into the toes of my sneaker as resolve straightened my spine. I looked at Jensen. “Okay. I accept your dare.”

  Jensen blinked thick lashes as if surprised, and I heard a strange, almost choking sound come from Gavin. Penn giggled again, and warmth pricked across my face. Should I have gone with truth? Oh my gosh, I totally should’ve have—

  “Okay.” Jensen shifted, placing one hand behind me on the old board behind me, and before I could say another word, he erased the distance between us and pressed his mouth against mine.

  Jensen kissed me.

  Our mouths were totally touching.

  My eyes were wide and his were closed, and it was over in a heartbeat. Jensen pulled back, opening his eyes. He grinned at me, and I felt like I’d just ran the length of Rosemont Avenue, twelve times.

  “Okaie dokie,” Gavin said. “That was weird”

  My lips tingling and cheeks burning with heat, I forced myself to turn to Penn slowly as Gavin spoke again, “Truth or Dare, Penn.”

  Penn’s gaze darted around our group before settling on Gavin. We all knew he’d say truth, but I was barely paying attention. My concentration was centered on how Jensen’s knee was pressing against mine. We’d kissed. Oh my gosh, Jensen and I had just put our mouths on—