Hailey’s.
Please come home. I need you.
Something was very wrong. Sarah never texted after she went to bed. She’d get in trouble if she did.
On my way.
“I’ve gotta go. It’s Sarah.”
Hailey scrambled up. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. My father’s probably yelling at Mom, and that scared Sarah.”
She followed me to the front door. “Are you coming back?”
I wanted to return to Hailey and the couch and the movie. I wanted to continue where we’d left off, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t leave my sister again. Not tonight.
I gave Hailey a sad smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Text me once you get back to let me know everything’s all right.”
“Okay.”
She must not have been convinced, because she said in a tone that warranted no argument, “Promise me, or else I’ll call the cops.”
“Okay,” I said, this time with more conviction.
I ran across the street to my house and opened the front door. The place was quiet. No yelling. No slurred conversation. No TV blaring in the background. I entered my house and flipped the light on. Instead of the usual warm glow, the light was cold and harsh. But that wasn’t what filled my body with icy dread.
Blood drops on the beige carpet formed a trail to the kitchen.
I strained to hear a sound, but my ears were met with nothing but silence. Darkness seeped from the room, and I walked toward it, my gaze glued to the bloody trail. A strong, unpleasant smell sat heavy in the air, and my stomach turned.
Ignoring the five alarms in my head telling me to get out of the house, I stepped into the kitchen and turned on the light. My hand recoiled at the sticky wetness on the light switch, and I glanced down to see what it was.
And wished I hadn’t.
Smeared bloody handprints stained the walls.
My heart slammed hard against my ribs, threatening to shatter them. My gaze traveled around the room. The island obscured my view of most of the floor, other than the pool of blood seeping across the tiles. Based on the amount of blood, I could only guess the person was no longer alive.
Somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, a voice told me to get out of the house and call 911, but the rest of me didn’t want to pay attention to the voice. My body, working on its own accord, moved forward.
The first thing I saw as I walked around the corner of the island was an outstretched female hand in the pool of blood, her fingernails painted a muted red. Next came the familiar long brown hair. I choked back a sob and rushed to Mom’s side.
“Mom?” I said even though it was too late. Her eyes were wide, peering up at me but no longer seeing.
Call the police. Now, the voice insisted, but I couldn’t move. All I could do was stare at what had once been my mother. Blood soaked through her cream-colored blouse, the fabric ripped in numerous places. It looked like whoever did this had stabbed her multiple times. She’d never stood a chance. Her hands wore defensive wounds from trying to protect herself.
I couldn’t hold back the sob. “Mom.” I sounded like a small child, lost, without hope.
A muffled bang from upstairs jerked my attention from Mom’s body. That was all it took to break the spell. Sarah.
I raced out the kitchen and up the stairs.
As I approached the top step, a frightened scream ripped through the air. This transformed into a pained cry and grunts. Concern for my own safety shoved aside, I rushed to her room and threw open the door. I didn’t give myself the chance to process the scene. I couldn’t. I just reacted.
I hurled my body at my father.
My father was a large guy, only I was bigger from working out at the gym. But in this moment of unspeakable insanity, he possessed the strength of two men. He didn’t even budge from Sarah’s body. It was like moving a house with your bare hands—impossible.
I did, though, manage to break his attention from what he was doing to my sister. With inhuman strength, he shoved me away. I half flew, half stumbled backward.
Before I could avoid the impact, my body slammed into Sarah’s desk. Pain shot through my hip. A level of anger I’d never seen before twisted my father’s once handsome features. Finished with his assault on my sister, he shifted his attention to me.
“What did you do?” I choked out even though I knew exactly what he had done. The why was a mystery. People got drunk all the time. They didn’t stab people to death and continue stabbing them long after the victim had died.
“They had to die,” he said, voice deadly calm, his body covered in blood. Mom’s blood. Sarah’s blood. “They had to die so she couldn’t have sex with anyone else.”
“She?” My voice was the opposite to his. I was amazed I could even utter any words around the rapidly beating heart lodged in my throat.
He moved toward me, his body blocking my escape. My only hope was to talk my way out of this until help arrived.
If help arrived.
“Your mother,” my father said.
“She wouldn’t have had sex with anyone else. She was faithful to you.” Otherwise she would have escaped this hell years ago.
“That’s a fuckin’ lie,” he screamed.
I could barely breathe, and it had nothing to do with the stench of death choking the air from my lungs.
My gaze dropped for a brief second to the gruesome sight on the bed, and my strength gave way. If I hadn’t gone to Hailey’s, I could have prevented this. I could have protected my mom and my sister.
And instead of standing in front of me, getting ready to end my life too, Dad would’ve been in jail.
In that moment, instead of seeing my life flash before my eyes, only one thought crossed my mind. I’d never told Hailey that I loved her. I mean, I had told her I loved her…as a friend. But I’d never told her that I was in love with her, and now I’d never have the chance to tell her.
And I would never find out if she felt the same way about me.
A loud noise came from downstairs, like the sound of someone banging on the front door, followed by shouting. None of this bothered my father. His focus was entirely on me.
I kept my gaze locked on him and took a cautious step back.
Everything happened fast after that. My father lunged at me as movement in the doorway caught my attention. His knife sliced into my body, bringing with it a sharp pain. I cried out and stumbled back.
Yelling filled the air. My father moved toward me again, his knife ready to butcher me. A loud bang. And another. My father’s body jerked forward, then slumped to the ground.
Unable to support me anymore, my legs gave out, and I collapsed.
Pain engulfed me. Pain from my wound. Pain from what my father had done to my mom and sister. Pain from all I had witnessed.
A cop crouched beside me and spoke. In my numb state, I couldn’t make out what he said.
Instead, I welcomed the darkness.
Chapter 41
Nolan
My breathing came fast and hard at the memory. The movie continued playing on the huge screen, but all I could see was the blood covering the kitchen floor, my mom’s open but sightless eyes, the blood-splattered bedding surrounding my sister’s mutilated body.
I gripped the armrests, digging my fingers into the velvet fabric.
Alyssa leaned closer to me and whispered, “Are you all right?” She placed her hand on mine and lightly squeezed it when I didn’t respond. “Nolan?”
Deep down I had always known the murders were my fault. If I hadn’t been at Hailey’s, none of the events of that night would have happened. And I’d bailed on Northbridge not only because I wanted to avoid the memories but also because I wanted to escape Hailey. I’d failed my mother and sister. I was afraid of failing Hailey too.
“I need to get out of here,” I told Alyssa.
She must have realized something major was going on with me. She whispered to her assista
nt, then told me, “Monica will escort you out and stay with you to make sure you’re okay.” She kissed my cheek, either for my benefit or for the benefit of the people witnessing me leave in the middle of the movie. Or maybe a little of both.
I squeezed past Alyssa and the rest of her entourage. My body no longer felt like it belonged to me. I was a walking zombie. The only thing I was aware of was the sound of the movie and the scattered whispers following me up the aisle.
I almost sagged in relief when Monica pushed the theater door open and we stepped into the lobby. My father’s final words, That’s a fuckin’ lie, pounded in my head. Had he been right? Had Mom been cheating on him?
Monica waved a staff member over. “I’m Alyssa Graham’s personal assistant. Mr. Kincaid has a migraine and needs a private place to sit for a moment.”
“Absolutely. This way, please.”
We followed him down the dimly lit hallway and stopped at a door. He unlocked it and ushered us into the small room.
“Is there anything else you need?” he asked.
“No, this is fine, thanks,” I said, dismissing him.
Once the door clicked shut behind him, I sat on the red velvet couch in the middle of the room. The space had been designed for comfort and for a quiet place to converse. But it was also like stepping into the past. Framed classic movie posters lined the light brown walls.
Monica locked the door. “Do you want some water?”
I could have used something much stronger, but I nodded. She handed me a bottle of water from the table against the wall. With shaky hands I opened it and drank the lukewarm liquid.
“I heard about what happened to your family. I’m sorry you went through that.”
I gave a slight jerk of my head in thanks. While pretending to be Tyler Erickson, I’d avoided those pitying looks and words of apology over what happened. At the time, it had been a relief because I had only wanted to focus on my future instead of my past. But something about the way she said the words made the meaning behind them sound different. She didn’t say them because she believed they were the right words to say.
“A friend of mine lost her family in a robbery,” she explained. “She was a kid at the time and witnessed their murder. She struggled for years with post-traumatic stress disorder.” Monica bit her lip before powering on. “You have that too, don’t you? That’s why you looked like you were having a panic attack in there.”
I wanted to deny it, but then changed my mind. Alyssa wouldn’t trust someone she felt could end up betraying her and those who were close to her.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “Until recently I couldn’t remember anything from that night. But…but I remembered it all during the movie.”
“Are you seeing anyone?” At my confused frown, she added, “I mean like a therapist?”
I shook my head. “I saw someone after the murders. He told me I had dissociative amnesia and that I might or might not remember what happened. I decided to go with the might-not-remember option and avoided seeing anyone after that.”
“Maybe things will get better now that you remembered what happened. But there’s also a good chance it will only get worse unless you talk to someone. My friend struggled with guilt because she thought she should have done more to save her family. The guilt almost killed her. If you want, I can find out who she talked to.”
“Thanks. I’d like that.” She was right. I couldn’t keep living like this. Not if I wanted a life with Hailey in it. I couldn’t keep hiding from what it was doing to me.
We talked for a bit longer. Like Alyssa and Hailey, Monica was easy to talk to. But that was probably because she just saw me as a regular guy. I wasn’t some rock star she was fangirling over. She was used to being around celebrities.
She checked her phone. “The movie’s almost finished. You ready to join Alyssa and the media circus?”
Chapter 42
Hailey
I flopped down on the couch and turned on the TV, needing a distraction from everything that had happened lately: the coma, Nolan returning to Northbridge, the amnesia, falling in love with him even more than before, the attack, Nolan leaving, his relationship with Alyssa, Chris’s death…
To sum it up, I needed a distraction from life.
On the screen, a mob of people stood behind a roped-off area. The picture then flashed to a limo and Michael Seger, one of the sexiest actors around, appeared from it.
His fans spotted him and the intensity of their frenzied shrieks jumped up a notch. He waved at the crowd, further exciting them. The guy should come with a warning: Caution: risk of ringing ears when you stand too close to my fans.
“What’s all the screaming for?” Kayla handed me a soda and made herself at home on the other end of the couch.
“Michael Seger. Who else would it be?”
She threw me a look. “Oh, I don’t know. Your boyfriend’s pretty hot too.”
“Nolan isn’t my boyfriend. News flash: in case you haven’t noticed, he’s back in L.A. now.” With Alyssa.
“That’s only ’cause you didn’t have the guts to go with him. And if he isn’t your boyfriend, then why did you turn down that guy who called to take you out for coffee?” She meant Craig, the man I’d met the day Nolan stopped to fix the flat tire for the man’s grandmother.
“Because I didn’t feel like going out with him.” My heart wouldn’t have been into it, and it wouldn’t have been fair to let him believe he had a chance with me. “And because Nolan didn’t ask me,” I said, responding to her first comment about me not going to L.A. with him.
“Ask you what? To marry you?” The exasperation in her tone surprised me.
“No, but I didn’t want to move there if I had no idea if he wanted to be my boyfriend for real. I didn’t want to give up my job for nothing.”
“So why didn’t you ask him?”
Right. Like I was going to do that. I wasn’t one of those people who got off on rejection. Although in retrospect, it couldn’t have hurt any worse than it did now.
“I’m serious, Hailey. Instead of moping around feeling sorry for yourself, you should ask him if he wants you to move to L.A. to be with him.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, he’s dating Alyssa Graham.”
She shrugged in a way that said, You know they’re not dating for real. Or maybe they officially were now. Everyone, according to the media and fan sites, agreed they made a gorgeous couple.
“Oh my God,” Kayla breathed, her eyes wide as she gaped at the TV.
I turned to see what was wrong. The entertainment news was still on the same event, but now the reporter was interviewing Nolan and Alyssa.
My heart practically stopped beating at the sight of him. It was the first time I’d seen him in a tux, and wow wasn’t enough of a word to describe how hot he looked in it. And when combined with his sexy smile, there wasn’t a single fan at the event who wasn’t swooning. Nolan normally looked mouthwatering in his usual faded jeans and body-hugging T-shirts, but Nolan in a tux was beyond rocker-boy sexy.
And that only made my heart hurt more.
“Not to be crass or anything,” Kayla said, still staring at the TV, “but I think I just came in my panties from looking at him.”
Despite Nolan being with Alyssa, who looked more gorgeous than I’d thought was possible (a fact that wasn’t lost on my poor heart), I chuckled. “I’m sure your boyfriend would appreciate hearing that.”
Kayla made a scoffing sound. “Are you telling me you didn’t just cream your panties?”
I wrinkled my nose at her words, even though she was right. “Shhh. I want to hear what they’re saying.” Because I needed to torture myself a little more.
“Hi, Alyssa,” the tall, skinny redhead said in that annoying way some entertainment reporters had about them. Like they considered themselves equals to the big name celebrity, when most of the time the celebrities had no idea who they were. “Megan Keyes with We Talk. You look absolutely gorgeous. As always.�
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Alyssa smiled. The warmth to it made her even more breathtaking. It really wasn’t fair. “Thank you, Megan.”
“And you…” The redhead looked uncertain what to call Nolan. Some fans and reporters now referred to him by his real name. Others stuck with Tyler. Which meant Nolan hadn’t decided yet, or else the record label would’ve already issued a statement as to which name he was now going by.
“You can call me Nolan.”
He glanced at Alyssa. She beamed at him, and he smiled back, further confirming they were officially a couple.
My insides tightened even though this wasn’t news. I just hated the constant reminders.
“Nolan,” Megan said, “you look particularly yummy.” To Alyssa she added, a knowing grin on her face, “You have very good taste.” She then asked a few questions about the film before the golden couple had to move on.
Alyssa waved to a group of screaming teenage girls holding banners that proclaimed NOLYSSA, WE LOVE YOU and NOLYSSA FOREVER!
I groaned at the name. It was just as bad as the last one. And seriously, what was it with giving celebrity couples idiotic monikers? We didn’t give them to normal couples. No one went around referring to Kayla and Dylan as Dylayla. She’d probably slug me if I tried.
“Kiss her!” someone yelled. Alyssa leaned in and kissed Nolan’s cheek. The fans screamed their appreciation. As much as I wanted to think of them as stupid, they weren’t. They’d been sucked into the lie as much as the rest of us had been.
Neither Kayla nor I said anything, the truth sinking in about the status of the golden couple’s relationship. As I stared numbly at the screen, Kayla theorized what was really going on between them. She even threw in a few alien-related theories that made me laugh. God, I loved her.
“You know what I think you should do?” she said.
“Make popcorn?” Then we could watch a movie. Preferably one not starring Alyssa, and one without any hint of romance. A terrifying psychological thriller would be good right about now.
“Go to L.A.”
I liked my popcorn idea better. “And why would I do that?”
This One Moment Page 20
