Covert

by Natasha Preston

  He was going to have to explain it a few more times than that for Wright. Did Aaron expect us to cover for him? All this time he had allowed us to be interrogated and sat back to cover his own arse. I could never do that to anyone, let alone someone I cared about.

  "Why did you call Blake too? You don't need to explain this to him."

  His mouth thinned into a straight line. "I'll explain when they're here."

  "Aaron," I whispered. We're friends!

  His eyebrows knitted together. "Don't look at me like that, Mackenzie."

  "How should I look at you?" Why wasn't I freaking out and screaming at him? I should have been. I wanted to but I still felt like I was looking down at this whole situation from afar. Aaron wasn't somebody that hurt anyone. I was desperate to find even a glimpse of my old friend inside this alien.

  "I don't know. Just not like you hate me."

  I almost laughed. Did he expect me to pat him on the back and tell him it was okay? What he wanted from me couldn't happen. It wasn't okay. We weren't okay. I just needed to know why he did it, and then I needed to get him help because something had obviously happened to him.

  "Mackenzie?" Blake shouted, bursting through the door like he was in an action movie. "You okay?" he asked, his eyes landing on me, scanning my whole body in a second to make sure I was alright.

  I stood up. "I'm fine." I was anything but fine.

  Megan and Kyle arrived together, barely a minute after Blake. They both stopped just inside the door and were both as pale as a ghost. Kyle shook his head. "What's going on, man? Tell me this is a joke."

  Aaron stood up and properly acknowledged our presence for the first time since Blake made his grand entrance. I took a step back. The expression on his face made my stomach turn. He looked bored, as if this was nothing but listening to one of our uni lecturers going on and on.

  "It's not a joke," Aaron replied.

  Megan let out a sob and pressed her hand to her mouth. "Why?" she muttered against her palm.

  "Because they didn't care about what happened to Tilly and Gigi."

  "What?" I said, letting out a huge puff of air. My half sigh, half laugh of disbelief. "They were devastated by what happened." Courtney cried solidly for weeks, she hadn't driven since and often told me about the crushing guilt she felt. Josh felt it, too, at first and even though he said some stupid, horrible things I knew that he felt guilt, and I knew that he wished it hadn't happened.

  "Were they?" he sneered. "They moved on so quickly it was like they never even existed to them."

  "Aaron, where is this coming from?" Kyle asked. "You know that's not true. What happened to you?"

  I tried to remember if I'd forgotten something. An anniversary of one of the times he got together with Tilly. Something, anything that would explain what had tipped him over the edge. I never even knew he was struggling. He was always so strong for us. Was that it? Had everything become too much for him and he snapped? I truly hoped so because that meant there was hope for him. I wanted my Aaron back.

  "Nothing's happened to me, Kyle. You can't see it. None of you can. You couldn't see what they were like. They didn't care about them, they were just glad it wasn't them lying dead in the ground."

  I swallowed the quickly rising lump in my throat and clenched my trembling hands. "That's not true." Courtney loved Tilly and Gigi as much as Megan and I did. We were close, like sisters. Whatever Aaron said, I knew Courtney would never have put her own life above theirs.

  "Now, here's what we're going to do," he said, pulling a knife from his pocket. "I'm going to stab Blake." I almost stumbled back in shock, as if his words had punched me. What the fuck was he on? He'd clearly continued drinking after Megan and Kyle stopped but did he have drugs in his system, too?

  He looked and sounded so calm, as if he'd just said 'I'm going to grab Blake a beer' rather than telling us he wanted to stab him. "And us four." He pointed to himself and then between me, Kyle and Megan. "Are going to call Wright and tell him that Blake tried to kill us, too, but we managed to get the upper hand. It will be self-defence."

  I felt sick. My vision blurred and my ears rang. There was no way Kyle and Megan would go for that. They couldn't. "Aaron, no," I whispered.

  "Cut the shit, Mackenzie," he bellowed; spit flying out of his mouth. "I've had enough of this Team Blake crap from you. We are your friends and like you've said a thousand times before, we have to stick together."

  "Aaron, man," Kyle said, his open mouth still showing his shock. "We can't do that. I understand how you feel. I do. I lost the girl I love, too, and I'm still sad and angry as hell, but this isn't the way to make it better."

  Aaron straightened his back, holding the knife higher. "Shut up! You don't know anything, Kyle. We just have to do this one last thing, and then we can put it all behind us. Everything will be okay. I promise."

  He's lost it. He'd become unpredictable and that was the scariest thing. My blonde hair, blue eyed, loving friend was a cold-hearted killer. Whatever he said there was no way I was letting him hurt Blake or anyone else.

  "Aaron," Megan whispered, stepping forward and holding her hands up. "It's alright. Everything is going to be fine, but I need you to put the knife away. We can talk about this. Sort this out. Between us five we can find a way to make this better. Right, guys?" she said, looking back at us with her eyes wide, telling us, pleading with us, to agree.

  "Of course," I said. If we could just get the knife away from him, we could sort everything out.

  Blake nodded and Kyle replied, "Yeah. Anything."

  Aaron laughed, tilting his head back. "Do you think I'm stupid? The second he's out of here he'll go to Wright," he spat, glaring at Blake.

  "No, he won't. Will you, Blake?" I said, willing him to agree and make it convincing. I could tell by the way Blake's eyes were slightly narrowed that there was no way in hell he was ever going to help Aaron, but he nodded and looked convincing enough to people that didn't know him. "See, this is all going to be alright. We'll all cover and eventually the case will go cold."

  "She's right, Aaron," Megan said. "If we all keep quiet, eventually this will blow over. They have nothing on you."

  "No!" he shouted, jabbing the knife at the air. "The only way this is going away is if we end it now."

  "Calm the fuck down!" Blake yelled. "You're not stabbing anyone else you sick bastard. Now put the damn knife down."

  "What're you doing?" I said and glared at him as Aaron did the same. Was he trying to piss him off? We needed to tread carefully. "He didn't mean that, Aaron."

  Aaron growled. "Oh, will you stop defending him! I'll stab you, too, if you keep it up." He didn't mean that. His eyes widened in shock at his own words.

  Something was really off here and not just the fact that this was Aaron standing in front of me, wielding a knife, admitting to murder and throwing threats around. There was just something about it that didn't fit and didn't feel right.

  "You so much as touch her, and I'll kill you myself," Blake replied, far too calmly. His voice tuned my blood cold. Blake, unlike Aaron, wasn't bluffing.

  Aaron stepped forwards, and Blake held his ground. "You need to back off now." There was a double meaning to that. Back off away from him and from me. "I'm warning you, Harper."

  I threw my hands up. "Stop it! Both of you, stop!" I felt like I was forever in the middle of those two.

  What happened next happened so slowly it almost felt like a dream. Blake spat something out about Aaron being screwed in the head. Aaron lunged forwards the way he had many times before when he'd gotten himself into a scrap at school. Blake punched Aaron in the face, splitting his lip. I thought that would be it but a red faced Aaron threw himself forwards again.

  Megan's high-pitched scream, followed by Kyle shouting expletives, pierced my eardrums. It took me barely a second to register that Aaron had used the knife; there was a red glisten on it, like it had been film wrapped. Half of my stomach was pressed against Blake's back as he shield
ed me.

  Aaron dropped the knife and backed away, wide eyed and gripping his hair. Regret.

  Was it me then? Had he stabbed me? I couldn't feel anything. Not a thing. Blake looked down, his hand shooting to his side, and I felt light, as if my body had been drained of blood. I couldn't catch my breath. I was sure I was going to collapse.

  It was him.

  "No, no, no, no," I whispered, unable to make a louder sound. My eyes filled with tears. I pressed hard against his hand on the wound. My hands shook and I fought desperately to keep them still so it wouldn't hurt him more. My hand soon heated with his warm blood seeping through his fingers to mine. I couldn't lose him. I hadn't had him long but I couldn't even imagine losing him.

  Kyle lunged at Aaron and pinned him to the floor. In the distance I heard Megan talking into her mobile to the emergency services in a half-hysterical, half-scream cry for help. Hurry up. Please, please, hurry up.

  "Shit," Blake hissed. "I need to sit down."

  We shuffled the short distance, and I helped him onto the sofa. What did he need? What did you do when someone had been stabbed? He laid back against the cushion and groaned. His jaw was clenched and his eyes twitched as he tried not to show how much pain he was in. His chest rose and fell a little quicker than what was normal. Did that mean something bad?

  "You're gonna be fine," I said, holding back a sob. "The ambulance will be here soon. How do you feel?" Shouldn't you always ask that? Didn't you need to know if they felt cold or tired? What did it mean if he did feel any of those things though? I had absolutely no medical training, not even as a first responder. All I knew was to put pressure on the wound to stem the bleeding and keep them talking. "Blake!"

  He smirked through his pain. "I feel like I just got stabbed."

  "Shut up." I scolded, letting out an involuntary sob. How could he still make jokes?

  Aaron laid beneath Kyle, still. He looked like a statue. The only thing that made him look alive was the way he was staring at Megan on the phone. She was the one turning him in to the police and calling for help for Blake. I was terrified that he might get up and try hurting her, too.

  "I told you it was him," Blake whispered and winced.

  I could've hit him. If he wasn't already in a lot of pain, I would have. Thankfully, no one else heard over the sound of Megan stumbling over her words in the desperate attempt to tell whoever was on the phone what had happened as quickly as possible.

  "Shut up," I repeated. My eyes stung with tears, but he still managed to make me smile. The idiot.

  It was only a few minutes later that I heard the sirens, but they were the longest few minutes of my life. Blake sat perfectly still, breathing rapidly and deeply. He smiled at me. He was the one that had been stabbed, yet he was trying to calm me down.

  "You're going to be okay," I said sternly. "You are."

  "I know. You worry too much."

  There was a very good reason for me to worry; my hand was soaked with his blood. I could smell the blood, too. It took me right back to that day and everything hit me like a ton of bricks. My vision blurred through a heavy film of tears. I felt everything, the loss of my friends, the crushing betrayal and fear of losing Blake. I felt cold.

  Eight pints of blood was in the human body. I knew Blake had not even bled out anywhere near one pint, but it looked like an ocean of red. It looked like fifty pints of blood. I was barely holding it together as it was, I couldn't handle losing anyone else. I needed Blake, Kyle, and Megan so much.

  Paramedics, closely followed by four police officers slammed through the door. I thought I would be shoved out of the way, but they soon realised I was the one stopping the blood from spurting out. "Hello, my name's Jerry. How're you doing?"

  Blake gulped audibly. "Alright." Jerry smiled, seeming to understand that Blake was majorly playing it down.

  "It happened... Um," I stuttered. "Not long ago. I don't know how long it's been, but he was stabbed and it won't stop bleeding."

  "Okay," Jerry said. He was a picture of calm. "Now...?"

  "His name's Blake," I said, speaking for him. "I'm Mackenzie. Should I move my hand?"

  "Okay, Mackenzie. No, not just yet, stay where you are and keep pressure on that. You're doing really well. Where is the knife?"

  "Floor," Blake replied. "Whole. I work out, but I don't think I'm toned enough to snap a knife."

  Jerry laughed. He laughed. How was he able to do that? His job? Keep the patient's mind off what was happening?

  "Well, that's good. Now, Blake, I'm going to get you to completely take over from Mackenzie. I need you to press hard on the wound and keep that pressure. We're going to get you on the stretcher and into the ambulance, okay." He looked back at his colleague who was speaking to someone on her radio in a hushed voice.

  What do they know that I don't? Why was Jerry wanting to get him into the ambulance straight away? Shouldn't they check him over more first, or was that normal for stab victims? Did he assume Blake was okay because he was chatting normally?

  I stayed by Blake's side, refusing to find my own way to the hospital. There was no way I was leaving him. I was terrified that something more was wrong. Had the knife punctured something? I had a thousand questions that Jerry couldn't answer.

  The last I saw of Aaron was when I caught a brief glimpse of him being bundled into a police car as we made our way out to the ambulance. I didn't care what his reasons were or what was going on inside his head the second he stabbed Blake. I couldn't forgive him for what he'd done to everyone I cared about. Or what he'd done to me.

  I helped Blake on his bed and scowled at him. "You shouldn't be here. You need to be in the hospital." I sounded like his mum who had also said the exact same thing. It was a little after eleven in the morning when Blake discharged himself. I had been awake for something like twenty-seven hours, and I was exhausted. Last night - or this morning, however you wanted to look at it - I had been too scared to sleep in case something happened to Blake. I watched him sleeping for hours and thanked every possible God going that he was okay.

  "There's nothing they can do for me in hospital. I'd rather be in my own bed than sleeping next to weirdos snoring all night and catching MRSA."

  I smiled. "Wow, you paint quite a picture. Lie down." He did and winced as he moved. "Are you in pain? You can't have any more tablets for another half an hour."

  "Half an hour is nothing, pass me them, please?"

  "No!" I frowned. "Not yet. The doctor said to make sure you had them at the right time."

  "The doctor also said I should stay another night."

  Sighing deeply, I shook my head. "You're not getting your own way with this one too. Most men don't even like taking pain medication and you're wanting it early!"

  "I'm not most men." That was for sure. "Lie down with me if you're not drugging me up."

  Now there's an offer I can't refuse! I lay down and snuggled up to his good side. It was over. Aaron was in police custody. Me, Kyle, Megan, and Blake were no longer suspects. We were free to move on with our lives.

  It was over.

  The emotions rushed inside me and kept building and building like a balloon being over pumped. I burst with a loud sob and dug my fingers into Blake's chest, gripping onto him for dear life.

  I wasn't supposed to do it in front of him. He said once that he would suck it up for me, but I didn't want to put him in a position where he was uncomfortable. I couldn't help it though. There was no going back now that I'd started.

  My heart felt heavy, like it was being weighed down with rocks. "Shh," Blake murmured into my hair. I suspected he didn't know what to say. He didn't need to say anything. I just needed him to hold me. He pressed his lips to my head and whispered, "Shh, it's okay. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  "I can't believe it's been a year," I said, stroking the top of Courtney's gravestone. It had been exactly one year since Josh and Courtney died, almost a year for Pete, and tw
enty months since Tilly and Gigi died. Three of those were people I loved and I'd never get to see them again.

  Blake sat beside me and gave my leg a squeeze. "I know, babe."

  "I can't believe I've lost that many people." I turned to him and gripped the hand that was now resting on my leg. "I almost lost you, too."

  "Nah, was never gonna happen. Aaron was a shit aim." Gulping, I dropped my eyes to the grass. "Sorry, that was insensitive. You'd think after all this time I'd be better at that stuff. Sorry."

  I couldn't help smiling. Blake hadn't changed much at all. He was still an annoying idiot, but now he was my annoying idiot. "You're better than you give yourself credit for... sometimes."

  "You're just saying that because you want in my pants."

  Always joking. Rolling my eyes, I turned my attention back to my friend. "You would have been rooting for him from the start." I had no doubt Courtney would have liked Blake once she really got to know him. She would have been the one sitting on my bed going on and on about how we clearly liked each other and just absolutely had to get together.

  "She had taste."

  I raised my eyebrow. Not really. I didn't want to say anything bad about Josh because he was dead and Blake's brother, but he wasn't a nice person. Courtney could have done a million times better.

  "Say it," Blake said. "Whatever you're thinking about Josh, just say it."

  "No. You already know what I think. I'm not bad-mouthing him. Not anymore." Not now he wasn't around. Everyone knew my opinion of Josh; I didn't need to keep reinforcing it. I had let it go, hating someone was exhausting and hating someone that was dead was pointless.

  "Such a good girl," he muttered.

  "You know why."

  He nodded. "I do. Just don't know what the difference is. You think it, so why not say it?"

  "Because he's dead! I will not be the type of person that pisses over--" Blake's burst of laughter made me roll my eyes. Without needing him to say anything I already knew he was having a visual of me peeing. "There's something very wrong with you."

  "My life would be very dull without you, Kenz." I think that was the other way around. "I never know what to say when I visit Josh or Pete. People around are chatting away, and I'm just sitting there like an idiot."