by Amy Richie
"Stop talking about that night." He moved to face her more fully, showing off his profile perfectly. He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth. "I already told you not to bring it up."
"Whatever," she crossed her arms. "I'm going home."
"That's probably a good idea."
"Are you coming?"
"No, I'm staying here." Of course he was, he was smart.
"Fine," she tilted her head angrily, "don't even think about coming over tonight after this lame ass party."
"You'll let me in," he assured her with a hollow laugh.
"Whatever." She turned on her heel and hurried away from him.
My mouth was still hanging open as I sank back down and pressed myself against the outside of the house. This was exactly what we had wanted, to hear some proof of what they had done. But hearing it was so much worse than I anticipated. Tyler and Cassie were dangerous, like seriously dangerous.
I didn't want Cassie to catch me alone outside as she left the house so I knew I needed to wait a little longer outside. Wanting to sit down so I could think for a minute, I rounded the house and went out back. There was a bench there where I could wait that had a decent view of the road where Cassie would drive.
"Perfect," I whispered gratefully.
In my own feet, I could handle heels for as long as needed; I had been raised in heels. Laney's feet weren't so flexible. They hurt like hell.
Hiking my dress up, I sank down onto the wooden bench. Dad had put the bench out back so he could watch the lawn - whatever that meant.
"Hey cutie."
I froze in the process of kicking my shoes off. Tyler was standing in the shadow of the house, lurking there. "Hey," I called back nervously.
"You're missing the party," he grinned so only one side of his mouth raised up.
"I was feeling hot," I stuttered.
"From dancing?" His smile froze.
"Yeah." He was criticizing my choice of dance partner but I didn't falter.
"I needed some air too," he let his face relax slightly. "All those bodies in one room can make you feel suffocated."
Kind of like getting rolled inside of a blanket.
"Who was that girl you were talking to earlier?" Despite my nerves, the words poured out of me.
"Cassie?"
"Is she your girlfriend?"
Tyler's mouth broke out into a wide grin. "Are you jealous?"
"What?" My eyebrows scrunched my forehead. "Of course not."
"It's ok, I'm not mad."
I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. "It looked like you were fighting."
"We were."
"Why?"
"Because of you."
My heart sped up. Could Tyler see me? "Me?"
"She thinks we like each other."
This time I really did roll my eyes. "I'm going inside, have all the air you want."
"You don't have to leave."
"I want to."
When I moved past him, he moved to block my path. "Stay for a while."
"And if I don't want to?" We were alone out back, the music was loud so no one would be able to hear me - was he really going to kill Laney too?
"I know you were out here waiting for me," he continued smugly.
"I was just hot," I tried to convince him.
"From Clark?"
"Now who's jealous?" My lips were dry, I knew I needed to get back inside.
Tyler laughed an unattractive sound. What had I been thinking to like him so much? "Jealous of Clark Daniels?"
"Sounds like it," I shrugged, acting braver than I felt.
"Let's not talk about him."
"What did you want to talk about instead?"
"You've been following me around town for days."
It surprised me that he actually noticed with that much ego in his way. "It's a small town. Just because we end up in the same..."
"Oh please," he cut me off with a harsh chuckle.
"Lindsey has been showing me around."
"And have you liked what you've seen?" He winked ludicrously, leaning down so he could put his face closer to mine.
"It's a nice town," I popped my lips out. "Except for the whole murder thing."
"I know why you've been following me." Nice how he just ignored the murder. And I really doubted he knew why I was following him, otherwise he wouldn't be giving me those disgusting winks. Seriously, what was wrong with him?
"I doubt it," I sucked in a breath.
"It's because you want me." Why was he talking like that? It was gross.
"I'm going inside." Keeping my eyes on the corner of the house that led back to the safety of the party, I moved past him. I didn't get far.
Tyler's hand shot out and wrapped around my lower arm. "Stay."
A shot of fear went up and down my spine, stealing my anger and replacing it with fear. "Lindsey will be looking for me."
"She won't though."
"She's the one who invited me here today, she'll know I'm missing."
"You're Lindsey's new pet," he pulled a dramatic face, "that doesn't mean she cares about you. She's in her element right now, she's not going to notice anyone else in the room."
Even if that was true, I didn't like Tyler talking about her. "Let me past you."
"We were just getting cozy."
"This isn't cozy," I snarled.
"How about this?" He moved suddenly and unexpectedly, grabbing my head and pulling me to him.
"What are you doing?" I screeched.
"I want to know what you taste like."
So gross.
"Let me go."
"Not until I get a taste."
He kept a tight hold of me and leaned in for a kiss. I managed to duck just in time. The dodge caught him off guard so I was able to push him away enough to run.
Tyler rushed at me and pinned me to the house. "Don't run," he panted.
"You're scaring me," I whimpered. "Please just let me go."
"Don't fight this," Tyler cooed, brushing my hair away from my face. "I know you want me."
"What are you going to do to me?" I wasn't sure if I wanted to know or not.
"I am willing...to show you a good time." His finger tips moved across my closed lips.
"I was having a good time at the party," I mumbled, more afraid than I could ever remember being. Since I didn't remember it, the night I was killed didn't count.
"Not with Clark," he shook his head.
Clark pissed me off more times than I could count, but he never made me feel afraid. He always made me feel safe.
"Don't be so worried," Tyler continued on softly. "No one needs to know about this. I won't tell anyone."
Of course he would never tell anyone that he was forcing himself on me. He wouldn't want anyone to know his dirty secrets. How did I not see him for what he was?
"Get off me," I gasped, struggling futilely against him. "How can you be like this?"
"Like what?"
"All over me like this."
"You're not ugly," he shrugged. "I like pretty girls."
"What about Avery? Was she pretty?"
His disgusting grin faded most of the way. "Sure. She was pretty."
"She's dead. She just died." If there was anything in him that was the boy I knew, my words would make him let me go.
"Yes," Tyler nodded slowly. "This was her house."
"I know." I had lived here my entire life.
"I've spent many nights here."
"That's a lie." The accusation was past my lips before I thought about it.
"It's not," he cocked one eyebrow. "Right there in that shed."
I peeked behind him. We had made out in there a few times but never spent the night or anything else he was insinuating with that eyebrow.
"Come on," he pulled me roughly away from the house and began to cross the lawn towards the shed. "I'll show you how nice it is in there."
"No!" Just like we had been taught in school, I dropped my full weight down to the groun
d, forcing him to let go.
"Don't be such a tease," Tyler growled. In an effort to make me get up, he pulled roughly at my hair.
"Ouch," I screamed. Practically panicked, I clawed at his hand that had my hair. "Tyler, let me go. You're hurting me."
"You're just playing hard to get." He continued to pull me until I had no choice but to stand up.
"No!" Fighting for all I was worth, I swung up and slapped at Tyler - anywhere I could reach. Whatever he planned to do in that shed wasn't good.
"Be still." He grabbed my chin between his finger and thumb hard enough to make my eyes tear up. "You're going to like this."
"Help me," I screamed, "someone help me."
His hand reached up to smack me. I turned my face away.
The hit that I expected didn't come; I glanced back up at him to see why. My tears came even harder when I saw Clark there, holding his arm so he couldn't move.
"Let her go," he demanded.
"This has nothing to do with you, Daniels," Tyler growled back through clenched teeth. "Your girl just decided to find herself a real man. You can't blame her."
"Take your hands off of her." Clark didn't necessarily threaten him, but it was obviously what happened.
Tyler's hands loosened on my arm and from around my hair. As soon as I was able, I pulled away from him and darted to Clark's side. Tears were still streaming freely down my face.
"You made a mistake tonight." I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or Clark.
"What's going on out here?" Lindsey asked loudly, joining our party of three in the back yard.
"Why would you invite this trash here?" Tyler's lip snarled up.
"He looks better than you," I shot back on Clark's behalf.
"You can stuff him in a suit and he's still trash underneath. He didn't even try to shave that bird's nest off his face."
"Ok," Lindsey held up her hand to stop me saying anything else. "Why are you three out here and not inside at the party?"
"Tyler attacked me, Linds." Now that her and Clark were out here, I felt brave again.
"We were just having some fun," Tyler shrugged.
"He pulled my hair. There was nothing fun about it."
"I did not attack her."
Lindsey shot me a warning look. "Look at her hair, Tyler. She didn't get this way on her own."
"She likes it a little rough."
"You..." Clark lunged forward. I pulled him back to me; we didn't need a fight right now. What we needed was a confession.
"Not cool," Lindsey pointed her finger at Tyler.
"This girl has been begging for it. She's been following me around town for days."
"Even if she was," Lindsey flared, "that doesn't mean she was asking for anything."
"I've seen the way she looked at me. She sat in those bleachers for our entire practice, practically drooling. I'm just trying to help her out," he grinned, smug as ever despite the fact he had been on the verge of rape or murder tonight.
If Clark and Lindsey hadn't come out when they did...
"You are such an idiot," I snapped. "We have been following you around..."
"I know."
"...to watch you."
"Because we know what you did," Lindsey added.
"What did I do?"
"You killed Avery."
Chapter Seven
Tyler sat on the bench, staring at the three of us looming over him. Lindsey glared at him with her lips pursed and her arms crossed. Tyler looked pale.
"We know what you did," she snapped, kicking his shoe with the toe of her own high heels. "Admit the truth."
"I did not kill Avery," he denied - again. He attempted to get up and was stopped when Clark moved his body slightly. "You three are crazy," he ran his hand across his top lip. "I'd expect it from Daniels, but you Lindsey?"
"What happened at that party Tyler," Lindsey demanded angrily. "And you better not lie."
"Nothing." His tongue darted over his lips. "Ok," he held up one hand, "me and Avery did get into a fight that night."
"What about?"
My lips pursed tightly, I already knew what we fought about - I didn't want him to say it out loud for them to hear even if they did know.
"It was...about Cassie."
"And you," I fired, unable to stop myself.
"Avery saw us kissing and she went crazy."
"Respect." Lindsey kicked his feet again.
"Then what?" It was time for him to fill in some blanks. "Did you take her home?"
"No." I saw him swallow. "I left the party without her, I don't know what happened to her after that." "You're such a liar."
"He's not lying," a new voice contradicted Lindsey's words.
Cassie Andrews stood in our back yard, glaring down her crooked nose at us. Weird how I had never noticed how messed up her nose was; didn't she know they had doctors to fix that these days? It wasn't like we were living in the dark ages.
"Didn't you leave?" I snarled.
"No one wants you here."
A fake little smile froze on her lips. "I was in my car, waiting for Tyler."
"Creepy much?"
"I saw him come outside and then back here," her gaze moved past us to him. "So I came to see what was up."
"You should have come a few minutes earlier, you could have seen your boyfriend attacking me." One eyebrow cocked up on my forehead.
"All I see if you guys attacking him." Braver than I would have given her credit for, she locked glares with Lindsey. "He did not kill your sister."
"You know what I think?" Lindsey clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. I almost felt bad for Cassie.
"I don't really care what you think."
"I think you helped him kill her."
"Why would I do that?"
"Everyone knows how jealous you were of Avery."
"Oh please," she scoffed. "You guys don't know anything."
Tyler got up while our attention was on Cassie. He sidled past us and stood next to her. Who did they think they were, a perfect little couple? Tyler was so different, it didn't feel real. Had he always been like this or did she change him?
"Tyler and I left that party together, Cassie informed us with an upraised chin. "And Avery was not with us."
"Ew." I didn't even want to be with them now. Even drunk, there was no way I would have followed meekly behind them.
Cassie took a second to glare my way before turning back to Lindsey. "We left her drunk ass there."
"Say one more thing about my sister," Lindsey took a step forward. "I dare you."
"You took her to the party and then left with another girl?" Clark clarified.
"Why are you back here?" Cassie rolled her nasty snarl to Clark. "Surely Lindsey hasn't fallen that far?"
"Where did you guys go?" I hurried to ask before Lindsey got more distracted.
"Isn't it obvious?" She narrowed her eyes and bobbed her head.
Realization hit me like a ton of bricks. Cassie really was a slut. "Oh my word."
"How do we know you're not lying?" Clark asked. "I assume you two were the only ones there."
"We went back to my place; my parents were out of town," Cassie purred.
"How convenient."
"You can ask Billie and Nina," Tyler threw in. "They saw us leave together."
"Yeah," Cassie piped up, "they even asked where Avery was."
"Did you already kill her by then?" Lindsey demanded.
"She was still blubbering away by the cabin."
"Her friends went over to try and calm her down." Tyler had the decency to look upset.
"So..."
"Avery was still alive when you left?"
"Very much alive," Tyler nodded. "I didn't kill her, I loved Avery."
"Yeah," I scoffed. "You really proved that, huh?" No matter what happened after, he left that party to go to Cassie's house. He was my boyfriend, what the hell was wrong with those two?
"We're leaving,” Cassie suddenly declared.
"There's nothing more to say here."
"We're not done," Lindsey promised darkly.
"And you bitch," she pointed directly at me. "Stop following my boyfriend."
"Ok slut," I fired back, unable to help myself, "tell your nasty man to keep his hands off me. No. Means. No."
With one last dirty look, the pair hurried away. Probably back to her house. Oh my word.
Suddenly weak with emotion, I stumbled backwards and out of Laney. The night had started out great but everything that had happened in this yard was too much.
"Are you alright?" Clark grabbed my arm in case I fell.
"I'm...fine," I stuttered. "Just ..."
"I know."
"Are you back to being Laney now?" Lindsey asked her.
"Yeah," Laney whispered. "My head is hurting. What did I miss?"
"Tyler didn't kill her," she sighed. "Turns out he's just a loser."
"What?" Laney looked from me, to Clark, and then back to Lindsey. "I thought he did."
"We all thought he did." Lindsey took a deep breath and let it back out in an audible whoosh. "Come on Laney," she ordered. "We have some serious work to do."
"What?" Despite her confusion, she quickly followed her back into the party.
"Will you go in with them, Clark?" I was seconds away from losing it completely and I really didn't want him to witness that.
"I'm not leaving you alone." He set his jaw.
"No one will hurt me now. No one can even see me."
"You're already hurt," he softly pointed out.
"I just don't understand." My voice warped with unfamiliar emotion. "I didn't know he was so awful."
Without words, he wrapped himself around me. The contact was too much for my already frayed nerves - I broke down. Burying my face into his chest, I let myself sob. Clark didn't say anything.
"I'm sorry for putting Laney in danger," I hiccuped once I was able to get words out. "I promised I wouldn't."
"This isn't your fault." His hand glided over my hair. Normally I didn't like to be pet but this was nice. "This is all on Tyler Minx."
In the midst of a very bad night, I had discovered one very important truth. Tyler didn't kill me. And if he didn't, that meant my killer was still out there somewhere. "We were so sure he killed me." "Hmmm," he grunted back. I didn't blame him, it was hard to know what to say.
Rubbing furiously at my eyes, I pushed myself away from Clark. "We should go in."
"Why?" His face scrunched up. "Let's just leave."