“What?!” Brooklyn and Mia cried at exactly the same time. “You can’t. We just set up the most—”
“Insanely wrong situation possible!” I shouted, shoving the phone closer. “See the right side of the shot, the person sitting next to Mia? That’s Eddie, leaning his elbows on the table, looking right at the camera. Sure he’s a little cut off, but it’s obviously him. An excellent clue for Ben, right? If I’m with Eddie, that means I’m somewhere near UC. Even better, though, is that huge Monk’s Cove sign hanging in the background, just behind our heads. If Ben’s looking for me—and I’d bet my life on that, since I stole his car, and you guys texted him two pictures of me with another guy—he’ll now know exactly where to find me.”
Brooklyn snatched the phone from my hand and squinted at the picture. “Shit.”
“Hadley,” Mia said, “it doesn’t mean he’s going to notice the sign. And even if he does, that doesn’t mean he’ll—”
“I’m not taking chances. I can’t deal with Ben tonight. I’m not just leaving this bar. I’m getting out of Cincinnati. Are you coming with me or not?”
I turned toward the crowded entrance of the bar, ready to make my escape. It would take Ben about an hour to schmooze someone for a ride and then get to Cincinnati, assuming he’d seen the picture and taken action the minute he received it. That gave me roughly an hour to get as far away as I could.
I looked back at my friends, who had both slid into their seats. Neither would look at me.
“You got me into this mess. You’re not going to help get me out of it?”
“We could stay a little longer….” Mia’s eyes slid toward Eddie.
“No. No way. No chance. Just … no.”
“Agreed,” Brooklyn said. “You need to leave. But what if we can help you more from right here?”
I sighed. “How exactly would you do that?”
“We could throw Ben off track,” Brooklyn said. “Tell him to go to some frat party to look for you, or something random. Like a scavenger hunt with no prize at the end, because you’ll be long gone.”
I bit my lower lip, thinking. It could work. It might even be the best option. Ben would never in a million years believe that I’d go off on my own, leaving Brooklyn and Mia behind.
“Eddie?” I asked, swiveling to face him. “You’ll help? Plan out the craziest places to send Ben?”
“Someone messes with you, he messes with me.” Eddie gave me a little wink, his eyes glittering with the promise of a wild mission to lead Ben off course. “Throwing his night into a tailspin will be my pleasure.”
“It does sound like the best option.”
“I hate thinking of you leaving on your own,” Brooklyn said.
“I’ll be fine. Just don’t let me down.” I shoved a hand in my pocket and yanked out Suzette’s ID, tossing it on the table in front of Eddie. “Thanks for getting me in here.”
“Wait,” Mia said, grabbing my hand. “Where are you gonna go?”
“I have no idea.” But that wasn’t entirely true. The highway was calling me. Problem was, after three Jell-O shots, I couldn’t exactly get behind the wheel.
“You’ll text us?” Brooklyn asked. “When you figure it out?”
“Just come up with some good places to send Ben. I want him to spend the entire night searching Cincinnati for his stupid car.”
“We’re all over it,” Brooklyn said.
Mia giggled. “He picked the wrong girls to screw with tonight.”
I blew each of my best friends a kiss, then turned, trusting Eddie to guide their moves for the rest of the evening.
As soon as my feet hit the sidewalk, I breathed in the crisp spring air, trying to ignore how light-headed I was from the shots, trying to shove away the fear that swept over me when I thought of heading out on my own. I could handle this, I told myself. Nothing to it.
I pulled my phone from my pocket. Ben had texted me twenty-seven times and left seven voice mails in the last hour.
“Sorry,” I said, shoving the phone back in place without reading or listening to a single message. “I’m currently unavailable.”
Standing in front of the bar, my gaze fell on the red-brick wall where Josh had been leaning, his backpack propped between his feet, before we’d gone inside. I felt a moment of relief, my first glimmer of hope that I could pull off a real escape.
Until I remembered him walking away.
And the truth of that bare, dirty, red-brick wall sank in.
Josh had been close. But he wasn’t anymore.
“Shit.” Josh Lane would have been the perfect person to save me from the disaster that was about to rock the Mount Adams bar district. The perfect person to save me from Ben.
I turned in a slow circle, looking at all the people moving up and down the street, hoping I’d see his sandy hair, his green eyes, the curve of his cheek.
But Josh was gone.
I stopped turning, sucking in a deep breath, when I realized that Josh Lane wasn’t the only thing missing.
Ben’s car was no longer in the spot where I’d parked it. In its place sat an extremely old, extremely rusty Volkswagen Bug.
“Double shit.” I closed my eyes, wishing I could blink myself back to the tower, back to the minute I’d been stupid enough to think I could take Ben Baden down. If I could do it all over again, I’d take it back in a heartbeat. I’d head back to that party and end things before they even began.
11
SPRING HEIGHTS ESTATES – 10:19 PM
“GET YOUR hands off me,” I said as Ben led me through the door to the master suite. It was dark inside, and the air smelled faintly of men’s cologne. I watched the shadow of Ben’s body waver along the wall until he snapped the light on.
“Jesus, Hadley, my hands have been on every square inch of your body. It’s not like I—”
“Dragged me up here?” I asked sarcastically. “Right. You’d never do that.”
“What the hell is going on with you?” Ben kicked the door closed behind him, muffling the sounds of the party.
“Funny you should ask,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “I’ve been wondering the exact same thing.”
“I don’t want to do this with you.” Ben’s voice was surprisingly soft. Almost sweet. “This is not how tonight was supposed to go.”
Ben stepped forward. I stepped back, moving away from the bed, toward the master bathroom, my purse sliding down my arm and falling to the floor. I kept moving, making no attempt to grab it, not even looking at the brown leather bag. When he realized I wasn’t about to let him get any closer to me, he stopped.
“We can forget about all of this, Hadley—believe me, I want to—after you tell me where my shit is.”
“Your keys? They’re in the car. Right where we—”
“I’m not talking about the keys!” He was angry, I knew that, but there was something underneath the anger. Frustration. Maybe even fear.
“I don’t have any idea what you’re—”
“Don’t lie to me.” Ben closed his eyes for a moment. Took a deep, calming breath. “Do not lie to me.”
“I’m not lying. I swear.”
“It was in the car. With you. I know it was there before you left because I checked right when we got to the party. And now it’s gone.” Fear. His words were definitely streaked with fear.
“What was there?” I shouted, totally confused. “What’s gone?”
Ben looked right at me, his eyes pleading. “Hadley, you have to tell me.”
Something about those words caught my attention, and even though I was still pissed, I was suddenly afraid for him, too.
“Let’s go downstairs. I’ll get a ride to your house and grab the spare keys, and then we can search your car and find whatever it is that you’re missing. Okay?”
“You don’t get it.” He shook his head, then laughed, but there was nothing happy in the sound. “It’s gone, Hadley.”
“I didn’t take anything.”
; “I’m not stupid. You found it, and you didn’t like what you saw, so you decided to lock the keys in my car to buy yourself some extra time while you got rid of it.” He ran a hand through his hair. “You have no idea what you’ve done. No idea.”
Ben’s eyes were frantic, almost desperate. I could hardly believe this was the same guy who had held my hand to keep me from falling as we slipped across the icy parking lot at the movie theater just a few months ago, the same guy who, three weeks back, had kissed the tip of my nose while we danced to the sound of the creek trickling through his backyard.
“Did you hide it?” he asked. “Or was it Brooklyn and Mia?”
“Wait. Why are you bringing them into—”
“We need to find them, Hadley. They were in the car and if they have any idea—” Ben closed his eyes and brought his hands to his face. “Holy shit!”
“What? What are you—”
“Josh Lane. Where was Josh sitting?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Hadley,” Ben said, his hands balling into tight fists. “Please.”
“In the passenger seat. Josh was in the passenger seat, but I don’t see why—”
“Jesus, Hadley, you really don’t have a clue, do you?” Ben laughed, the sound tearing through the room.
I shook my head. Swallowed. “I already told you that.”
Ben nodded. Sighed. And then he stepped forward. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just … something went missing. Something important. And it looks like your little tagalong Josh Lane is the culprit.”
“Ben, I—”
Ben put a finger to my lips. “I have to go and find him. And I want to be able to find you when I’m finished because we have some things to work through.”
“Work through? You think we’re just going to work through you posting that picture of me?”
“Jesus, forget about the picture. Just forget about everything until I get back.” Ben wrapped his hands around my biceps, gentle at first, but then tighter, rougher as I tried to pull away.
“Get your hands off me.” I jerked sideways but couldn’t free myself.
“I know you’re pissed, but you have to trust me.” He practically picked me up off the floor as he backed me toward the dark opening that led to the master bath. “This won’t be for too long.”
“What won’t be for too long?” I asked, hearing the shaky panic in my voice and hating it. I had to get a grip. I had stay in control. “And did you actually just tell me to trust you?”
He stopped talking then. So did I. The only sound was our feet scrabbling on the floor and my hands tearing at his shirt, his jacket, his face—anything they could grasp. I flailed, kicking and shouting, hoping someone would hear me because there was no way Ben was going to change his mind. I could see the determination in his eyes. But no one was going to hear a thing. Not with the music blaring, and people laughing, and the heated game of beer pong going on in the kitchen below us.
When he got me to the bathroom, he flipped the light on and wrapped his arms around me, squeezing tight. Pressed his cheek into my hair. I felt his hand slip into the back pocket of my jeans and realized he was taking my phone. I knew I wasn’t going anywhere. I let myself go limp, my body pressing against Ben’s, using him as my support so he’d think I was too weak to fight back. I was glad guys like Ben Baden don’t know how many ways there are to attack an enemy.
“Please,” I whispered. “Don’t leave me.”
“I’ll be back for you,” he said. “We’ll work this out.”
My arms slid up the sides of his body, fingers searching, pressing, pulling, rough and insistent. “You can’t leave me here. What if—”
“Nothing’s gonna happen, Hadley.” Ben’s voice was soft. Reassuring. He swept my hair off my face and tucked it behind my ears, pulling back, but not far. Just enough to look in my eyes. I could see our reflection in the large mirror hanging on the wall and wanted to shove this new version of him backward into the glass so that it splintered and rained down on him. But I stood there, tolerating his embrace—it was my only way out.
“You’re coming back?” I asked, my eyes meeting his. I needed him to think I was counting on him. For him to feel he’d won.
“Of course. After I deal with Josh. I promise.”
“What are you going to do to him?” I asked. As crazy as it seemed, I felt as if Josh and I were on the same side again.
Ben shrugged. “Let me worry about that.”
“Just don’t—”
“Don’t what?”
I cleared my throat and found the right words. “Don’t do anything to get yourself into trouble.”
Ben chuckled, closing his eyes for a beat, and then kissed my forehead. I wanted to scrape the feeling off my skin.
“I’ll be back before you know it.” He pulled away and smiled. The bastard actually smiled. As if everything had flipped to normal, just like that.
I didn’t rush after him, throw myself at the door, or try to keep him from shutting me in. I just stood there in the middle of the polished travertine floor, my arms at my sides, hands tucked behind my back, listening as Ben slid a chair beneath the door handle and pressed it tightly against the wooden frame.
“I swear I’ll make it up to you, Hadley. And you might not believe it right now, but I’m doing this for you.”
I heard footsteps padding away from the door, the bathroom, and me. A quick blast of music trickled through the crack along the floor. Then there was silence.
I faced myself in the mirror, flashing a wide smile, not even caring that I was trapped. Directly behind me, a second floor-to-ceiling mirror cast multiple reflections in the mirror over the granite countertop, as if I was standing on the cusp of a million different lives, all occurring in the same moment, seeing a million different versions of myself.
More importantly, the mirror confirmed again and again and again what I already knew to be true.
My fingers tightened their grip on Ben’s cell phone. The one I’d pulled from the inside pocket of his jacket when I’d surrendered, leaning into him as though I was so afraid of him leaving me that I might collapse.
“Gotcha,” I said, breaking into a little dance, shaking my butt and waving my hands in the air as I spun around, my hair swooshing wildly around my shoulders.
I gave myself a little wink, and all of the other Hadleys winked right back. Then I eased myself against the wall, sliding down the robin’s-egg-blue surface, and got to work. I had to delete every last picture of myself from that phone. And then I had to find a way to escape the echoing prison of the master bathroom before Ben made his way back to me.
12
CINCINNATI, OHIO – 11:26 PM TRIP ODOMETER – 42 MILES
“I’M DEAD.” I was standing on the sidewalk in front of the entrance to Monk’s Cove. The sky above me was stretched wide, but still, I felt trapped. Losing the car I’d stolen from my boyfriend was not an option. But looking at the VW Bug that had replaced Ben’s BMW, it was clear that was exactly what had happened. “Ben’s going to kill me.”
And then I laughed. Ben Baden was getting exactly what he deserved.
Josh Lane, on the other hand, was not. I knew he was behind the missing car. I couldn’t figure out how, but I would. And then I’d make him regret his little stunt.
I yanked my phone out of my pocket and found Josh in my contacts. I’d almost deleted his number a million times. But he was still right there where he had always been.
I started a new text and typed, one very angry finger stabbing at the screen.
Me: Where are you?
I hit SEND and then leaned up against that dirty brick wall and waited, debating whether to walk north or south on Pavilion Street to try tracking him down. It wasn’t like he could be in any of the bars. Maybe I’d even find Ben’s car parked along the street.
I wasn’t sure what I expected to happen. Josh ignoring me completely, I guess, as he had since last fall when he got out of t
he hospital. But before I could decide which way to walk, my phone chimed. And, for once, it had nothing to do with that naked picture or the person who had posted it.
Josh: Wouldn’t you like to know?
I could practically hear him laughing.
Me: Don’t play games with me.
Josh: But games are so much fun.
I almost screamed.
Me: Fine. I don’t care where you are.
Where’s the missing item?
Josh: Someplace safe.
Leaning my head back against the wall, I took a deep breath. I could do this. I’d stolen a car and driven it all the way to Cincinnati with Josh Lane sitting in the passenger seat. I could do anything.
Me: Enough, Josh. Just tell me.
I waited for his reply. Nothing. He was probably getting some kind of sick pleasure out of torturing me. He might even be watching. I turned in a circle, feeling he was close—that he had to be close—because if he’d just driven off and left me, I was totally screwed.
My phone chimed and I looked at the screen. He’d sent me a picture of a sign—oval shaped, blue—MOUNT ADAMS PAVILION in yellow block letters. Below the sign, he’d typed the words: Clue #1.
Me: Clue #1? No time for games.
Just tell me where to find you.
Josh: You want the car, you’ll play.
Text me when you get there.
Josh Lane was the most infuriating person I had ever met, but I knew the only way to end his little scavenger hunt and get out of the city was to follow his clues.
I looked around, searched all the signs in front of the bars lining the streets, and found MOUNT ADAMS PAVILION. I started walking, looking across the street in case he was somewhere in the crowd, checking over my shoulder to see if he was following me. When I made it to the bar, I turned in a circle, but all I saw were throngs of drunk college partiers.
Me: I’m here. Send me the next clue.
A new picture came through. Another sign, neon this time and flashing, I saw, when I found it a block up the street. I ran to the bar and before I could even ask for another clue, he’d texted a third picture: a wooden bench, a tan napkin, and a bowl of purple ice cream—my favorite—black raspberry chip from Graeter’s. Josh had remembered my favorite flavor.
A Million Times Goodnight Page 6