Truth or Dare (13 page)

“And he asked about you,” Emerson went on as Caitlin pulled into the Yacht Club lot. As usual, the lot was pretty full; boaters stored their cars there when they traveled. “Wanted to know if you were ready for a week of campaigning.
So
cute…”

Caitlin made a point of ignoring Emerson as they climbed out of the car. “Enough small talk,” she announced. She lowered her voice into an exaggerated whisper. “We’ve got a mission to accomplish now.”

“Mission Secret Party,” Emerson agreed solemnly. Pressing her back against Caitlin’s car, she clasped her hands together, pointer fingers up in a mock gun. “Agents Thomas and Cunningham, reporting for duty,” she whispered. She looked furtively around before sprinting to the next car in the lot. Caitlin laughed as she hurried after her, crouching low.

“You know what every mission needs?” Emerson whispered knowingly.

“Uh, black clothes?” Caitlin looked down at the brown knit vest she was wearing over a pale pink tank top and skinny jeans. Not exactly spy attire.

“No.” Emerson giggled. “This.” She pulled a silver flask out of her purse, dangling it in the air in front of Caitlin. “The Cunningham special.”

“Also known as whatever you could sneak out of your house?”

“You say tomato, I say
drink
.” Emerson pressed the flask to her lips and took a swig before offering it to Caitlin. “Liquid fuel, Agent Thomas?”

Laughing, Caitlin took the flask. She couldn’t say no to Emerson when she was acting all silly like this. Lately it seemed like Emerson was so much older than her—as if somewhere between her modeling shoots and her summer in New York, she’d gone and outgrown her. And her mystery man was only making it worse. Caitlin knew very little about him, just that he was a lot older and really romantic. Whenever Emerson talked about it—the love letters he e-mailed her, the poems he quoted that Caitlin hadn’t even heard of—it was all Caitlin could do to pretend not to be completely intimidated.

But here, crouched in the parking lot of the Yacht Club, Emerson whipping her “gun” from side to side James Bond–style, Emerson was just her old friend, the one who’d once made her laugh so hard she’d snarfed soda out of her nose.

They passed the flask back and forth as they ran from car to car, giggling quietly. They could hear voices drifting in from one of the yachts, but they just ducked lower when they reached the pier, sprinting past it. By the time they reached the
Blue Ribbon
, at the other end of the pier, a fuzzy feeling had spread through Caitlin’s body, making her feel loose and giddy.

The deck of the yacht was dark and empty, but Caitlin could hear faint traces of music coming from inside the cabin. She smiled. “I think we found our party.”

Moving stealthily, she and Emerson crept toward the cabin door. It swung open easily. The noise was louder inside, pounding music coming from a closed room at the back of the cabin. Caitlin and Emerson exchanged an excited look.

They’d just stepped on board when Emerson’s phone began to ring. Emerson dove into her purse, quickly silencing it.

“No phone calls in the field,” Caitlin admonished, pretending to be horrified.

Emerson laughed, but when she looked down at her phone, her expression changed. “Sorry, Cait, I need to take this one. Be back in a minute?”

That could only mean one thing: It was
him
. “Sure,” Caitlin said, trying to mask her disappointment. She forced a smile onto her face. “I’ll stake out the scene while you’re gone.”

With a grateful smile, Emerson slipped outside. “I’ve been thinking about you,” Caitlin heard her say before the door snapped shut behind her.

Caitlin headed toward the room at the back of the cabin. She kept expecting Tenley to burst in at any minute, beaming with pride over her little dare. But no doors opened. Suddenly Caitlin felt a flicker of fear. What if she was wrong? What if the note wasn’t from Tenley?

In the back room, there was a pause in the music as a new song switched on, and a burst of laughter suddenly rang out through the cabin, high-pitched and throaty at the same time. Caitlin smiled to herself, her shoulders relaxing. Of course the note was from Tenley. She was waiting right behind that door, probably jumping out of her skin in anticipation. Throwing back her shoulders, Caitlin stalked over to the room. “I’m here,” she sang out over the booming music, waiting for Tenley to squeal in response.

But when she stepped into the room, it wasn’t Tenley she saw. It was Hunter Bailey. He was in bed, wearing only boxers, and he was kissing someone. And not just light kissing,
really
kissing, their hands
grabbing and their breath rasping and their bodies moving in unison on top of the blanket.

Caitlin let out a sharp gasp of surprise. Averting her eyes, she quickly stumbled backward, bumping loudly into a basket of fishing hooks as she tried to slip away. Hunter shot up at the noise, whipping around to face the door.

“Caitlin?” he sputtered when he saw her. Caitlin froze in the doorway. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I…” Caitlin began. “I…” She meant to say more, but the words got lodged in her throat. Because, for the first time, she had a full view of who was in bed with Hunter, the person whose laughter she’d mistaken for Tenley’s. Like most of Hunter’s hookups, it was a blond. But this one was different.

Because it was a guy.

Caitlin’s eyes flew back and forth between the two boys. She didn’t recognize the other guy, but she did recognize the look on Hunter’s face: terror. She backed frantically out of the room, her heart beating wildly. “I—I’m so sorry,” she stammered. “I didn’t mean to, I mean, I didn’t know….” Her words tangled in her mouth as Hunter jumped out of the bed, chasing her into the hallway. “What are you
doing
here?” he spit out.

“I…” Caitlin began again. She was about to tell him about the dare, but something made her stop short. “I guess I got the boats mixed up,” she finished weakly. “I’m so sorry, Hunter.”

Hunter took a step toward her. There was a vein bulging in his neck, and for a second, she thought he was going to hit her. But instead he grabbed her arms, squeezing hard. “You can’t tell anyone what you saw,” he hissed. “Okay? No one.”

“Okay,” she promised quickly.

“I’m serious, Cait,” he said. His voice was tinged with desperation.
“You have to promise. If my dad ever found out…” He shook his head. “He can’t.” He took a step closer to her, his face hardening. “He just
can’t
. And if he does, I’ll make sure I’m not the only one who pays.” He gave her arm a rough shake. “Do you understand?”

Caitlin nodded mutely. She was backed up against the hallway wall, his fingers digging into her skin, his breath warm on her face.
Trapped
. Panic clawed at her chest. She’d felt like that before… A memory suddenly seized at her.

Walls as red as blood. And something else—no,
someone
else. A person, blurry, but there. Fear filled every inch of her. Panic. She tried to back away, but she was too dizzy, too unsteady on her own feet. She tripped, slamming into the wall. Pain shot through her shoulder. She was trapped. A hand reached out for her, long, slender fingers coming closer, closer
—

“No!” Caitlin wrenched herself out of Hunter’s grip, knocking her shoulder into a vase perched on a low shelf. As the vase crashed to the floor, splintering into pieces, Caitlin jolted back to the present.

That memory… it had been even worse than hypnosis. It had sucked her right under, as if her mind wasn’t her own anymore.

Spinning on her heels, she sprinted toward the exit of the boat, racing onto the dock. She heard Hunter calling for her, but she didn’t stop. She had to get out of there.

Back on the dock, she gulped in breaths of fresh air. Hunter hadn’t followed her, at least. Suddenly, it occurred to her that Emerson had never returned. She looked around. The pier was deserted, the only light a faint glow wafting off a few boats on the water. Digging out her phone, she sent off a frantic text to Emerson.

Where r u???

She blew out a sigh of relief when her phone buzzed almost instantly in response.
@ ur car. Needed privacy!

Still feeling shaky, Caitlin took off down the pier. It was quieter the farther she got from the
Blue Ribbon
, and darker, too, night wrapping around her like a noose. Caitlin gripped her phone tighter, wishing Emerson were with her. Out on the water, a dim light shone on one of the larger boats and Caitlin caught a glimpse of her shadow moving across its sail.

Next to it, something flickered. Another shadow, wavering beside hers. A second later it was gone, but Caitlin froze in place, her feet suddenly tethered to the ground like anchors.
Was someone else here?
She looked around, straining her eyes in the darkness. But she saw no one. She was all alone.

It could have been anything, she told herself as she continued down the pier. A boater heading home. A seagull flying past. A trick of the light.

But when she was halfway down the pier, she heard it. The unmistakable sound of footsteps. They came out of nowhere, drumming down the pier behind her.

Behind her, the footsteps moved faster. They were closing in on her. Fear spread through Caitlin like wildfire. She knew she should look back—face whoever it was head-on—but she couldn’t. All she could do was flee.

She broke into a run as she reached the parking lot. She was breathing hard as she dodged cars left and right.

Suddenly the footsteps were right behind her.

She let out a scream as a hand grabbed her shoulder.

Monday, 12:05
AM

CAITLIN, IT’S JUST ME!” TENLEY TOOK A STEP
backward, raising both hands in a
don’t shoot
gesture as Caitlin whirled around.

“Ten?”
Caitlin’s shoulders sagged with relief as her eyes landed on Tenley. “What is going
on
?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing.” For the last ten minutes, Tenley had been storming around the pier, on the hunt for whoever had sent her that ridiculous dare. A thousand different responses had been piling up in her head since last night, and she was ready to spit them all out, prove that no one messed with Tenley Reed.

The pier had been empty, though, the only sound the echo of the waves as they slapped against the docks. She’d even waved at the few boats that were lit up, just
daring
the darer to come out and face her. But the air only seemed to grow more still, as if the pier itself were holding its breath. And then she’d felt it: a tingling on the back of her neck.

She’d whirled around, her blood going cold. Was she being watched? For a second, she could swear she heard something—the scuffling of feet? the whisper of a sigh?—but no matter how furiously she’d scanned the darkness, she couldn’t see anyone. She was all alone.

Her palms had grown sticky, and she’d quickly wiped them off on her jeans. She’d had enough. Her heart beating fast, she’d started down the pier—and that’s when she caught sight of someone up ahead. In the thick darkness the person was nothing but a vague outline, but Tenley knew exactly who it was. Whoever had sent her that dare.

She’d picked up her pace; there was no way she was letting the darer get away that easily. But then a light from a passing boat had swept over the person’s hair: long, luminous, blond. There was only one person she knew who had hair like that. For a split second Tenley’s heart had stopped. Had
Caitlin
sent her that dare?

But now, as she stared at Caitlin, she got her answer. Caitlin’s eyes were wide with fear, and she looked fragile, the way she had for months after the kidnapping. Besides, Cait was Cait, the angel who couldn’t even kill a bug.
And
her best friend. She would never do something like that to her.

“Just tell me what’s going on, Ten,” Caitlin said, her voice quaking.

Tenley stepped closer to Caitlin. “I… I got this crazy note,” she said tentatively. “With a dare on it. It told me to come here at midnight.”

“A dare?” Caitlin grabbed Tenley’s arm. Her hand was cold and clammy. “I got one, too. I… I thought it was from you.”

Tenley blinked as that news sank in. “I never sent you a dare,” she said slowly. “What did it say?”

“I was supposed to come to the
Blue Ribbon
at midnight. I thought it was some kind of secret party, but when I got there…” Her voice faltered. “It wasn’t.”

Tenley blew out a breath. Messing with her was one thing; she could handle it. But
Caitlin
? Anger rushed through her, fresh and hot. Caitlin wasn’t like her. She didn’t get mad, she didn’t confront people. There was a time when she was tougher, before the kidnapping, but she’d come back different, as if any hardness had been stomped right out of her.

“Was anyone there?” Tenley asked, but her question was drowned out as an awful noise suddenly filled the parking lot, the sound of metal scraping against metal. It was a car, groaning loudly as it turned into the Yacht Club lot. For a second, the lot was awash in the glow of its headlights, the asphalt shimmering. But then the car jerked to a stop, its headlights switching off, and just as quickly, darkness settled back in.

Had the darer finally showed? Caitlin squeezed her arm tightly, her fingernails digging into Tenley’s skin. She looked so pale that Tenley was worried she might pass out. “It’s okay,” Tenley whispered. “I’ll take care of this.” Her blood was pounding wildly in her ears, but she forced herself to ignore it. Squaring her shoulders, she stormed over to the car.

A girl climbed out. Tenley squinted in the darkness, waiting for her eyes to readjust. The girl was taller than she was, and skinnier, too, with dark hair and shaggy bangs. She was wearing torn jeans and an oversized sweater. A duffel bag was slung over her shoulder. She seemed vaguely familiar. Tenley was just about to ask who the hell she was when, from behind her, Caitlin exclaimed, “
Sydney?
”

“Caitlin?” the girl replied. Her voice was low, her tone hard to read. As she looked over at Tenley, recognition flashed in her eyes. “And Tenley,” she said slowly.