Until Alex (9 page)

My body jolted as his truck’s engine roared to life. I held my breath as his headlights broke through the brush, lighting up a vast portion of the woods between the parking lot and me. Thankfully, I was just out of reach from their revealing beams.

It didn’t take long for him to pull away and his lights to disappear with him.

And even as the sound of his engine became a distant hum, I didn’t dare move a muscle. It could’ve been a trick. A ruse to lure me out of the woods. A ploy to bring me face to face with him.

But after more long minutes passed, it was clear Hayden had gone.

I hurried to the edge of the woods, stopping when the church reappeared. My eyes flashed to the cemetery, then the road. A sane person would’ve turned on their phone’s light, fled to their car, and gotten the hell out of there. But
sane
and me weren’t necessarily synonymous lately.

I jogged across the paved parking lot to the cemetery entrance. I stopped at the rusted cast iron fence. My heart rate spiked at the sudden realization that I stood alone. In the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by darkness and the dead. And no one knew where I’d gone.

I hadn’t realized it until that moment. But having Hayden nearby, if a zombie or masked murder stumbled upon me, had put me at ease. But now. Alone. With nothing but my thoughts to mock me for my rash decision, the whole situation frightened the hell out of me.

But it was too late to turn back. I’d made it that far.

I scrambled through the creaky gate, pulling out my phone to light a path. I flashed my beam around, searching the gravestones for the one that captivated Hayden.

Most of the stones were old, dates long passed. But one stood out. A newer one, set between stones that had begun to crumble. One with matted down leaves
in front of it, where someone had recently stood.

I moved closer, shining my light on the front where
Victor Zane
was etched into the stone. Zane? How was it I didn’t even know Hayden’s last name? The dates indicated Victor died three years ago at the age of forty. Could he have been Hayden’s father?

* * *

Hayden’s car wasn’t in the parking lot when I returned. I hadn’t seen him bring home any girls recently. But then again I hadn’t seen him period. Maybe he was servicing them at their homes. With that pleasant thought in mind, I settled on my bed with my iPad in search of anything I could find on Victor Zane.

An obituary popped up first. I read through the brief epitaph, which strangely didn’t mention a wife, sibling, child, or Hayden. If Victor Zane wasn’t Hayden’s relative, who was he?

A series of news articles popped up next, each reporting the same story. Victor had been murdered. Beaten to death by a minor in an alley. The minor’s name had been withheld from the articles. But he had been sentenced to ten months in a juvenile detention center for involuntary manslaughter.

Ten months for taking a man’s life seemed awfully lenient.

I sat back and drew a breath. Could Hayden be the minor? Had he been detained for ten months for manslaughter? Is that what my aunt had been reluctant to tell me?

I knew Hayden harbored secrets. And while he was a lot of things, a murderer
just didn’t seem like one of them.

CHAPTER TEN

ALEX

“There must be a mistake,” I whispered.

Taylor’s eyes were about to pop from her head. But when she turned toward me, she plastered on a full-blown, mega-watt smile. I’d never seen anything more fake in my life. “Don’t worry, honey. We’ll get this fixed before the others even see it.”

I followed her through the deserted halls of the theater arts building. The rapid clicking of her heels did nothing to ease the impermeable silence between us. We’d arrived so much earlier than the rest of the students, if she shoved me into a broom closet and locked the door, no one would find me for hours, possibly days.

Taylor stopped abruptly at a door with
Gail Smith
on the gold nameplate. She pounded on it like a woman possessed.

Then we waited.

Silently.

There was no shuffle inside Professor’s Smith’s office and no click of the lock signifying occupancy. So, without a word, Taylor turned on her heels and headed down the hallway to the professors’ lounge. Again she pounded on the door. This time a shuffling behind the door ensued.

Thank God.

The door swung open. Professor Smith, a portly woman with gray hair and dark eyes, appeared. Once she spotted us, her grin slipped from her face. “Before you say anything…” She stepped out and joined us in the hallway. Her eyes focused on Taylor. “This decision took me a long time to make. But in the end, I felt some fresh blood could help rejuvenate the competition.
”

You could’ve heard a pin drop as we both stared at Professor Smith.

“You were there. We had amazing freshmen audition, and some great transfers, like Alex.”

I closed my gaping mouth and pled to her good senses. “But I don’t even want to be in the competition. Let Taylor. I never would’ve auditioned if I thought it would’ve affected her—”

Professor Smith’s erect palm silenced me. “I’ve made my decision.” She looked into Taylor’s angry eyes. “I’m sorry if you don’t like it. But with our stellar line up, you should feel lucky you’re our alternate.” She turned on her flats and walked back into the lounge, leaving us standing alone in the empty hallway.

Fear seized my tongue. Visions of a vicious cat fight
flooded my frazzled brain. 

When I finally worked up the courage to peek at Taylor, a grin pulled at her lips. “Oh well, I guess these things happen.”

I turned my entire body toward her, desperate not to lose one of my only friends. “I don’t want to be in the competition. I’m sure if we give her time to reconsider, she’ll let us switch. I only auditioned because you asked me to. I’m serious. I not gonna do it.”

Taylor nodded. “Yes, you are. You won the spot fair and square. If I can’t win the competition, you damn well better.”

I wanted to cry. Sure, over the past month and a half I’d cried enough for a lifetime, but the tears sat at the ready. I’d only been in school for two weeks, and I’d already ruined everything.

Wait a minute.

I didn’t sign up for the competition.

“I’ve gotta go.” I gave Taylor no time to respond. I spun on my heels and bolted out of the building.

I threw open the doors to the coffee shop, my eyes scanning the busy room. Of course, Hayden wasn’t there. That wouldn’t deter me. I took a seat at the front window. It provided a perfect view of the entire quad. From there, I’d see him before he saw me. What I planned to say warranted a face-to-face, no-holds-barred conversation. One that should have happened two weeks ago.

The two
good-looking guys I’d seen Hayden with on the first day walked in and sauntered to the register. They spent a few minutes flirting with the barista then grabbed their coffees and headed to the door. When they noticed me, they shot me looks of pity. Did they really think I was waiting for Hayden?

Okay, so maybe I was. But not to grovel like they clearly assumed. It’d be a cold day in hell before that happened.

At lunch, Taylor still acted like her happy social-butterfly self, even after she had time to digest the morning’s turn of events. My ears followed the conversation at my table, but my eyes searched the crowded room. Yet again, Hayden was nowhere to be found.

Did he have any idea what he’d done? Did he realize he almost sabotaged one of the only friendships I had?

“So as promised, I’m driving to the bonfire tonight,” Taylor informed Chloe and me.

“I’ll have to meet up with you there,” Chloe explained. “I’ve got practice then a unity-building activity afterwards.”

“No worries,” Taylor assured her with a smile in her voice. “Alex and I will get the party started on our own.”

* * *

We pulled up at the beach in Taylor’s sporty red convertible just after nine. I had no clue why she’d been so eager to take my car last time. Hers put all others to shame.

I planned to tell her I was dropping out
of the competition since it meant nothing to me and everything to her. But since she hadn’t brought it up, I didn’t want to spoil our night by reminding her she didn’t make it.

We walked through the cool sand, skirting around groups of people surrounding the crimson flames.

“Look, there’s Cameron.” Taylor pointed to a white truck parked on the beach just past the fire. Music blared from its opened doors, and a keg sat in the bed. People with red cups hung around it.

A shaggy blonde in green board shorts and a black hoodie made his way over to us. He wore a giant grin and carried two cups. 

“I hear a celebration’s in order.” He handed one of the cups to Taylor before handing the other to me.

I took the cup, eyeing him curiously.

“SSC Voice,” he explained. “Taylor said you’re gonna steal the show.”

I gulped down half the cup of beer so I didn’t have to respond.

He bumped my shoulder playfully. “It’s okay to admit you’re gonna kill it.”

My cheeks burned and my face fell into a grimace. I needed him to stop talking about the competition. It only reminded Taylor why she should hate me.

“I’m Cameron,” he offered, misinterpreting my expression as confusion.

“Right.” I flashed him a regrettable smile.

“What do you say we take a walk? You know, get to know each other, see the sights,” he offered lightheartedly.

I glanced beside me. Taylor had disappeared. “Where’d she go?”

He shot me a crooked smile, the kind that said I’d been set up. For some reason, it didn’t feel like such a bad thing. He didn’t have dimples like Hayden, but he possessed that cute surfer swag that turned girls’ heads. “Does it really matter?”

“Only if you want her to walk with us.” Feeling immediately embarrassed by my blatant flirting, I chugged more of my beer.

A smile dragged across his sun-chapped lips as he shook his head. “Did you?”

I kept the cup to my mouth and shook my head.

“Come on.” He grasped my hand, like it was completely normal to be holding hands with a stranger, and led me down to the water’s edge. His hand was cold to the touch and not as strong as Hayden’s.

Ugh.

I shook away the thought and threatened any future thoughts of him from entering my head. 

We reached the water, staying back
just enough that the tide didn’t reach us.

“Hold on.”

Cameron watched in amusement as I dropped to the sand, slipped off my flip flops, and rolled the bottom of my jeans. When I stood up, wooziness caused me to stumble back a step.

“Whoa there.” Cameron grabbed hold of my elbow and steadied me. 

“Sorry.” I glanced into my nearly-empty cup. I wasn’t usually such a lightweight. “I guess I just stood up too fast.”

“No worries. I’ve got you.” He linked his fingers with mine and tugged me along the beach.

It felt nice to have someone paying attention to me. It had been a while. And though Cameron didn’t make me feel safe the way Hayden did, he made me feel excited. Like a girl getting attention from the most popular guy in school. I would’ve been a fool not to enjoy the attention from such a hottie.

Hottie
?

“So, as promised, I’m going to show
you the sights the coast has to offer.”

Cameron walked alongside me, his bare feet on the damp sand while mine were covered by the icy water—such a bitter contrast to the warm flush settling over my skin.

He swept out his arm dramatically. “So to your left, we have the exquisite ocean. Fierce and majestic.”

I snickered. “Fierce and majestic?”

His goofy smile spread wide. “Absolutely. Don’t you know how vast the ocean is? How far it extends? How deep it is?”

I shook my head. 

“Well, it’s very vast, extends very far, and is very deep.”

I laughed. So did he. It was nice. He was nice. There was no wondering what he was thinking. No long silences. No questions deflected. He was just nice.

“And over there if you really look…” He pointed up the coast to a speck of light in the distance. “You can see the Seabring Lighthouse.”

Beads of sweat clung to my hairline. “I think I see it
.”

Cameron swallowed deeply. “Maybe we could get a closer look sometime? My family docks their boat nearby.”

I hesitated, unsure if he’d asked me on a date or was just being kind to the new girl. “That sounds nice.”

He grinned as we strolled further and further away from the crowd.

“So, have you and Taylor been friends for a while?”

“Yeah, since we were kids.”

I nodded, but my head felt heavy. And stiff. Like I needed to work to nod. What was going on with me? I glanced to Cameron. Could he sense it? His heady gaze told me no.

I looked away, finishing off my beer. I hoped to God it moistened my cotton mouth
and
he didn’t try to kiss me. 

He let the moment pass, tugging me further down the beach. The sounds of the bonfire faded to a distant memory and the crashing waves became the soundtrack. “So, how do you like SSC?”

It was a loaded question on so many levels. One I really needed to consider. But a bout of exhaustion took hold of my body. My knees wobbled and if I didn’t stop walking, I had a feeling they’d buckle.

“It’s good.” My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth like I’d been snacking on chalk.

“You’re from Austin, right?”

I nodded, unable to formulate the words I wanted to say.

That was the last thing I remembered before my head spun and everything turned black.