My face flushed. “Yeah, I guess ... it’s a nervous habit.” “You used to do it as a kid.”
“That’s what my dad says.” His hand was still around
mine, the warmth of his fingers pleasant in spite of the lie. “So
I kissed you?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded slowly. “And you kissed me back?”
“Yep.”
Sending him a sidelong look, I raised my brows. “Well, did
you like it even though you weren’t proud of it?”
A smile pulled at his lips, and a wicked glint darkened his
eyes to midnight blue. “Oh, yeah, I enjoyed it.”
I felt my lips responding to his smile. “Well, that helps me
not to be too mad at you.” I pulled my hand free and reached for
the door handle. “You ready now?”
Carson nodded, and we climbed out of the truck. He went
to the chain, lifting the rusted metal high enough that I could
easily dip under it. He moved in front of me, and I followed,
mulling over what I’d discovered. Truth be told, I really didn’t
know how I felt about his lying to me. And that wasn’t even the
most important part of what he’d told me.
Why had I been crying after leaving Del’s?
Del had lied about our relationship—that much was certain. But about what, exactly? Had we broken up? Is that why
I’d taken his necklace off? And most important, did our breakup
have anything to do with Cassie?
Once again, the picture of Cassie and Del floated to the
surface of my mind. But this time it was different. Feelings were
tied to the image. Anger. Disappointment. I knew there was more,
just out of reach, waiting for me to put two and two together. Cassie.
Del.
I stopped beside a prickly bush as a wave of foreign emotions
crashed over me. Cassie and Del...
Having realized I’d stopped, Carson backtracked. “Hey, you
doing okay?”
“Yeah, I just... I don’t know.” How could I explain what
I was feeling—thinking? I tipped my head back. Deep blue sky
broke through the branches. “Do you think Cassie and Del had
something going on?”
“I really don’t know,” he said, leaning against a tree. “I
wouldn’t put it past either of them.”
“Why was I friends with someone like that? How could I
date someone like Del?” Before he could answer, I’d figured it
out. The revelation wasn’t new or anything, but it still stung like
a wasp. “Because I was just like them.”
Carson pushed off the tree and took my hand, threading his
fingers through mine. “You really weren’t. Not always, and you
aren’t anymore. That’s got to mean something.”
I glanced at him. “Second chances, right?”
He nodded and then started walking again, keeping his
hand secured around mine. I tried not to put much thought in it. The path we walked wasn’t much of a path at all. It was an
uneven stretch of land that continued uphill until the two of us
were forced to break contact lest we lose our footing. Pieces of
dirt and small rocks kicked up, rolling down the hill behind us.
Finally we cleared the trees and crossed a grassy patch. Breaking away from Carson, I slowly moved to the edge of
the cliff. Wind, cold and wet, whipped my hair back. Tips of
trees guarded the waterfall below, and like I’d suspected, the fall
was rocky and sheer.
I waited for vertigo to slam into me, but as I stood at the edge, I realized the height didn’t bother me. In fact, there was something thrilling about being up so high. “I think I still have
a bit of an adrenaline junkie in me,” I said.
Carson’s laugh was strained. “That’s kind of good to hear,
but do you think you could move back from the edge a little?” He’d stayed near the trees, and I wondered if he was afraid
of heights. “Do you think if we fell from here, I could’ve survived it?”
“It’s possible. Crazier things have happened. Or she could’ve
jumped.”
Turning around, I stared at him. That wasn’t something
I’d considered.
Carson eyes flinted away from mine, narrowing on the
empty space beyond the tips of trees. “It’s just a possibility,” he
said quietly. “People do insane shit like that all the time.” But everything I knew about Cassie told me she wouldn’t
have done that. Not alone ... I swallowed, unable to wrap my
head around the budding idea forming there.
“Feeling... or remembering anything?” he asked. I shook my head, disappointed. Nothing was coming to
the surface besides more questions and confusion. Walking back
toward the cluster of trees to the right, I started chewing on my
nail. Large pines reached around the boulders jutting out of the
ground, and beyond the rocks was nothing but the fall—the fall
I had to have taken.
“Lucky to be alive” was an understatement.
Time passed in silence. Carson remained on the other side,
letting me stay here as long as it took. I leaned against a tree, eyes narrowed on the edge of the cliff. I was ready to give up, tell him we should head back, but then a cold shiver danced down my
spine. It was the only warning.
This wasn’t like the visions I’d been having. There was no
gray film, and I didn’t see anything. I just felt it—heard my own
thoughts as if the past had been layered under the present, but
now was resurfacing.
In a blink of an eye, Carson was in front of me, his expression pinched with concern. “What is it?”
My mouth worked at a reply as my heart sped up. “I shouldn’t
have been here.”
“That night?” he asked.