“Chloe, what is that?”
The knife was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. The blade was arched and looked menacing, the edge sharpened razor-thin. Chloe’s eyes followed Sawyer’s to the knife. Chloe rolled the tip against Sawyer’s body. The move was gentle but sent shock waves of fear radiating through Sawyer.
“It’s all going to be fine.”
Sawyer went stone still. “Put the knife down, Chloe. My God, where did you get that thing, anyway?”
Chloe shrugged but didn’t relinquish her grip on the knife, the tip still a hair’s breadth from Sawyer’s flesh. “You’d be surprised at the things my parents have lying around the house.”
“Chloe, this isn’t funny. The police are going to be here any minute.”
Chloe cocked her head, a hazy serenity in her eyes. Her lips curved up at the corners just the slightest bit. “No one’s coming, Sawyer.”
She held up her phone, then dropped it. Sawyer watched in horror as the phone fell, the screen shattering at her feet, plastic pieces skittering across the marble floor.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you get it, silly?” Chloe blinked and reached out for Sawyer’s hand again, this time finding it and lacing her fingers through Sawyer’s gently. Chloe took a slight, tentative step forward, and Sawyer could smell the faint trace of Chloe’s perfume as her lips touched Sawyer’s ear.
“I’ve always admired you.”
Blood began to pulse through Sawyer. Her eyes stung. “You?” Her voice was a hoarse whisper, almost unrecognizable in the dimming air of twilight. “You did this?”
Sawyer could feel Chloe’s moist breath against her ear, her neck. Sawyer watched in dead silence as Chloe took the knife from where it rested on her ribcage and pressed it against Sawyer’s neck. “I’d do anything for you.”
A violent tremble started at Sawyer’s head and worked its way down. “What?”
Chloe didn’t answer. Though she kept the knife firm, her lips were soft and her eyes dreamy. She used her other hand to gently brush a strand of hair from Sawyer’s cheek. “Anything at all.”
Sawyer shook her head, images tearing through her mind: Kevin in his coffin, Mr. Hanson’s hands against her skin, Maggie… “No. No, you couldn’t have.”
Chloe tapped the thin steel blade against her lips, a slight smile on her face. “I couldn’t have fed Kevin beers until he was falling down drunk, then handed him his car keys? Or I couldn’t have mixed a big glop of peanut oil into Se?or Hanson’s guacamole?”
“No.” Sawyer paused, then gaped when the fabric of the bracelet brushed against her cheek. The embroidered words Best Friends Forever just at her peripheral. “Where did you get that?”
Chloe smiled. “We both have them again. You found Maggie’s, didn’t you? I know you were over there.”
Sawyer felt sick and she closed her eyes tight. “You’ve been watching me.”
“Always.”
Sawyer’s tongue brushed across her lips. “You killed Kevin.”
Chloe rolled the strand of hair between her forefinger and thumb, her eyes fixed on it, admiring it.
“Why Kevin? Why now? How long—how long have you felt this way?”
The question seemed to make Chloe seethe, the cold steel of the knife vibrating against Sawyer’s carotid artery. “Forever.” She clipped the word.
“Forever?”
“God, Sawyer!” Chloe threw up her hands. “I couldn’t take it anymore! I loved you, I love you so much and I couldn’t watch it anymore. He was—he was ruining you, and you were letting him.”
Tears blurred Sawyer’s vision. “No,” she whispered.
Chloe’s eyes glowed like the last ashen embers of a dying fire. She almost looked sad. “Don’t you see?” She smacked the knife hard with her other hand, and the thwack made Sawyer jump. “He didn’t care about you! He didn’t love you. I wasn’t the only one, either, Sawyer.” She dropped her eyes for a brief second, looked at Sawyer through lowered lashes. “But you were the only one he hurt.”
Sawyer’s stomach dropped and an inappropriate rush of shame washed over her. “You knew about that?” Her voice was a choked whisper against Chloe’s ragged sigh.
Chloe shrugged. “You let him.”
“I didn’t let him hit me.” It was Sawyer’s turn to be angry now. “I didn’t just let it happen.”
“Well, you sure as hell didn’t stop it, now did you?”
“It wasn’t like that. I couldn’t—”
“Couldn’t let him go?” Chloe mocked. “Couldn’t ask for help? Couldn’t see past your own stupid nose is more like it. You’re a victim, Sawyer. Look at everything bad that happens to poor, poor Sawyer. You didn’t need him. So when I saw an opportunity, I took it.”