Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
LANDEN
Since I’m not cooking for Ellie tonight, I head to The Lodge to grab something to eat for dinner. Wilder and Waylon are sitting at our normal table, staring at their phones.
“Hey,” I greet, but neither moves. “Y’all lookin’ at porn or what the fuck?”
Finally, they look up. But there’s remorse in their gazes.
“What?” I ask.
They look at each other and now I’m suspicious as hell.
“What the hell is going on?” I cross my arms, demanding one of them speak up.
“It’s a news article about Angela being released from prison. She got parole,” Waylon says.
“Yeah, Warren told me. So I guess she’s officially out now? That’s what the article says?”
Hopefully, it recaps the fact that she’s a murderer.
“It mentions Ellie,” Wilder says hesitantly.
I furrow my brows, reaching for one of their phones. “Mentions her how?”
Scanning the article, I roll my eyes at the reference to Angela’s good behavior before I see Ellie’s name at the bottom.
“The Creek Chronicles reached out to local three-time NFR qualifier barrel racer, Ellie Donovan, but she had no comment about her cousin’s impending early release,” I read aloud.
“What the fuck?” I look between the twins before rereading it. “Angela’s not her cousin.”
“We were lookin’ it up,” Wilder says. “There was an old article from Angela’s trial and it mentions her mom, Phoebe Ryan, but her maiden name is Cotton.”
“And what’s that mean?” I ask.
“Ellie’s mom’s maiden name is Cotton, too.”
“Ellie’s aunt is her mom’s sister. They are cousins,” Waylon explains. “There’s a photo of Ellie and Angela on one of her old Instagram pages from thirteen years ago.”
My heart pounds as the dots connect. She’s never mentioned an aunt or a cousin. In fact, she hardly talked about her family at all.
“I knew Angela most of my life. I don’t remember her having a—” I pause, thinking about the six-year age difference. “Ellie would’ve been twelve at the time of the trial. Holy shit.”
I scrub my hands over my face, trying not to panic, but I am.
“You remember she had a younger cousin?” Waylon asks.
“She’d bring her along sometimes when we’d hang out, but I just remembered that now. She was so much younger than us, I-I guess I forgot about it after all these years.”
I actively tried not to think about Angela once she got sentenced.
Wilder scratches his cheek. “Ellie never mentioned her to you at all?”
“Before the accident, Ellie mentioned someone she looked up to had been taken from her. But that they hadn’t died…” I blow out a shallow breath as her statement finally makes sense. “She must’ve been referring to Angela going to prison.”
“That could be why she hated you,” Waylon suggests. “Depending on what Angela told her, she thinks you’re the reason she went away.”
“Because of my testimony…” I nod. “Or anything dealing with Talia’s death. I was pretty vocal about it to anyone who’d listen.”
“Why wouldn’t she just tell you? Or any of us?” Wilder asks. “Why come train here at all?”
“Because Noah’s the best in the state and Ellie probably knew Noah wouldn’t have agreed to work with her if she was linked to the person responsible for my friends’ deaths.”
How did no one know this whole damn time?
It’s not like I went digging into Ellie’s past or even kept up with Angela’s family. I had no reason to.
“So Ellie knew who you were or knew whatever Angela told her, and when she got a concussion, she lost all memory of it? Forgetting why she hated you because it was linked to Angela the whole time…” Waylon asks the same questions swirling around in my mind.
“I dunno…maybe…I guess.” I shake my head. “Or she forgot who Angela was and everything linked to her got wiped?”
“That’s wild, man. Concussions can block out trauma, so it’s possible…” Waylon shakes his head as if he’s just as blown away by this as I am.
I pull out the chair and collapse into it, holding my head up when all I want to do is fall apart. “How the fuck am I supposed to tell the one person I’m falling for that I finally know why she hated me?”
“I thought you can’t tell her anything she doesn’t remember on her own?” Wilder asks.
“But how can he keep it a secret?” Waylon says. “That’d almost be worse.”
“If she found out I knew and didn’t tell her, it’d be a betrayal,” I confirm. “But the moment I do…she could remember everything and we’d be over.”
“There’s still a chance she wouldn’t remember even if you tell her,” Wilder says. “Best-case scenario, she won’t.”
“Worst-case scenario, she does.” I groan.
Wilder holds up his phone again. “What if she’s already read this?”
I shrug. “She’s not really on social media a lot and didn’t read the last article they wrote about her, so I don’t think she goes lookin’ for anything with her name. But that means it’s only a matter of time before Angela returns and reminds her.”
Who knows how much Angela’s manipulated her at this point or what she’ll tell her when she’s back in her life? Ellie hated me based on whatever Angela told her and never asked to hear my side of the story, so there’s no way she’ll want it now when she realizes how close I allowed her to get to me.
“What about her career? Everyone’s gonna know she’s connected to a murderer…and if she supports Angela?” Waylon shrugs. “Her career’s already on the line. This could break it.”
“This could break everything.” I close my eyes and rub my temples.
When the news broke about Talia’s death and Angela’s connection to it, her family got a lot of heat from the community. They weren’t painted in a positive light since they stood by Angela, and if I remember correctly, her parents lost their jobs and ended up divorced.
When my head stops spinning, I stand and pull in my chair.
“Where’re you going?” Waylon asks.
“I need to talk to Noah before I decide what to do.”
I’m not the only one this affects. Noah and her have been friends for four years and if Ellie believes I’m the reason Angela went to prison, the ripple effect wouldn’t stop at just me. It’d tarnish their working relationship, too.
“Breathe, Landen.” Noah smacks my cheek when I don’t exhale.
I blink a few times until my eyes focus on her standing in front of me.
“They’re cousins…” I repeat for probably the tenth time.
“Yes, I heard you the first dozen times. Stop freakin’ out or I’m gonna have to slap you.”
I press a palm to my sore cheek. “You already did.”
She lifts one shoulder. “Harder next time.”
“Are you gonna tell me what to do or just assault me?”
“I’m thinking…” She paces up and down the aisle between the stalls of the stables. “Have you called her?”
“Not yet. She had plans with her parents tonight and we usually FaceTime before bed, but we made dinner plans tomorrow night instead.”
“Okay, so assuming she has no idea about that article, you’re gonna have to tell her. Let her read it and see if it sparks anything. If it doesn’t, encourage her to ask her parents.”
“And what if her parents take Angela’s side?”
“They don’t strike me as the type or they never woulda let y’all date or be fake engaged in the first place. Plus, they let her train here for four years. So either they didn’t know the level of hate she had for you or they didn’t agree with it.”
“But she could remember hating me.”
“Yes. She could…” She nods. “And you’ve been mentally preparing for that to happen this whole time and—”
“I can’t let her go.”
“No. You fight like hell for her, Landen. Whatever story Angela told her can be argued by the truth and if she’s fallin’ for you as hard as you’re obsessed with her, she’ll probably give you a chance to share your side of the story at least.”
But what if she doesn’t?
Nodding along, I wipe my sweaty palms down my jeans.
“Maybe I should wait until we can talk in person tomorrow night.”
“As long as you understand she still might not remember, or on the flip side, not wanna hear your side if she does.”
“God. How’d this get so fuckin’ complicated?”
“You pursued a girl who forgot she hated you…”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious. Now give me some useful advice or—”
Noah’s phone going off with a text interrupts my thoughts.
When she pulls it out of her pocket, she snaps her gaze to me. “It just got a lot more complicated.”
“Whaddya mean?”
“It’s Mrs. Donovan. Ellie’s in the hospital. She fainted.”