Chapter 2 Lex
LEX
Leaning back in my chair, my fingers curved around the neck of the guitar, forming the chords on instinct. Sometimes, it felt as if I knew this language better than English. My fingers spoke it as if it were ingrained in them.
A buzz lit in my hands, the one that told me I’d been at this for hours. Typically, that feeling came with a high I had never experienced anywhere else. The transcendence of it taking me to a place where there was only the music and me.
But that had been tainted now.
My fingers stilled on the strings, and I released my hold on the neck, laying the guitar in my lap.
I stretched my cramping hands as I stared out at the horizon.
This balcony off our living room had been the selling point of the apartment.
It had views of forests and mountains, a sliver of peace from our own back door.
Thankfully, the bike shop below didn’t care if I played all day. The owner had once told me it was like having his own private concert every single day. They might be the only concerts I’d be giving for a while.
I stared down at my phone. The app that had once been my outlet now taunted me.
Growing up in a town as small as Crooked Creek had made me feel stifled. Claustrophobic. People here didn’t get why I liked to switch up the color of my hair depending on my mood. Or why I felt the need to play almost constantly.
YouTube had been my escape. A place where I could find people who got what I was trying to say with my music. Because the only other person who had truly gotten it wanted nothing to do with me.
West had left Crooked Creek the moment he turned eighteen. And he’d barely said a word to me since. I’d tried: Texting. Email. Calls. I’d gotten the occasional polite reply that had screamed distance. Eventually, I stopped trying altogether. But that had left a West-sized hole in my chest.
My finger hovered over my phone’s screen, then I tapped the app and picked up the device. There were at least a hundred notifications. I tapped the little bell and began scanning through them. There was a variety.
This song slays. Where can I buy the EP?
Why no new videos, Lex?
We miss you. Hope everything’s okay.
Then my stomach hollowed out. You only play for me now. Your music’s mine, just like you are.
It was always the same user. BlckKnight13. I’d tried blocking him a few times, but he only started new accounts and was livid when he came back. So, I’d stopped responding. And when the messages got worse, I’d stopped posting. But then the notes had started.
A shiver skated over my skin as I remembered the last one. Play for me, Lex. And wear the dress with the purple flowers. You won’t like it if I have to ask twice.
I’d worn that dress two days before while working at the coffee shop. So, whoever this was, they were watching.
I squeezed my eyes closed. Someone was messing with me. That was it. Nothing more.
My phone buzzed, and I slowly opened my eyes. Tapping on the text icon, I scanned the screen.
Pete: Hanging in there?
I never should’ve told him what was going on. He was a good friend—the best, really. Goofy and loyal. But he was a worrier.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Me: Everything’s fine. How’s work?
Pete: Boring. Want to meet for dinner later?
I grimaced. Normally, the answer would’ve been yes, but the last thing I wanted was the inquisition that would come with sitting down for a meal.
Me: I’m pretty spent. Maybe this weekend?
Pete: I could bring over takeout.
God, I sucked. Worst friend ever.
Me: I think I’m just gonna turn in early.
Pete: Okay. Call me if you need me.
Me: Thanks.
I added a heart emoji, like that would make up for avoiding him.
The sound of the sliding glass door had me looking up. Cara smiled as she crossed to the chair next to me and dropped into it. But I didn’t miss the strain in her expression.
Guilt pricked at me again. Maybe I needed to move out so she didn’t have this worry on her shoulders, too.
Cara kicked her feet up onto the railing. “You sounded good.”
I twirled my pick between my fingers. “Thanks.”
She glanced over at me, and the look on her face had anxiety pooling in my belly. “Something’s wrong. Did you find another note?”
Cara’s feet dropped from the railing. “Oh, shit. No. Nothing like that.”
Relief coursed through me in a whoosh of breath, but suspicion quickly followed on its heels. “Then what’s that look for?”
Cara picked at the corner of her thumbnail. “Don’t be mad…”
A whole different kind of anxiety swept through me.
The kind that came from having your best friend get you into all sorts of messes over the years.
Like signing you up for the school talent show when you were terrified of performing in front of people.
Or buying you a Halloween costume that barely covered your ass.
Or planning a prank on the world’s worst teacher that landed you in detention for a month.
My eyes narrowed on Cara. “What did you do?”
She clasped her hands and spoke in one long, run-on sentence. “I might’ve told West what’s going on and he told his boss and they’re going to come out here and try to figure out what’s going on.”
My heart lurched as nausea swept through me. “What?” It was the only word I could get out.
“He’s really good at what he does,” Cara said. “And this whole thing has me really freaked out. It might be a prank like you said, but if it is, it’s a really effed-up one.”
I swallowed the anger I felt at Cara telling the last person I wanted to know about this.
Because the idea of West seeing me as a kid who needed to be rescued from a mess of her own making was almost more than I could take.
I took a deep breath, trying to keep my tone even.
Anger wouldn’t help now. Once West decided something, there was no changing his mind.
“When is he coming?”
Cara worried the side of her thumbnail between her teeth. “He’s already here.”