Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
KAT
Ellie flops on her bed, and I take the opportunity to flop right beside her.
As much as I love living with Liam, I miss the girly times.
The getting ready to go out together. Curling the back of each other's hair to get those hard-to-reach bits. Dancing until we’re exhausted before cuddling up under blankets on the sofa, scoffing kebabs with levels of chilli and garlic that we’ll one hundred per cent regret come morning.
Relationships are amazing, but no one warns you to enjoy the girlhood while you are steeped in it. When it’s you and your bestie against the world. Back when my only secret from her was a mistake I made at eight.
Now I have nothing but a wobbling block tower of untruths to give her. And it’s hurting our friendship. I can feel cords snapping between us with each lie I tell.
But bringing her into it would only be putting all of us into more danger. Best friend or not, I can’t expect her to carry the weight of the kind of secrets Liam and I hold.
‘The green hoodie is super cosy,’ she says, rolling over and pulling it off the back of a chair. ‘Not fully clean, but definitely Febreze clean.’
‘As long as it’s warm, it’ll be fine.’ Liam and I have taken to walking everywhere unless we absolutely need to take the car to dispose of corpses. Easier to distance ourselves from anything that might be caught on surveillance.
It also means we could both get a little tipsy and relax for a bit.
Well, I relaxed. Liam looked like he might be turtle-heading a fucking hedgehog with the amount of shifting about he’s done all night.
Ellie loses herself in her phone, while I breathe in her familiarity, finding a surprising amount of comfort in her proximity. Her nails click and clack against the screen, and the rhythm could send my wine-addled backside to sleep.
Until I look over and see the name on the screen.
Frederick.
Fucking Freddie, the interfering fucknugget.
‘Ellie,’ I say, unsure if the sudden wave of nausea is guilt, fear or trifle mixing with wine-based.
‘What?’
‘You need to be careful with him.’
Her brows knit before she gives a dramatic roll of her eyes.
‘Oh. My. God. Kat. You don’t even know the guy.’
I know more about him than she does. We’ve been doing our homework. Freddie is hungry for his journalistic break. And I don’t trust him not to trample over Ellie’s lovely heart to get there.
‘I know that he shouldn’t be getting involved with someone he’s investigating.’
‘I’m not dumb, Kat. He’s sweet. He’s hot. And it’s been a long time since I got some from anything not battery-operated. Maybe I’m the one who wants to use him.’ She keeps texting as she talks, and I consider shoving her off her bed.
‘He’s chasing you for information.’
‘No, he’s chasing me for my sweet ass.’ Ellie puts the phone down and rolls to face me. ‘I’m not looking to marry the guy. It’s not like he’s going to find anything the police don’t.’
‘And what about Sam?’ It’s a low blow, given I know he’s rotting beneath cement.
‘We only dated a few weeks, and yes, I liked him. But he’s either left me or isn't coming home for worse reasons. I can’t be a widow forever for a man I only knew properly for a few weeks.’ Ellie’s eyes are glittering in a way that tells me she’s close to tears.
‘I’m sorry. I just love you so much and don’t want you getting hurt. And I definitely don’t want some chump with a notepad to snag you and stop you from going on your grand adventure.’
Ellie laughs, which makes me smile.
‘Kat, he’d need to chain me up to stop me from going, and I definitely don’t get those vibes from him.’
I imagine she didn’t get them from Sam either… but I can’t point out how I’d know that sometimes the quiet ones are the ones who will starve you in a warehouse for days.
‘Just be careful, okay?’ I say.
‘I will.’
Dragging myself away from her comfy bed, I shrug on the lime green hoodie, which clashes completely with the autumnal soft pinks I’m wearing. It’s warm as fuck. So I’ll deal with it.
‘Kat,’ Ellie says, a flicker of concern covering her face. ‘Did you like Sam?’
It’s a weird question, and I can only imagine that nimrod Freddie provoked it.
Every honest answer would drop me in the shit, so I plaster on a smile and lie. ‘I liked that he made you happy.’
I daren’t breathe while Ellie mulls my answer over.
‘Yeah,’ she sighs with a wistfully sad smile. ‘Me too.’
‘See you soon,’ I say. ‘Love you.’
With the wolves closing in around us, it feels more important than ever to let her know.