28. Rowan #2
“It’s fine,” I say breezily, loosening my legs from his waist and sliding to the floor. “Honestly.”
“It’s not,” he grumbles, cupping my face. “I can tell it’s not. Don’t lie to me, Row.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s not my fault you have some magical way of seeing right through me.”
“I’m as talented as you, just in other ways.” He grins before his face turns serious. “But I need you to promise me that you’ll stay inside the theater until I come back.”
I wrinkle my nose and huff a small laugh. “Where am I gonna go? We came in your car. I’m literally stranded here.”
“Not literally.” Samson’s eyes go over my shoulder to where I’m certain my friends are all watching avidly. “Just stay inside until I come back. Okay?”
“You’re a little paranoid, you know that?”
“Please.” He lifts my hand and kisses my palm. “For me?”
“Fine,” I sigh. I don’t understand what he’s so worried about, but it’s not like I’ve got places to be, and honestly, I feel safe here. Safer than most places. “I’ll stay here.”
A weight slips from his shoulders. “Good. I’ll be as fast as I can.”
He gives a brief wave to my friends before disappearing into the shadows of backstage. I watch him go with a sappy smile on my face.
“Bullshit is that just sleeping together,” Shane says from my side, startling me. He’s smirking as he points at my face. “That smile? That one’s new. Says ‘I’m smitten’ all over.”
“Fuck off.” I can’t deny it any more than I can wipe the smile off my face. “I’m happy, okay?”
“More than okay,” Shane says, giving me a side-on hug. “No one deserves happiness more than you. Remember that.”
Anxiety gnaws at my stomach. I want to believe that, but a part of me chants that I don’t deserve it. Not after Adam. And even if I did, there’s no guarantee it’ll last.
I’m still worrying about it fifteen minutes later as I’m making my rounds, checking that all the lights are switched off after everyone else has left.
Some of the others hate doing this, but I don’t mind. The darkness doesn’t scare me. Well, not this kind of darkness. The type that’s lived inside me for just over a year? That terrifies me.
A creak has my head whipping around. “Samson? Is that you?”
Nobody answers.
I shrug it off. Must be hearing things. It’s too close to the anniversary of Adam’s death. It’s putting things into my head.
I take another step and then stop.
Because there’s suddenly something cool and hard pressed against my temple.
And I know what it is.
A gun.
My mouth dries out as I try to think what I can do. What would Samson do? I try desperately to think of how he disarmed the mugger, but my memory is failing me. All I can picture is his face.
I close my eyes and hold it there. If I’m about to die, I want him to be my final thought. To let him carry me into the darkness.
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited to do this.”
My eyes fly open in shock. I know that voice, although I haven’t heard it in a long time. Not since I watched Adam’s coffin disappear into the ground. “Adriana?”
She steps out of the shadows, and I suck in a gasp. She’s lost weight since I last saw her, along with any warmth her face once held. Almost as though her grief has been eating her alive from the inside.
Just as it has with me.
“Fuck, Adi,” I say, forgetting momentarily that she’s literally holding a gun to my head. “Are you okay?”
“Am I okay?” She laughs hysterically. “Am I okay?! You killed my brother, and you want to know if I’m okay?”
I blink in confusion. “What? I didn’t kill Adam. What are you talking about?”
“Don’t lie to me,” she shouts, spittle flying. “I know, Rowan. You were the last one to see him, and the only person with a motive.”
“What motive?” Am I dreaming right now? Is this all a hallucination?
I was never as close to Adi as I was to Adam, but we were friends.
I thought the only reason I hadn’t heard from her these past few months was the same one stopping me from reaching out to her—that we couldn’t stand the reminder. “Adam was my best friend. I loved him.”
“Exactly,” she shouts. “You loved him, and he didn’t return your feelings. That’s why you killed him. It all makes total sense.”
The gun is trembling against my temple from how much she’s shaking. Despite everything, pity fills me. Adam would be heartbroken if he could see the state she’s in. “Adi, I swear, I didn’t kill Adam. Yes, I loved him, but like a friend. I wasn’t the one who murdered him.”
“You did,” she yells, the gun shaking harder. “It was you. It has to be you. You took him from me. Don’t fucking lie to me!”
“I didn’t.” I choke out a sob. I know it’s my fault that he died, but I’m starting to believe Samson when he tells me to stop blaming myself. “I promise. I would never. I miss him too, terribly. Like I can’t breathe most days, but killing me isn’t going to bring him back.”
“It’s not,” she says sadly. She squares her stance, lifting her chin decisively. “But knowing his murderer is dead will finally let me sleep at night.”
Oh god. She’s really going to do it. She’s lost it. She really believes I’m capable of it. I’m to blame. I know that. I should never have left him that night. I’ll carry that guilt to my grave.
Which, evidently, I’ll be finding sooner than I thought.
At least I’m going to die here, in the place I love most. The one that gave me the most joy and happiness.
Feels fitting, really.
Her finger falls onto the trigger, but then a shadow parts from the wall. Silver glints in the dim light as it rests against her neck. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Samson.
Adi freezes, fear in her eyes for the first time. Blood appears in a line along her throat, and I choke on my own shock. “Samson, you’re hurting her. Let her go.”
“Not until she lowers the gun.”
“Adi, please,” I whisper.
Her eyes dart around, like she’s waiting for her own savior to leap out of the shadows. But no one comes. Adam is gone.
Tears well up in my eyes as I take the scene in once more. Oh god, how did we end up here? How did it all come to this?
Samson’s jaw works as he stares into my face. When he speaks, his words are not for me, but Adi. “Adam wasn’t killed by Rowan. He was murdered by his stalker, Scott Johnson.”