It had only been a few weeks since his attacks started, but Emmitt recognized the signs one of in Kristen. She was sweating and short of breath. She looked like if he tapped her she might fall over. It was a drastic change.
“I think he should go. You can’t do this right now,” Emmitt whispered in her ear, but she shook her head and he was reminded of how annoyingly stubborn she was. “You want me to leave you two alone for a few minutes? I can say I’m going to the bathroom.”
She shook her head again. Emmitt sighed and took her hand as he pulled out his desk chair. The least she could do was sit down before she collapsed.
Awkward didn’t describe how Emmitt felt. Watching the two of them reminded him of the day he and Kristen called off their fling. It was nowhere near as painful as what the two of them appeared to be experiencing, and he didn’t really know why it popped in his head. At the time, he worried it would ruin their friendship, but there he was mediating her breakup and he felt as protective of her as he had his own sister, well almost. If it had been Ellie, he would have made sure the guy was eating his own teeth.
Luckily, Brian was his friend and he knew too well Kristen’s issues with her sister. It was by far the lowest blow she had ever been dealt by Tristin, and he knew he was going to have talk to her about it.
Tristin was rough and heartless because that’s what she wanted them to think, but Emmitt had known her long enough to see through that. They all did, except for Kristen, but that was understandable considering their relationship. Neither of them really knew the other, which everyone found weird. How could twins act like strangers? He probably would never know the answer to that one. The bottom line was the two of them were screwed up and there was no fixing it. He’d just grown accustomed to being friends with them separately, because having them in the room together was like inciting a war.
“All right, I guess I’ll be your mediator, but she sets the rules,” Emmitt said, guessing Brian wouldn’t have a problem with that since he was the one who effed up.
“It’s cool. I just want to tell her what happened and then I’ll go if she wants.”
The look Kristen gave Brian made Emmitt gulp. He’d seen her in attack mode before and could only pray his plasma didn’t fall victim to whatever revenge she was cooking up in her head.
“All right. So I was on my way home after I left you in the parking lot, and I got a text from…your phone, and it said you were going to be finished early. Kristen, I thought it was...I wouldn’t even think…I would never have…”
Emmitt watched as Kristen closed her eyes and he wanted to hold her hand or tell Brian to leave, but before he could get the chance she hopped up and went right through the open window.
***
The sound of Brian’s voice made the room close in on Kristen. She had to get out of there before she ripped her own skin off, or his. She should have never agreed to him coming in, but she didn’t want to be one of those dramatic girls, in front of the guys. They never asked her to hang out with them before. That was more of a Hannah thing.
She felt better as soon as the air hit her face and looked down to see she had enough sense to grab her bag on the way out.
“Kristen, what’s up?” Connor asked, walking toward her.
Kristen couldn’t talk to him, not the way she was feeling. It took all the energy she had to climb out the window, and Connor would only want to take her back inside and talk it out. She was only seconds from having a psychotic break and the dizziness scared her. “I’ve got to go,” she said, walking by him.
Connor caught her arm and she jerked away, rushing toward her car. “Kristen, hold on. I forgot to give you something.”
She didn’t stop. Her hands were too shaky to get the door unlocked, and she dropped her keys in the street.
“Kristen, your pills. I just want to make sure you have them.”
Kristen froze as he caught up to her and held them out. The bottle still had food on it from when she threw them at Tristin and it made her skin crawl all over again. Her hands trembled as she felt cover in sweat. Then the dizziness returned.
Suddenly, her right shoulder seared hot, along with her right thigh.
“Kristen—Kris?” Connor called, but he sounded so far away. She felt him pull her up and opened her eyes to realize she’d hit the ground.
“Kristen?” a girl’s voice called. It took a moment for Kristen to recognize it as Hannah’s. She looked up to see her running toward them.
“What’s wrong with her?” Hannah asked.
“I don’t know. Can you help me get her back to Emmitt’s?”
Kristen immediately pulled away from him. She couldn’t go back in there, not while Brian was there, probably not ever.
“Kristen, you need to get out of this heat. Did you even eat today?”
“I can’t go back there,” Kristen said as she tried to wiggle free.
“Come to my house,” Hannah said. “No one’s home.”
Kristen almost gasped at how sickly Hannah looked. She didn’t even want to think about what she must have looked like after being in the same room as Brian. Hannah was surprisingly strong enough to walk Kristen to her house.
“I can help you,” Connor said, sounding left out.
“We’ve got it.” Hannah guided Kristen up her walkway.
***
Connor was happy to know they hadn’t lost Hannah completely, and he knew Emmitt would be happy to hear she reached out to Kristen, but when he climbed through the window he spotted Brian on the floor. Emmitt looked like he was trying to ignore him, by reading a magazine.
“Okay, now I see why Kristen didn’t want to come with me,” Connor said.
“I don’t know how I couldn’t have known it was Tristin,” Brian said, face down on the floor.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Connor said. “Come on, laying there isn’t going to help you.” He helped Brian up.
“She won’t talk to me.”
“What did you expect her to do, listen to you tell her how you slept with her sister then take you back?” Emmitt asked, tossing his magazine. He and Emmitt had always been protective of Kristen.
“No I just…I don’t know. I just want her to forgive me. She’ll forgive when she calms down, right?”
Connor and Emmitt exchanged a glance, as if to decide which answer to give him. But it seemed they both were thinking the same thing when they said, “Hell no.”
There was no way Kristen would ever touch him again after he’d been with Tristin.
“But I love her,” Brian said.
Connor patted Brian on the shoulder. “Then the best thing you can do for her is stay away.”
Chapter Seven
Dax
Dax took off after he got Emmitt’s text. The fact he could send one with Kristen and Brian there was probably a good indicator that the scenario didn’t match the one in his head. Even if he did find out something scandalous about Emmitt it wasn’t like he could use it. Dax knew how important getting Hannah away from Sean was, so he turned his attention back to his original target.
It didn’t take long to find Lucas Amarko’s Range Rover parked behind the diner. Everybody would have thought it was Sean’s brother parking with one of his hookups, but Dax had done his homework. According to his Facebook page, Lucas was in New Mexico for minor league tryouts, and from the fogged up windows it wasn’t hard to guess who Sean was with.
Dax got a couple of shots of the windows with his zoom lens, but the tint was too dark to see inside from a distance. While he was trying to decide between infrared and normal view, a skateboarder slowed near the back window. Dax flashed his high beams trying to scare them off, but the kid snapped a picture with their phone and skated away.
“Shit.” Dax cut his engine as the interior light in Lucas’s truck came on. Dax saw the skater from a distance and noticed hair blowing out the side of their hoodie, it was long and red.
Sean climbed i
nto the driver’s seat and drove off while Dax threw his hands up. His entire afternoon was wasted. “What the hell would a girl be doing playing paparazzi?” he asked himself, but in his stomach he already knew the answer. It had to be the Careless Citizen and she scooped his story. With Sean gone, Dax decided to put his camera away, and his phone buzzed. It was a picture message of Sean and Noelle from and unknown number.
Thanks for the back
lighting. I would have
never gotten a shot
this good. Let’s just call
it a peace offering
XOXO-Not lol.
Dax was even more pissed, not only was she on his story, but she’d also gotten a killer photo. Noelle and Sean were mid-hump and their faces were clear.
“What kind of phone was that?” Dax asked as he admired the pixel quality. He’d always been a geek for gadgets, but he quickly snapped out of his fandom. The only way Careless Citizen could’ve known about Sean and Noelle was if she were following Dax. He never thought to check his own back when he was on surveillance, but he would from then on. That tramp was moving in on his territory and he wasn’t going to stand for it, but finding out her identity was going to require some help.
Chapter Eight
Kristen/Emmitt
Kristen lay across the bed, eating grapes, while Hannah tried not to stare at her. It felt like years since she had been in Hannah’s room, when it had really been a couple of months. Kristen wanted to ask Hannah what was going on with her. She looked like she had gotten worse overnight, but then again a lot had changed in her own life in just a day.
“Do you…I can find you something else to eat if you’re still hungry,” Hannah said.
“Thanks, but this is good. Want some?” Kristen offered and Hannah smiled, probably guessing why she did it.
“I’m not starving myself,” Hannah said, grabbing a handful and returning to her chair.
“I didn’t think you were.”
“But you were wondering what’s wrong with me. You can say it.” Hannah chewed her grapes.
“If I did then you would ask me, and I just can’t…”
“It’s okay. We can talk about something else. Like, how it feels to be student body president.”
“Yesterday it was cool; today it’s pretty much embarrassing,” Kristen said.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have.” Hannah turned to her computer.
The whole thing felt like a forced play date, Hannah on her side of the room and Kristen on hers. They’d known each other too long for a conversation to be this hard.
“Is this as awkward for you as it is for me?” Kristen asked.
“More,” Hannah said with an exhale as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
“There’s not much we can say that doesn’t lead back to Ellie,” Kristen said.
“Which inevitably leads to…yeah.” Hannah looked away, her grin fading.
“So we’ll find something else, because I honestly don’t want to spend the semester passing each other in the hall,” Kristen said, sitting up.
Hannah looked around and grabbed the remote before flopping down on the bed next to her. “How about some television? It doesn’t require anything but watching.”
Kristen hugged Hannah, catching her off guard. They stayed that way for a couple of minutes. There was still so much standing between them, but deciding to be friends despite it made Kristen feel like something good had come out of the day. Hannah held onto her so tight that she started to worry something was really wrong with her. Then her phone buzzed and her body stiffened like she had been stabbed.
Hannah rushed to grab the phone and answered. “Hey.”
Kristen stared at Hannah’s trembling hand as she sat at her desk.
“How long before you get here?”
It was disturbing how brittle and nervous she had suddenly become. It had to be Sean. He was the only asshole Hannah ever backed down to. Whatever was going on with her wasn’t right. No one should have that type of reaction to their boyfriend. Kristen didn’t want to leave her friend, but she knew their reunion was way too new to start questioning her relationship.
“Okay, I’ll see you in a few.” Hannah hung up as Kristen grabbed her bag. “You’re leaving?”
“Yeah, I should get out of your hair.”
Hannah looked like she wanted to tell her to stay, but her fidgeting said otherwise. “You don’t have to right now. I still have a few minutes.”
Kristen stood and hugged her friend again. “Thank you for everything,” she said. “And my door’s always open if you need it. We can hang out, whenever you’re free.”
“Do you mean that?” Hannah asked as she pulled back.
“Hannah, you’re my friend, nothing’s ever going to change that. I know how I’ve been and I’m sorry about how we just dropped out of each other’s lives, but I won’t let that happen again.”
“That would be…nice.” Hannah grinned.
“I’ll call you later, when I know you’re alone.”
“Okay.”
Hannah looked a lot lighter as they walked to the door and Kristen did as well. Things were still pretty shitty, but it was comforting to know she had someone to go through it with. Kristen looked around as she stepped off Hannah’s porch. She didn’t want to run into Sean and she couldn’t take another encounter with Brian. His car was still parked behind hers as she crossed the street. She didn’t even bother going back to Emmitt’s.
She had to go home sometime.
***
“Maybe if I give it some time?” Brian asked, sipping on Emmitt’s emergency bottle of Patrone.
“Hey, I said a few swigs. You keep sipping and there’s no way I’m letting you drive home,” Emmitt said. “And you can’t stay here. Kristen’s staying the night.”
Brian closed the bottle and handed it back to Emmitt. “You don’t understand, not being with her is killing me.”
“Brian, it hasn’t even been a whole day,” Connor said.
“You don’t understand.” Brian fell off the edge of the bed with an audible thud.
“Trust me, I get where you’re coming from,” Connor said and Emmitt slapped his arm. “Ouch!”
“What?” Brian asked, as his head popped up at the foot of the bed.
Connor had no idea how much of their history Kristen had shared, and he sure as hell wasn’t about to say anything.
“I’m just saying we’ve all lived through the KT feud for years. This is how they are and you’re unfortunately their latest casualty.”
“So Tristin’s slept with Kristen’s boyfriends before?”
“No,” Connor and Emmitt answered.
“She’s kissed a few guys,” Connor said.
“But she’s never been with a dude before,” Emmitt said. “Which kind of makes me curious.”
“About what?” Brian asked.
“Why you? And how the hell could you not tell the difference? Tristin has this thing she does with her tongue…”
“Yeah, it like pins yours down and—” Connor said.
“Wait! How the hell do you both know that?” Brian asked.
“Ever heard of spin the bottle?” Emmitt asked.
“But how do you know she doesn’t go both ways?” Brian asked.
“Trial and error,” Emmitt said with a grin.
Brian looked to Connor who shook his head. “Not me. I never tried.”
“So if you’ve both kissed Tristin, did you…” Brian paused at the sound of Connor’s phone.
“No, we didn’t,” Connor answered for him and Emmitt. He still thought it was a miracle he hadn’t given into Kristen. She had some impressive techniques of her own. One more weekend with her and he might have had the same guilty look as Emmitt did, but Brian didn’t need to know that. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, it was Noelle. “Hello,” he answered, stepping into the bathroom.
Chapter Nine
Dax
Dax waited in the bushes near Noelle’s apartment door. She was the only person who could help him catch the Careless Citizen. He had gone back and forth about telling her about the photo. Noelle was pretty cool despite being a drama queen. He admired her snoopiness and finally had a project he could involve her in.
She was all grins on the phone as she walked up. Was it Sean or Connor? Good verses Evil, a classic battle.
“So my mom’s working late and I thought you could come over,” she said.
Must be Connor, Dax thought. The girl was diabolical. She and Sean really deserved one another. She approached her door, pulled out her keys, giggling at Connor’s response. Dax didn’t have time to listen to their eighth grade conversations, so he popped his head up, causing Noelle to scream and throw her phone at him, which he caught. His father would be so proud.
“Quick reflexes, you’re going to need’em for what I’ve got in store,” he said, shutting off her phone.
“What are you doing hiding in my bushes?” she asked, clutching her chest.
“I’ve got an opportunity for you.”
“And you couldn’t have called me?” Noelle asked, fanning herself.
“I was already doing footwork so I thought I might as well come over.” It was a half-truth. He’d also gotten a photo of Sean dropping her off, but he decided she didn’t need to know that yet.
Noelle unlocked the door and collapsed on the couch. Dax grinned; thinking her reaction probably had more to do with her sneaking around with Sean than his unannounced visit.
“You could have given me a heart attack,” she said.
“Why? Are you hiding something?” Dax asked with a grin.
Noelle took a deep breath and stood, holding out her hand for her phone. “You’ve got two minutes. Connor’s on his way and I want to change.
I bet you do, Dax thought. “I’m not staying. I just dropped by to see if you still wanted in on the Sun Vlogger, because I’ve got something for you.”
“What is it? And what was up with that Vlog today, not one of your finest hours, ass-wipe. You know you made Hannah cry?”