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I make sure to add a little extra sway tothings slow doesn’te McCarty!" Matt shouts to me as I climb up the stairs and put my key in the lock

I can’t keep the smile off of my face as I open the door and leave hi I hear his truck start up and pull away a few seconds later as I flop down on the couch, tossingon the glass top, I lean forward and pick it up The smile dies on my face when I see the words scribbled across it in perfectly neat, block letters:

IF YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR YA, YOU’LL STOP STICKIN YOUR NOSE WHERE IT DON’T BELONG GO BACK TO BEING IN PRETTY PICTURES AND NO ONE GETS HURT

I drop the note like it’s on fire and scra frantically around my condo, afraid to breathe

So into Vinnie DeMarco What if they’re still here?

For the first tiun

CHAPTER 15

We’re going to the fucking police right now," Matt states angrily as he hits the blinker in his F-150 truck to take us into town

When I ran out of my house in a panic, I pulled ht of Was it just because I could still taste him on my lips? I could have called my mom, but I knew she would just lecture me, and I could have called Kennedy, but that wouldand I wasn’t ready for that The only person I wanted in the midst of my fear was Matt It exhilarated rown used to my independence in theto want to depend on another person again Especially one of the ender who could fuck me over in the blink of an eye and crush my heart to pieces if he suddenly decided he was still in love with his lying, cheating ex

"There’s no need to get the police involved I probably overreacted For all I knoas Andy trying to cause trouble because I won’t give him any money"

He stops at the empty intersection and stares across the front seat of the truck aton in his eyes He wants sonote in my house, but he also wants to do whatever I ask

"I don’t like this, Paige I don’t like this at all"

Then he sighs deeply and takes the street that leads away from don and away from the police

Andy would alwayswhat he thought was in e he had on me meant that he was able to make more informed choices about my life Really, he wanted to make me feel like I needed him to function For the first few months after we separated, I al on my own I didn’t remember how toon hi With the help of my friends, I was able to see just how etMatt listen to me when I tell him what I want means more to me than he’ll ever know He didn’t belittleabout He letone

I feel ht with unshed tears and I have to clear it to keep theht now

"I wish you would have let h your place What if whoever left that note was still there?" Matt asks

"Are you crazy? That’s like soo back into a house looking for the bad people It always ends with a ue

"A machete, huh? Do you normally have a lot of people with h "I’ back to the police if that’s the case"

"Like I said, I probably just et hold of Andy first thing tomorrow and put the fear of God into him"

"And if it wasn’t that little weasel, what then? Your friends aren’t sick and twisted enough to do this as so to lie; it warh easily at the idea that Kennedy and Lorelei would sneak into my house and leave a note like that for o disappearing quickly "Okay, I think it’s safe to say Lorelei would have never done soer words to drive her point home, and she would have been more polite Like, ‘Please discontinue your inquisitive ways or we shall be obliged to daes,’" I tell hiree even though I’ve only talked to her for a few un and she sounds scary," Matt says with a dramatic shiver The smile on his face proves that he believedlike this, and he’s trying to distract ht of the situation

"Well, it’s close to so Kennedy would have said, but hers would have hadhead out of your ass before I punch you in the goddaether as I describe my friend’s personalities to hilad you called eous Cape Cod hoive me a chance to reply as he ju the door formy hand to help me down Hand in hand alk up the steps of his front porch, and I stand to the side, ad his profile as he unlocks the front door