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Caroline stops in rab my elbow and pulls me three steps into the foyer so we are ales the lock

"What's wrong?" she whispers so Ally doesn't hear us

Beck's tired eyes pass over Caroline briefly, but then slide to me where they shimmer with frustration "The police are at JT's house They've found him"

"But how--" I start to say, because how in the fuck was he found so fast?

Beck ignores et out of here now I expect the police will come to pay et out of here now"

"But--" Caroline says in astonishment

"Get the fuck out of here now," Beck whispers harshly but still so low that Ally is oblivious to us "I want you far away fro a potential witness to anything associated with JT"

"What's thata hand on his chest

His gaze co relationship with hi to come and talk to me I don't want Caroline involved"

I spin toward her and give a quick jerk of et going"

Caroline's no fool She doesn't spare us even a secondrooet your shoes on and head ho late"

"I don't suppose I could talk you into packing a bag and heading to your dad's?" Beck says softly, and I turn back to look at hietic over his suggestion "We'll say you went there right after school to spend a few days with him Your dad would cover"

I shake rowl at hi to shield me from this, Beck If they come, then I'll be here by your side, and if they even think you had anything to do with this, I' that happened"

I expect hiue

I expect hiry at me, because I know he's in full-blown protective mode

I expect--at the very least--for him to look annoyed at me, because after the mess I've created, he deserves to at least look a bit put out

Instead, he snatches ulfed in his arht He squeezes h this I sill"

I nod against hi, but because he needs to believe that I trust in hiht now

The sad truth, however, is that I think that both of us are getting ready to fall down the rabbit hole and there's not going to be any way out for us

The knock on the door comes sooner than I expected, and only a little over an hour since Caroline and Ally left I've been lying on the couch spooning with Sela, waiting for the other shoe to drop when they show up The TV's been on, but neither one of us is absorbing My hand is idly stroking her hip, wanting nothing more than to carry her into bed and for us to pretend none of this happened

That means I could strip her down, eat her out, fuck her hard All of the stuff that's been so daranted

But instead, Sela gives a quavering sigh when she hears the confident knock and we both push up and off the couch Our eyes meet briefly and we both take a deep breath

"Just do as we discussed earlier and it will be okay," I whisper

She nods, her face pale but her gaze determined

I turn away from her, square my shoulders, and head toward the foyer I hear the creak of leather as Sela lies back down on the couch, presenting the picture of lazy Monday evening happiness of just vegging out in front of the TV and strea some mindless comedy we found on Netflix

I present the same, and it was done intentionally I'd put on a pair of sweatpants, a ratty T-shirt, and ainst the pillow on the couch I hoped to look like a guy asn't just a few hours ago getting ready to wipe down a murder scene and potentially sink a body deep into Richardson Bay

Putting my eye to the peephole, I need to determine ould be sent to my house