Playing With Fire

Chapter Forty-Nine

  Recap  

"Shit," Chase's eyes go wide, "Wes?"

I nod, relieved to see that he's almost as shocked and speechless as I am about the news.

"Wh-How-When?" He stumbles over his words briefly before finally pausing to breath. He breathes out through his nose and angrily rakes a hand through his hair, "I swear, next time I see him, I'm going to kill him."

Despite the situation, I feel the corners of my lips tug into a small smile as I observe, with admiration, scale of his anger towards Wes.

As I look down at my lap to hide my smile, a notification alert appears on my phone, and I instantly hold it up to see if it's an update on Layla's status or from Travis.

Relief pours through me as I see that the text is from Layla, indicating that she has been released from the questioning room. My mind darts to Laura and I can't help but think how pleased she must be at this very moment.

I scroll through her text and nearly double as I read the words she has written in bold:

    MOM TOLD ME YOU WENT TO GET COFFEE. SCREW IT. GET BACK HERE NOW. I KNOW WHO IS WORKING FOR JAMES. IT'S CHASE!!

  Chapter Forty Nine

With nothing but bewildered eyes, I slowly lift my head to get a nice, long look at the boy sitting across from me. He stares back at me expectantly, his lips forming words, but I'm too stunned to put a sound to his voice.

            How could Chase be behind all of this?

            I think back to the day I met him—my first day of school in Miami. The way his arctic blue eyes sparkled in spite of the academic ambiance, the way he left me flabbergasted by offering me a hug, the way he entertained me all throughout the day...He was so welcoming, so kind, and so humorous that we immediately clicked.

            It's almost impossible to think that he was faking our friendship the whole time, using our proximity and my emotions to pry around my life and get close enough to wreck it.

            "Faye," Chase's fingers appear in front of my face, "You alright?"

            I blink, shaking my head in an attempt to get rid of the obvious shaking in my palms. I needed to get out of here, whether or not he truly is the one—I needed to leave.

            "Yeah," I respond in the strongest voice I can, "I'm sorry what were you saying?"

            The worry furrows on his forehead relax as he grins and reminds me of our previous conversation. "Wes—you said he broke into your house. Well, do you have any idea why he did?"