When Bindley and a few other police officers came down, Williams looked at Shane and I. “Okay you two, we are going to need some statements. You know how this works. Shane, take her home, and we will meet at her house in twenty minutes.”

“Sounds good.”

Home did sound good; retelling the disgusting story, however, did not.

It was worse than I imagined it would be.

My dad rubbed my shoulders while my sister sat on the couch, staring at me, horrified, as I told every moment of the party. I left nothing out, including whom I had seen there. Counting Aleks, who was wanted for questioning. I had disputed his involvement in her attack, as he had been with me while someone was obviously attacking her.

Corporal and Shane had both agreed that he could have been an accomplice. I disagreed and asked if he had been an accomplice, why would he have brought me right to the scene of the crime? To which they both agreed that he did it to clear his name.

It did seem off that he had been at both places when the drugging happened. It seemed even more off that I had been the only person who had seen him. It was even weirder that he had lied to me about saving my life. I remembered that—I was positive. I assumed it was because he didn’t want me to know he had seen me naked.

I went to bed that night after taking the longest shower in recorded history. I threw the red dress out, feeling no remorse for its untimely death. My head whirled around and around, playing the same pictures and ‘what ifs’ until finally I fell asleep.

I woke, feeling more tired than I had been when I fell asleep. I looked at the time and cringed. I had been asked to come down to the police station to look at some pictures of criminals at eleven, and it was six minutes to. I jumped out of bed feeling woozy, as if I would black out. I sat back on my bed as the stars from my eyes cleared and I nearly got sick all over my floor. I took a few deep breaths and got up slowly to get dressed.

My dad got a worried look on his face when he saw me coming down the stairs. “You look funny, kiddo. You still tired?”

I nodded, yawning. “Yeah, I am exhausted. What time did I go to bed?”

He looked at the clock. “Twelve hours ago. This must be draining you, all this craziness. You ready to go? Shane just pulled up.”

I looked out the window at his truck and nodded. I struggled with the walk over to my shoes. “Yeah. I don’t want to do this. I know Aleks isn’t a bad guy. I have better instincts than that.”

My dad smiled; it was weak, and not even close to convincing. “You are a smart girl, but I think some of the darker elements in our world can fool even the wisest of us. When you get home, it's bed for a couple days, okay?”

I nodded. I wanted to go back to bed right then.

He passed me a banana as I walked out the door. I hadn’t been eating again, and I could feel the weight falling off of me after only a few days. The stress was bad for my health. I hated being so scrawny. I pulled my long locks into a loose braid and struggled down the front steps.

Shane got out and opened the door for me. “You look beat, Aimes. After this is over, I think you need some serious rest. The big dance is on Friday.”

I scowled, not realizing so much time had passed since the whole poisoning thing. “I think they should cancel it. What with everything that’s going on, don’t you?”

He shook his head. “No, normal is what we need right now. They just need to make sure the security is upped.”

We didn’t speak on the ride over. I was annoyed and feeling sour. I flipped down the sun visor to look in the mirror on the back of it. I did look awful, with huge bags under my eyes and puffy eyelids. My lips even looked a bit swollen. I didn’t need help in the puffy-lip department.

I glanced at Shane. I didn’t know what to do about my feelings for him. I didn’t know what they were anymore. I was too tired to care.

We went inside the first door of the small brown building, to a waiting area surrounded by plastic bulletproof windows.

We were brought to where the corporal sat at a desk, on the phone. He hung up and grinned. “We have a database of drifters and criminals from the area, if you just want to take a quick look to make sure Aleks isn’t in one of them. That would make our job a lot easier.”

I nodded as he stood up and walked out of his office. “Okay, the computer is over here that you can look at. It’s pretty straightforward. You scroll down and click next page.”

“Yeah, I’m good. How’s Jaime this morning?”

He shook his head. “Same thing as you and the other girl. She is out like a light, no signs of waking up, and vomited for hours before passing out completely.”

“Was she raped?” The words left my mouth like I was spitting out a bad taste, but I had to know.

He shook his head. “I can’t disclose that kind of information, sorry. She’s lucky you guys arrived when you did. I’ve had my men searching with the dogs for your friend Aleks and his crowbar. Nothing but the crowbar has turned up. The dogs haven’t found a single scent to track, even off the crowbar.”

Shane frowned. “You found it near the house?”

The corporal nodded. “Two hundred yards over, with no trace of anything on it. It wasn’t used anyway. The reason I am telling you this is that he may seem like a nice guy, but I want you to ask yourself why didn’t anyone else see him that night? Why didn’t he come back to make sure you were okay when he didn’t catch the guy? Why would he leave you with a hurt, young woman in the bush alone in the first place? Especially if he had no intention of catching the person who hurt her.”

I felt sick to my stomach as his words whirled around in my head. They made perfect sense, but my heart defended Aleks.

I scrolled through the photos, ugly mug shots of seedy-looking people. In the background, I could hear the corporal try to sell the police force to Shane in the far corner. He sounded like a recruiter.

After a while, I heard them walk back to me. “How’s it going in here?”

I frowned. “No, no, and more no. He isn’t in here.”

Williams shrugged. “Well, you can’t always strike gold with the first hit. Keep in touch about anything you remember, and I’ll let you know anything I can.”

The corporal picked up the brochure for becoming a cop and handed it to Shane. “Son, I’ve never told a single person they should take a look at this. I think you’ve got something.”

Shane smiled. “Thanks. I will look at the website tonight.”

He opened the door and we left. The cold air didn’t seem to snap me out of the haze I’d gotten stuck in.

“I need some sleep, Shane.”

“I’m taking you home now.” He opened the truck door and helped me inside. I felt everything but noticed nothing.

Chapter Eight

A is for Adultery, Infidelity, Treachery, Faithlessness…

I dreamed that I was walking on a beach, my hand was being massaged, and the air was filled with soft music. The sand filled the spaces between my toes with every step. I couldn’t hear the waves very well, but the soft music seemed to ride the wind in waves. Moments it was louder, then soft again.

“Aimee,” the music sang. “Aimee, you need to wake up. I don’t have much time left, and I need to talk to you.” It sounded less like music, and I knew I wasn’t dreaming. My toes no longer felt the sand, only sheets and my head was on a pillow with drool under my lips. I licked my lips, frowning. I could feel the headache behind my eyes. It felt like I had been drugged again.

I moaned, “Not again.”

I heard a chuckle beside me. It was a sound I loved. I smiled and opened one eye. As the fog cleared and my vision started to focus, I opened my mouth to scream. His hand went to my lips.

Aleks was holding me hostage. I looked around the room, realizing I was still at home. He was in my room.

His intense blue eyes pleaded with me while his hand covered my open mouth. I didn’t like people’s hands near my mouth, and this was twice with him. I cringed, closing my lips.

“Please, Aimee, don’t scream. Let me explain.” His voice was a whisper.

I nodded. I was in too much pain to scream anyway. My heart was beating out of my chest but I wanted to hear what he had to say. For whatever reason, I couldn’t be afraid of him. His lips moved sensually as he started to speak again. My eyes darted around the room, taking notice of my open window. He had climbed up and inside to talk to me. I started to get worried again, even though somehow I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.

Even if he did, my family was downstairs. At the very least, my sister could attack with curling irons and hairspray, and he would get one hell of a makeover.

He never pulled back from hovering too close to my face.

“Does your head hurt?” he asked, looking worried.

I nodded. “Really bad, I think something is wrong with me.”

He put his hands up to my head. “I can’t heal you, but I can take the pain from your head. You've been doing it a lot lately, too much. You're tired.”

His words made no sense to me and I wanted to pull away, but his touch on my head sparked feelings everywhere.

His hands were burning. My head nearly broke into a sweat as he touched either side. His eyes stayed focused on me. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from his smile. His upper lip was fatter on one side making his lips always crooked. I wanted to suck that top lip. I blushed, realizing what I was thinking about and cleared my throat as he pulled his hands away.

He smiled with the bigger side only, giving me the crooked smile. “Is it gone?”

I couldn’t remember what we had been talking about, but I nodded anyway, mesmerized.

I couldn’t snap out of the way he made me feel. My nerdy, geeky body was responding to him in ways I didn’t know how to operate. I needed a manual.

Something about him being close to my bed, and me being in nothing but my panties and a tank top, made me think about him sliding into the sheets with me. His mouth was moving again. I decided this was my new favorite thing to watch.

“Aimee, snap out of it.” He raised his voice.