Ace of Spades Sneak Peek(74)

I haven’t seen him since he went all Thanos on me on Friday.

“Yes?” I ask, stepping back a little. I don’t feel safe around him anymore, even in this hallway filled with people. Jamie looks pissed off, ready to beat me down like everyone else. What now? What has been said now? I’m so tired.

“Really, Chi?”

“What now?”

Silence.

“You and Belle? And you can’t deny it. I’ve seen the pictures.”

What pictures?

“And Aces don’t really lie, do they?” he spits.

I narrow my eyes at him, a thought hammering through my mind. I wonder if he knows the girl is really alive. I wonder if he knew all along …

“Want me to apologize for kissing a girl you aren’t even with? Want me to say I’m sorry for breaking the best-friend code? Oh wait, we aren’t best friends. We aren’t even friends. Want me to beg for your forgiveness for liking someone without your fucking permission?”

His eyes widen, but before he speaks, I continue, because that’s what happens when you hold so much back without release.

“You didn’t like Scotty or Tanner. Didn’t like Georgie or Paul. You hate it when I’m with someone else, because you think you can control me, control my body. Well, you can’t, Jamie.”

How, after everything, can Jamie think he still has a say over anything I do?

He looks down at my feet, then back up at me. “You have toilet paper stuck to the bottom of your shoe.”

I feel my neck burn, but I don’t say anything. Instead, I slam my locker shut, making him jump back. Then I turn, walking away, not caring where.

People move away, the sea parting, fear written all over their pale faces.



* * *



When I enter lab 201, Devon is seated at the back, waiting for me. I knew this lab would be empty, so we could speak alone. He looks so out of it, as though his own worst nightmare also rose from the dead and showed up last night.

I’m guessing he’s angry I ran off and ruined everything. I’d be really pissed off if I were in his shoes. Which is why he deserves an explanation. I’m just going to come out and say it. No matter what his reaction is.

I sit opposite him, taking a deep breath before spilling my deepest, darkest secret.

“I need to tell you something,” Devon starts.

I nod. “Me first. I’m sorry for leaving you alone last night, messing up the stakeout. But I have a good reason,” I say, glancing at him.

Devon doesn’t seem like he cares all that much about what I have to say. I ignore his face and continue.

“What Aces said about me being a murderer wasn’t a complete stretch…” His eyebrows are raised. I knew he’d care about that. “About a year ago, Jamie and I were driving home from his parents’ beach house when we hit someone. It was bad; there was blood everywhere; I thought she was dead. Jamie made us drive away, not tell anyone, and I’ve lived with that guilt ever since. But then last night, when I tackled that girl to the ground and removed her mask, it was her. The girl I thought we’d killed.”

Devon’s mouth literally falls open. “Are you sure it was her?” he asks.

I nod. “Positive. I could never forget her face,” I tell him.

“Fuck,” he says.

“Yeah,” I say. I sit up straight, leaning in a little.

“What do you think this means?” he asks.

I’ve been asking myself the same question.

“I have no idea,” I say, feeling sick. “I don’t know how she fits into all this, into Aces. But what did you want to tell me?”

He takes his phone out and unlocks it. “I tried messaging you all night,” he starts. “When the girl ran out, she left the page she was logged in to open. So I went through the files.”

Now it’s my turn to be shocked. “What did you find?”

He pauses, scrolling through his phone, and then he slides it over.

“I found a lot … There was a lot of scary shit. I don’t know how the girl is connected, though; she doesn’t go to Niveus and I don’t know what she would have been doing on the computer,” he says as I scan the screen of his phone.

The picture I’m looking at is grainy, but I can still make out most of it. I spend the first few seconds trying to make sense of it all, but then I see an acrostic made up of the first letters from the school values. It feels like I’ve been punched in my stomach. I swipe and there’s another picture. I see a list of names next to … tasks? Watch CA during chemistry and Place USB flash drive in CA’s locker—with information on which class I’d be in on the specific date the task was due. It’s creepy as hell. I scan the list a few times, searching for names I know. Names of people I didn’t necessarily trust, but who I never thought could do something like this. I search for the names of my “friends,” and, as expected, I see both Ruby’s and Ava’s and their tasks in bold. Both tasked with Collecting information on CA. I blink. I knew Ruby wouldn’t pass up the chance to hurt me. Ava too.

When I don’t see Belle’s name, I feel … relieved. I swipe. The final picture is a file labeled Dianna Walker 1965.

I look up at Devon again. “Was that all of it?” I ask, shivering.