Chapter 2

"Wait, what did you just say? Mark who? How do I not remember that at all?"

Silas’ gaze narrowed as he stared hard at me, trying to read my expression to figure out if I was lying or telling the truth.

The very next second, I leaned against his shoulder and pretended to violently throw up.

Ten minutes later, we headed over to a local gym and locker room down the street.

Silas offered to help me inside, but I just sat on a bench in the locker room, laughing and waving him off.

"Dude, I'm still super dizzy. Let me just sit here and catch my breath for a sec. You go ahead.

"Just leave your dirty clothes there. I'll drop them off at the laundry room later."

Silas looked completely grossed out, but since he couldn't stand the smell of vomit on himself any longer, he finally caved.

"I'm just going to take a quick rinse. Rest here, and I'll grab my own clothes for the laundry on my way out."

I mumbled some vague agreement, already closing my eyes.

Silas stood in the doorway staring at me for a few solid seconds before turning to head into the showers.

The second his shadow disappeared, I snapped up from the bench, diving through his pile of clothes to dig out his phone.

The year Scarlett died, he had changed his lock screen password right in front of me to 1117, which was their shared birthday.

Once I swiped past the lock screen, I went straight to his call history, scrolling back to late autumn three years ago, the exact day Scarlett died.

That day, Silas' phone showed only one outgoing call.

At 5:28 PM, he called Scarlett.

That exact timestamp was just two hours before she fell to her death.

…

My head was spinning like crazy as I tapped on Scarlett's profile to pull up their text thread.

The final text was sent by Scarlett herself at 5:23 PM that evening.

[Silas, I just found out your biggest secret. Don't you think you owe me an explanation?]

That short, punchy sentence went off like a bomb inside my brain.

Scarlett's absolute last text message in this world had nothing to do with wanting to end her life, nor had she asked Silas to convince me to move on.

What on earth had she discovered about Silas?

Did that secret have something to do with her death?

I didn’t dare dwell on it. I whipped out my own phone, snapped a picture of the text message, and rapidly flipped back through the earlier chat history, making sure there weren't any other hidden clues.

Right as I finished doing that and shoved Silas' phone back into his jacket pocket exactly where I found it, the shower door behind me flew open with a loud bang.

"Weren't you totally passed out when I went in there?"

Silas gave me a freezing, analytical stare, his eyes sharp and full of suspicion.

My stomach dropped, but I forced an embarrassed, sheepish grin.

"I was drifting off, but then I accidentally rolled right off the bench and tweaked my lower back.

"Honestly though, that scare totally sobered me up. I'm going to go take a quick shower."

Silas didn't say anything, just kept his eyes glued to me.

Not daring to meet his gaze, I grabbed my fresh change of clothes and bolted straight for the showers.

Once I stepped inside the stall, I locked the door behind me, my back already drenched in a layer of cold sweat.

The warm water pouring down over my skin couldn't wash away the bone-deep chill settling into my chest.

Silas had lied.

Why would he lie to me? Why did he block me from digging into the truth of Scarlett's death?

What was his secret, really?

A million terrifying questions spun through my head, threatening to split my skull wide open.

When I came out after the shower, Silas was already dressed, sitting on a bench and chain-smoking with a pile of cigarette butts scattered all over the floor around him.

He glanced up at me, his tone totally flat. "Feeling better? Want to head back and grab a couple more drinks?"

"Nah, I'm good, man," I said, forcing myself to play it cool, "I drank way too much today, my head's still pounding. I just want to head back and crash."

Silas didn't argue, just gave a single nod. "I'll drive you back."