(unedited)
Cut me down,
But it's you who'll have further to fall.
Ghost town and haunted love,
Raise your voice,
Sticks and stones may break my bones.
I'm talking loud, not saying much.
"Titanium" -David Guetta (ft. Sia)
"Jacen was at Olivia's funeral?" Ashton repeated, giving me a doubtful look.
I nodded. "Yeah."
"Are you sure?"
I rolled my eyes. "I haven't gotten to the hallucination part of insanity yet, so yeah."
He gave me a flat look. "Not funny."
I shrugged. "Sorry."
"Are you telling the truth?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.
Is he for real? "What could I possibly get out of telling you that Jacen was at Olivia's funeral?" I demanded. If he keeps reacting like this to every single thing I tell him, I'm gonna start keeping my mouth shut around him.
My Sunday had started out fine. I had been planning on having a drama, secret, and everything-else-Elite-free lazy day. Yeah, even I was getting fed up with the mysteries and zipped lips and finding out secrets was something like a hobby to me.
Devon probably would've had a heart attack if he had known.
Then proceed to psychoanalyze me.
My plans had been completely obliterated when I had descended the stairs to find -surprise, surprise- Ashton Sinclair sitting in our living room, claiming the Kaden had asked to see him.
He's like a fly that never goes away.
"Maybe you're helping him," Ashton said.
I gave him an incredulous look. "You've got to be kidding me."
He raised an eyebrow. "So you're allowed to suspect me, but I'm not allowed to suspect you?"
"You're a lot more suspicious than I am!" I protested. "And why are you still hung up about that? I'm just trying to keep myself safe because no one else will."
"I'm trying to!" he yelled. "But you won't let me."
"You're doing it because Kaden asked you to," I pointed out. "You don't actually care."
He raised an eyebrow. "Is that one of your observations?"
I shrugged.
He glared at me.
I stared back.
"Well, this looks interesting," a familiar voice said, interrupting our staring -or in his case, glaring- contest.
I glanced away from Ashton to see Kaden watching us with an amused expression.
"Why is he here?" I asked, turning away from Ashton.
"Alright then, talk about me like I'm not here," he muttered.
I glanced at him quickly. "I will."
He let out a low groan and I knew he was glaring at me, even though I wasn't looking at him. It was sort of like when you had noticed someone staring at you, you could practically feel their eyes on you for a while afterwards.
When I turned back to look at Kaden, he was glancing between me and Ashton. "As entertaining as this is, it also makes me very nervous."
I stared at him. "Why?"
He raised an eyebrow.
Wait, he doesn't actually think-
"He's annoying," I told Kaden, pointing to Ashton.
Ashton rolled his eyes.
"And he gets offended way too easily," I continued.
He let out another quiet groan.
See? He gets offended too easily.
"And I don't like him," I finished.
"Exactly," Kaden said.
"What?"
"As I was about to say before Elena got off topic-" Kaden started.
"You're the one who mentioned it first," I cut in.
He ignored me. "Ashton's here because I need to talk to him."
"About the case?" Ashton asked.
Kaden nodded.
I sighed. "Alright, I'll go back upstairs and you guys can pretend I don't exist," I told them, heading for the stairs before either of them could tell, or ask, me to go away. I was becoming all too familiar with this routine. Especially when it came to Ashton.
"Not so fast," Kaden said, making me stop. "You should stay for this."
Well, that's a new one.
Colour me intrigued.
Ashton glanced at Kaden. "I thought we agreed to keep her uninvolved."
"Not today," Kaden replied.
"Does that mean you guys are finally going to tell me what's going on?" I asked, trying to hide the eagerness is my voice with a bit of sarcasm. Answers. I might actually get answers today.
"Absolutely not," Kaden answered.
Oh.
Okay then.
"Take a seat," Kaden instructed. I hesitated, then begrudgingly sat down beside Ashton on the couch.
"Wait; is this some kind of trick?" I asked before he could start. "Are you guys gonna tell me false stuff to make me stop looking? Because it's not gonna work."
"No." Kaden paused. "But that's a good idea."
I blinked. "What happened to 'if I know anything, it'll get me killed'?"
"It's not that bad." He shrugged and glanced at me. "Are you trying to convince me not to tell you now?"
I shook my head quickly. "No, I'm just making sure this isn't a trick."
"Well, it's nice to know it's not just me you have trust issues with," Ashton muttered.
I elbowed him.
"Cameron hired me to be Daniel's lawyer," Kaden announced, drawing my attention away from Ashton completely.
"So you're getting him out?" I asked.
He nodded. "If I can. It's not looking so good right now."
"You've never failed a case before," Ashton pointed out.
Kaden shook his head and looked down. I knew what he was thinking about, because I was thinking the same thing- Blake and Avril's case. We still had no idea who had killed them. Or, if Kaden knew, he wasn't telling me, and he hadn't been able to pin it on them.
Didn't Ashton know about that, though? He had said Kaden had told him. Maybe he blamed it on me just as much as I did.
"That doesn't count. You were trying to convict someone, not defend them." And it was my fault, for telling the media that you were looking for the killer, I added in my head. "You've never failed at defending someone before."
"As much as I appreciate the ego boosting," Kaden said, giving us a slight smile before turning serious again. "We have to be realistic. There's a fair amount of evidence against Daniel."
"I thought there was just the syringe." Which was pretty big by itself, but it couldn't really be enough to convict someone of murder, right? I mean, we could make a plausible excuse for that if we tried.
He shook his head. "There were some files in his bag about Olivia that made him look suspicious."
"Is he still in jail?" Ashton asked.
Kaden shook his head again. "He's free." He paused. "Well, as free as someone with an ankle tracker can be."
Ouch. Poor Daniel.
"Shouldn't he be here for this?" I mean, he should have a say in how we're gonna make him look innocent, right? Well, maybe not look innocent, since he is.
Kaden checked his watch and frowned. "He was supposed to be here at ten."
As if on cue, the intercom by the door buzzed. There was a gate at the base of the driveway, but we didn't get many buzzes since most people who visited us knew the code for it. Speaking of which, Daniel should've known it. He had been at the door, past the gate, when I had met him the first day.
Kaden stood up and pressed the intercom. "Hello?"
"I have Daniel," Cameron said.
Oh. It made sense now.
If Cameron didn't know that Daniel had been helping Kaden, then there was no logical explanation as to why Daniel would know the gate code. If he was pretending like he didn't know, then it was safe to bet that Cameron didn't know about everything with the Elite either, despite dating Skylar.
"The code's summer," Kaden replied.
I rolled my eyes.
He was so cheesy. Raine had told me they had gotten married in summer, which was apparently why the code was summer. It was cute, though, I guess, in a slightly weird way. I didn't think of Raine and Kaden as parents, exactly, but something close, like an aunt and uncle, maybe, which meant I didn't want to see, or think, or know about them making out.
A moment later, the doorbell rang. Kaden opened it to reveal the two Sullivan brothers.
"Be careful about moving too fast," Cameron said as Daniel stepped inside.
Daniel scowled at him. "I'm twenty, not three, Cam. You don't have to coddle me."
My English teacher simply rolled his eyes, thanked Kaden, and waved goodbye. Daniel collapsed on the arm chair beside the couch as Kaden closed the door.
"Hey Elena," Daniel said, sounding tired. "Long time no see. You look nice."
I raised an eyebrow and glanced down. I was in sweatpants and a tank top. "I think you've been a little deprived of human contact."
"Ouch," he replied. "This is what I get for complimenting you?"
"Can we focus on finding out a way to get you out of jail?" Ashton interrupted, drawing a snicker from Daniel and an eye roll from me.
"All we have to do is prove he's couldn't have done it," I said.
"Geez, that's all?" Ashton asked sarcastically.
His moods give me whiplash, seriously.
I ignored him. "All he needs is an alibi, right? Where were you when Olivia was killed?"
"He was with me," Kaden said, running a hand through his hair. "It wouldn't work, even if we could reveal that. Cameron hired me as his lawyer and suddenly he has the alibi that he was with me?"
"Suspicious," Daniel agreed.
I scooted over to him as Ashton asked Kaden about a possible alibi. "How are you so calm about this? You could spend the rest of your life in jail."
He turned to look at me. "Do you want me to have a panic attack?"
"No, it's just... It's like it doesn't concern you," I replied.
"I'm nervous," he admitted. "But showing that wouldn't help anyone. It'd only make me look like I have something to hide."
"Are you guys even paying attention?" Ashton asked, interrupting our conversation.
"Not really, no," I replied honestly
Kaden opened his mouth to speak, then cut himself off when a quiet buzzing filled the room. He pulled out his phone and checked the screen. "Hang on, it's Raine."
He stood up and walked away before answering, leaving Daniel to stare after him, eyes wide. "Did he just-"
"Walk away to talk to Raine?" I interrupted. "Yup."
Kaden pretty much dropped everything when Raine called. I think there was only one time he hasn't and that had been because he had been holding Alisa, after she was born, and if he had dropped her, Brett and Kallie would've killed him.
To be fair, though, Raine didn't call too much, especially if she knew he would be in the middle of something important. That meant, though, that when she did call, Kaden automatically assumed the worst and dropped everything to make sure she was okay.
Again, it was cute, but a little bit weird for me to think of them that way.
I glanced at Kaden, who was in the corner of the room with his back to us. Since Ashton and Daniel had both gone silent, it was easy to hear him ask her several times if she was okay.
Which meant something might've actually happened.
A moment later he came back and laid his phone the coffee table.
"Ashton, your brother hired a detective," Raine said.
Ashton glanced at Kaden, then down at the phone. "What?"
"There was a man at the gate. He said Nathan hired him and that he wanted to talk to Kaden," Raine explained.
"Wait, where are you now?" Daniel asked.
"Parked around the corner. I told him I had to stop by a neighbor's house quickly," she replied.
"Nate didn't tell me," Ashton said, his brow furrowing a little as he frowned. "Why would he hire a detective?"
"You guys are gonna have to do something." She paused. "I don't think I'll be able to send him away."
Kaden stood up. "I have to clean up the office."
"Why is he here?" Daniel asked. "Why does he want to talk to you?"
"Because I'm trying to prove that you're innocent, and he's been hired to find out who did it," Kaden said. He turned to me and Ashton. "You two stay here. Daniel, come with me."
He scooped his phone off the table and switched off the speaker mode, pressing it back to his ear. "It'll be fine... See you soon... I love you... Bye," I heard him tell Raine as he and Daniel headed to the office.
Ashton leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Why would Nate hire a detective? Where the hell did he even find a detective?"
"A simple Google search would work." I glanced at him. "You can't keep him in the dark forever, Ashton."
"I don't want him to get hurt," he said.
"I thought you said they would hurt him," I pointed out.
"Finding out would hurt him," he replied.
Looks like he's in an answering mood, then.
But, of course, since the world was apparently against me getting answered, there was the sound of a key turning in a lock and the door opened to reveal Raine and an unfamiliar man beside her.
He looked around Kaden and Raine's age, maybe a little older. He was tall, though Kaden probably had an inch or two on him, and while he wasn't overly-muscular, he stood in a way that made himself look bigger, which, combined with his serious expression and dark eyes, made him intimidating.
"Kade?" Raine called as she walked in. Seconds later -told you he came when she called- Kaden walked out of the office, Daniel behind him.
"Hey," Kaden said, walking over to her and giving her a quick kiss.
I looked away, rolling my eyes. We were pretending that everything was normal, yes, but I knew that even if the detective hadn't been there, he would've kissed her anyway.
They were like a Hollywood-film-esque couple, no shame when it came to PDA, kissing every time they saw each other, the works. I think they had starred in a romance movie before, actually, the first movie Kallie and Brett had directed together.
"Who's this?" Kaden asked once he pulled away.
The man stepped forward. "I'm David Fallon; Nathan Sinclair hired me as a detective. I was hoping to speak to you." He glanced behind Kaden, at Daniel. "And Daniel Sullivan."
"Nice to meet you. Let's continue this in my office," Kaden said once they shook hands. As they headed down the hall, he glanced back at me. "Lena, you better get dressed if you and Ashton are planning on going out for lunch."
For a split second, I was confused, until I realized Detective Fallon had been glancing at Ashton and I. Ashton, especially. Kaden had created a cover up for why he was here.
I glanced at Ashton after the door closed to see him still staring in the direction. "Everything okay?"
"He looks familiar," he replied. "But I don't know from where."
"A good kind of familiar, or a bad kind of familiar?" I asked.
"That's the problem," he said. "I don't know."
-- â¡ --
Teaser: "I'm staying at Ashton's tonight."
QotC: Out of curiosity... How old do you think I am?
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