This does nothing to improve Jase’s attitude. “By the sounds of it, I’m pretty sure she’s wedging the desk chair under the doorknob, despite there already being a lock. And you may have also noticed that every package delivered to the house for your sister is from a self-defense or security company.”
The growing knot in my stomach tightens at the recollection of the last box to show up just before my date with Wes.
Goosebumps rise across my skin despite the humidity as Luke confirms that Jaseisn’tthe problem here, but he won’t offer more than that. He just keeps insisting I ask my sister.
I’m almost tempted to laugh. “Vanessa wouldn’t talk to me on a good day. And after what happened yesterday, I’d have better odds wrestling a grizzly bear.”
And now Luke looks thoroughly confused. “Why? Because of the photos of you and Trent?”
“No, because of what I said to her when she confronted me about them.”
Given his expression doesn’t improve, I can assume Vanessa didn’t tell him about the exchange (or the little fact that she slapped me).
I’d rather crawl into a hole than relay the events, but I admit to calling her out for being a hypocrite since, out of the two of us,she’sthe one who slept with Trent.
Luke’s obviously pissed, but he also looks like he might get sick. “Where did you hear that?”
“From Trent.” I don’t mean to bite out my words, but I also don’t appreciate the accusation in his voice. “And then I had theunfortunate pleasure of seeing the nudes he sent to Vanessa,” I throw in for good measure.
Maybe not the best idea.
The limited lighting isn’t enough to hide the fact that Luke’s face is turning an alarming shade of red, and I can’t blame him. Not when his next words rip the ground right out from under me.
“She never slept with that cretin,” he practically growls. “He fucking raped her!”
CHAPTER 40
SKYSCRAPER
PRESENT
No.
No, I didn’t hear that right.
He had to be mistaken.
He had to be talking about someone else.
I have to be hallucinating, because no way can that be right.
Not Vanessa.
Not my sister.
I keep playing the statements over and over again in my head, praying they’ll remove what Luke said from existence, but he keeps talking, chipping away at my sanity with every syllable.
“It happened early last summer. Vanessa went to one of the huge Harrington parties up north, and Trent was there too. They only talked for about fifteen minutes, and Vanessa said he was being flirty but more in a Casanova kind of way. He didn’t ask her out or anything, so she didn’t think anything of it. About a half hour later, she started feeling weird, so she ordered a rideshare.”
His next words may as well be a sledgehammer to my chest, because a vision of Aria from last night flashes through my mind as he says, “Vanessa hadn’t been drinking that much, but she lost her coordination and was having a hard time staying onher feet. The last thing she remembered was stumbling into the backseat of a car before blacking out. When she came to, she found herself in a different vehicle; the driver was gone, and it was just her and Trent in the back. And he was taking off her clothes.” Luke drags his hands through his hair, looking fit to tear it from the scalp. “I had just moved to town, so I only knew Vanessa from a brief introduction at the country club. I was driving back from Nico’s place a little after midnight and found her stumbling through the parking lot of the old gas station down on Braxton, shaking, covered in filth, and reeking of gasoline. I tried to convince her to go to the police or the hospital, but she just kept sobbing and pleading for me to take her home.”
The champagne I just drank threatens to come back up as the pieces to this fucked up puzzle move into place.
“Vanessa won’t talk to anybody about what exactly happened, but whatever Trent did and said to her…” Luke shakes his head, looking sick himself. “From what I’ve inferred, Trent threatened to come after her again. She’s terrified to be left alone, especially at your house, and she’s only grown more paranoid, thinking he’s going to break in. The only time she seems to get a good night’s sleep is when she crashes at my place when your parents have been out of town.”
Because she knows Luke isn’t interested in women and, therefore, doesn’t pose a threat. He’s just a good friend.
“But why the arrangement?” I ask. “You could still be there for her without pretending to be her boyfriend.”
