“She will stay at a friend’s house for the night, and she doesn’t like leaving her house completely empty. Plus she has a bigger kitchen.” I lie again and Rachel approves it with a nod.
“A male friend?” Kai’s voice comes clearly from Leo’s side. “Shut up Kai.” Leo yells, and I start laughing.
“I am not sure. She didn’t tell me.” With how easy those lies leave my mouth, I am worrying even myself. It shouldn’t be that easy to lie.
“See you in an hour.” Leo ends the call, and I turn to Rachel.
“I think I have a date.” I say with a grin.
“You definitely have a date.” She smirks. “And Kai is jealous.”
“Kai is indeed jealous.” I confirm.
Chapter 11
Leo
“Iam just around the corner.” I say to Noah, who’s on call with me while I drive to his friend’s house. I had to convince Kai that Rachel probably is visiting a family member or a female friend in order for him to not follow me here. His jealous ass was convinced she is with that hot neighbor of hers. It isn’t so far-fetched. They already had one date that Kai made sure was ruined, who tells him they didn’t find a way to have more while he was ghosting her? Kai will never admit that he is actually ghosting the girl, but I know better.
“Take your time. I will be here.” Noah’s voice fills the car from the Bluetooth speaker.
“Are you waiting for me, pretty boy?” I tease, but before I can say anything else something, or someone runs to my direction from Rachel’s back yard.What the hell?
I step on the brake, the car spins and screeches, Noah is frantically yelling from his end of the call, and I am trying to hang on for dear life, holding the steering wheel with all my strength. I try my best to get hold of the car, but it’s pointless. It spins out of direction and into Rachel’s driveway, taking the gate with it. I take a deep breath, trying to keep myself together. There’s no point, I am already losing it. I don’t know what that was, but I definitely hit something, or someone. A gut feeling tells me this is going to be bad.Really bad.Crime level, prison sentence, bad.
“What the hell is happening? Leo? Talk to me!” Noah shouts, but I was too busy trying to stop the car to realize. Finally, I manage to ground myself to the present when the car stops, wrecking half of Rachel’s garden in the process. I look around, I can’t see anyone.Who the hell was that?
I look back through the car’s mirrors checking the road for whatever I hit.Whoever I hit.What I see is exactly what I was expecting. A man is laying on the road, blood pooling already underneath him.Fuck. This is not good. This is in fact terrible. I knew we would need the bail fund soon, but I was convinced it would be for Kai. Now here I am probably needing it for myself. How am I going to explain this? Who the hell is he? Why is he even here? Was he with Noah in the house? I scold myself for the last thought, because being jealous should not be in the top ten of my priorities now.
“Noah, get out here.” I say, but Noah’s side of the call stays silent. “Please.” I yell without realizing that tears are streaming down my face. This can’t be happening. I run out of the car, leaving the door open, and rush in his direction.He doesn’t move. He isn’t fucking moving. Why isn’t he moving? Please, for the love of God, please be okay. Please.I plea in silence as I kneel next to him. I can’t touch him. I can’t bear to touch him. Noah exits the house. He sees me on my knees next to the unconscious man, and he runs like hell until he is by my side.
“What the hell?” He looks at the man who’s still not moving, then at me, then at the car, and back at the man. “Is he dead?” He asks, but I can’t answer.I can’t do this. This is not happening.
“I don’t know. He came out of nowhere. He was coming from the house.” I say in a frantic voice and I am not sure if I am making any sense. “You didn’t say someone was in the house.”
“No one was in the house, Leo. I was alone.” Noah shakes his head when I look at him. “Leo, no one was in the house. No oneshould be in the house.” He repeats, but the words don’t make sense. The man ran from the house. I saw him. He is here. Lying on the ground. Dead. This man is real. I know what I saw.
“But...” This can’t be right. “ I saw him.”This isn’t right.“I saw him running from the house.”
“That can’t be right.” Noah reaches for the man lying there, face down, still, as if he is dead. Oh God, please don’t let him be dead. He pushes his body until he rolls on his back, and now his face is visible. He looks familiar. “Fuck.” Noah puts a hand over his mouth and stands. He walks away. I see him pacing around, trying to compose himself. “Fuck.” He repeats. “Leo, that’s Alex.”
“Alex?” I question, blinking in an effort to recognize the man. I am not sure I know any guys named Alex.Who the hell is Alex?“Who the hell is Alex, Noah?” I yell, and he motions me to lower my voice.
“Rachel’s neighbor.” Fuck. He is the one who she went on a date with. If this man is dead, Kai and I are fucked. They will think this was on purpose. They won’t believe me. My record is sealed, for now, but with a crime like a murder, things will change.They will know I killed before. They will know I am a monster.
“Is he dead?” I ask, this time, my voice is barely above a whisper. My survival instinct just kicked in. I take a deep breath and two steps back. I inspect my car from afar, the blood trail leading to the man.Alex.It took me too long to get the car back under control. The way it’s positioned, an expert will assume I hit him and kept going. This will look like it was on purpose if anyone with a badge sees the crime scene.
Noah approaches Alex again. He kneels over and presses two fingers on the side of the man’s neck. I wait, holding my breath, praying this is not how my life ends. “I am sorry Leo.” Noah whispers. “We need to call the police.”
“No.”I rush to say and Noah stands.
He approaches me with a concerned look on his face. “What do you mean no?”
“I promise you I will explain everything, but for now you need to know that if you call them, I will be a murder suspect. I can’t be a murder suspect, Noah. Please. You can’t call them.” I plea. This man owes me nothing. He can turn me in. He will turn me in.I would if I were him.
“Fine.” He says. “Help me carry him.” I can’t believe what I am hearing.He won’t turn me in.
“What?” I stay frozen, looking at Noah, who goes straight into “hiding a body” mode and pulls the man from his shoulders. He is not even fazed, holding the dead body as if this were a normal date activity.