Chapter 16

SIXTEEN

“SHE COULDN’T TELL US much other than the color of the car and that it followed her for a few miles before slamming into her car.”

Lahela tried to concentrate on Officer Hoffman’s explanation, but the words felt like they were swimming around in her head. He was the officer she’d spoken to on the phone. The one who told her, “ It looks like someone ran your friend off the road.”

She’d replayed those words in her head as Briggs drove her to the hospital with Daphne following in her car. Now the two of them stood by her side, listening to Officer Hoffman tell them that Nancy suffered head injuries and a broken femur that required immediate surgery.

“Has her family been notified?” Briggs asked.

Officer Hoffman shook his head. “The only number we had for an emergency contact was Ms. Young.”

“Lahela Young”—a short nurse with dark brown curls walked over—“Ms. Bart is out of surgery and in recovery. She can have two visitors at a time.”

“I’ll wait here,” Daphne offered. “When you’re done, we can go back to my place for the night.”

“You should go home. I’ll figure something out.” Lahela set her jaw. She wasn’t intentionally trying to hurt Daphne, even though the look in her eyes said she’d done exactly that. Old fears of burdening her friends resurfaced and she needed to escape them. “I need to go check on Nancy.”

Following the nurse to a dim room at the end of the hallway of the hospital’s trauma floor, Lahela shoved the panic aside when she saw Nancy. She had bruises and scrapes on her face, her red hair tangled against the pillow, and her left leg was wrapped in bandages and elevated on pillows. Lahela reached down and clutched Briggs’s hand. It was warm and strong, and he gave her a reassuring squeeze.

“She’s still going to be groggy from the anesthesia, but you can talk to her and let her know you’re here.”

All Lahela could do was nod. When the nurse left, she went to Nancy’s side and rubbed her hand, careful of the IV.

“Is he why you don’t love Trevor anymore?”

Lahela startled when she heard Nancy’s scratchy voice. “Hey, how do you feel?” Her tone came off a little too cheery for the setting and circumstances, but she hoped it would distract Briggs from what Nancy just asked. “Do you need anything?”

With half-closed lids, Nancy looked at Lahela. “Y-you’re my best friend,” she slurred. Her head flopped around, eyes widening more as she looked Briggs over. “He’s got big muscles and looks like a cowboy. Do you have cows ... boy?”

Briggs grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

Nancy’s eyes opened fully and a lopsided grin filled her face before she cringed and reached up to touch the cut at the edge of her lip. “I like cowboys with matters ... manters...” She frowned and tried again. “Manners.”

“The nurse said you’re going to feel a bit groggy from the anesthesia.”

“I’m fine,” she slurred again, before she grabbed Lahela’s hand. “You’re my bestest friend. Best friend forever. And I love you.”

Guilt niggled at Lahela’s conscience. They were certainly friends, but she had never considered Nancy her best friend. It had to be the anesthesia.

Nancy released Lahela’s hand and then wiggled her finger at Briggs to come closer. He kindly obliged, leaning in.

“You have very nice hair. And muscles. And cows. But if you hurt my best friend, I will kill you.”

Lahela’s jaw dropped. “Nancy.”

But Briggs just chuckled. “Understood.”

“Good.” Nancy’s eyes started to drift closed but then shot back open. “My cat. I have to take care of Mr. Boots. He’ll be scared.” Her voice rose. “My cat. I need to get—”

“I’ll do it.”

Briggs looked at Lahela and she shrugged. She didn’t even know Nancy had a cat.

“I can go to your house before school and check on—”

“No.” Nancy tried to sit up, but her head just lolled to the side like a rag doll. “He’s probably so scared. Please will you go ... Mr. Boots.” Nancy drew out the last word like she was well on her way to la-la land again.

“Okay, I’ll go tonight.” She saw the clear plastic bag on the counter with Nancy’s items and dug through them to find her keys. “I’ve got your keys and—”

“She’s out,” Briggs said.

“You don’t think she’ll mind I just took her keys, do you?”

Briggs raised an eyebrow. “I’ll be surprised if she remembers this conversation at all.”

Lahela looked at Nancy’s sleeping form. Her broken and battered body. It was hard to think someone would purposely run into Nancy’s car.

Inside Briggs’s truck, Lahela gave him Nancy’s address and then leaned against the door trying to wrap her mind around the chaos of her life. Her family believed in God and relied on their faith—especially after losing Ikaia. But was her faith as strong? Right now it didn’t feel like it.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?”

Lahela slid a look at Briggs. “Not really.”

“Daph loves you, and not in the drugged-up confession way Nancy does.”

Guilt pricked her conscience again when she didn’t find Daphne waiting. She shouldn’t have snapped at her like she did but—“She shouldn’t have called my brother.”

“Why?”

Lahela looked over at Briggs and he met her gaze. He wasn’t pushing her for an answer but inviting her to share. What if she did? The last time she shared her feelings, it hadn’t ended well.

It was weird how core memories were forever ingrained in the brain. Quick to pop to the surface with the same powerful emotions they held the first time.

“When my brother Ikaia died, my parents were distraught. We all were. Especially Kekoa. There’s something indescribable about witnessing your parents cry and hearing their howling grief at night.” Tears burned the back of her eyes. “Kekoa couldn’t handle it and blamed himself. He left the island, making it feel like I didn’t just lose one brother, I lost two. I think my parents felt the same way and I didn’t want them to worry about me, so I hid my grief. I waited until I was at school and then I cried in the bathroom. My friends were there for me at first, but then as the days, weeks, and months passed, their lives moved on, but my life was stuck in a nightmare that I couldn’t share with anyone. They stopped calling and hanging out with me. I don’t blame them. It was my burden, not theirs.”

The truck stopped, and Lahela realized they were at Nancy’s house already. She started to reach for the door, but Briggs put a hand on her arm and remained silent until she faced him.

“Lahela, I’m so sorry you were abandoned by your friends when you needed them most.” He reached his hand to her face and brushed his thumb against the tear running down her cheek. “Maybe they were too young to handle the grief, or didn’t know what to do with it or how to make it better for you—but you didn’t deserve to face it alone.”

Emotion choked her, so all she could do was nod.

“We—Daphne, Nash, and I—are never going to abandon you. Ever.”

“D-don’t”—her voice broke—“make promises you can’t keep.”

“I never make a promise I don’t intend to keep.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles, his gaze locked on hers. “Now let’s go find Mr. Boots.”

At the door, Lahela used the key to unlock it and then entered the house. “This feels so weird.” Lahela searched the wall for a light switch, and when she flipped on the lights, she gaped at the mess. “Did someone break in?”

Briggs whistled. “I think your ‘best friend forever’ is a slob.”

He wasn’t wrong, but given the amount of furniture, papers, clothing, dishes, and trash filling Nancy’s apartment, slob may have been too generous.

“How are we going to find the cat in this?”

“Divide and conquer.” Briggs pointed to the hallway. “You take bedrooms and I’ll take the front area.”

Something about being in here made Lahela’s skin crawl. The Nancy she saw every day at school was neat and tidy. Quirky, yes, but nothing to even suggest she was a pack rat at home. Squeezing her way through the hall, Lahela called out the cat’s name. She really hoped he wasn’t one of those cats that liked to jump out and scare their owners.

Behind her, Briggs was doing the same thing. The first room she came to was a bathroom packed with far too many bottles of hair product for a single person. But no cat.

Lahela twisted the knob on a closed door across the hall and flipped on the light switch. This room looked like an office and was quite organized compared to the rest of the house. There was a desk covered in papers and a wall that looked like some kind of vision board. Of course, Nancy would have a vision—

Wait.

She stepped farther into the room and eyed the photos and papers taped all over the wall. It was her . Dozens of photos and not just of her. Of Trevor and—

She gasped.

“Cat’s not in the front of the—”

Lahela jumped and knocked into a box. It tipped, spilling a bunch of black cell phones across the floor.

“What in the world?” Briggs’s forehead creased as he looked at the wall, and then his jaw clenched. “Lahela, call the police.”

“Briggs.” Her body started to shake.

He pulled her to his chest, his strong arms wrapped tightly around her as if he wanted to shield her from the truth of his words. “I think we found your stalker.”