Page 37 of We're All Liars

“She said she was coming to find you.”

I race across the parking lot and look for Coach’s Maybach before finally finding it with her standing beside it. When she sees me, she looks shocked then pissed. “What are you doing?”

“You’re not getting in that car.”

“Yes, I am. I’m telling you, if you fuck this up, I will hurt you.”

If he hurts her, it won’t matter what happens to me. “You’re either coming with me or I’m going with you. But you’re not being left alone with your father,” I tell her quietly.

Morgan is infuriated, but Ryder agrees by saying, “It’s all of us or none.” He walks around the trunk of the car and pulls open the back door, dropping onto the seat at the same time Morgan slides in on her side.

Coach seems oblivious to our quarrel as he announces, “Let’s go, kids. Cade, you can meet us later. It’s a family thing.”

“Nah. I’m good,” I say as I all but shove Morgan into the middle of the seat. Once I’ve pulled the door shut, I ask Coach, “So, talk to your buddy Thatcher lately?”

Coach glances at me in his rearview mirror. “No. I don’t associate with perverts.”

Just murders.

Morgan squeezes my hand. When I glance at her, she gives me aStop it or I’ll cut youexpression.

I can’t do this. “I’m gonna be sick. Can you pull over?”

Her eyes widen, her mouth gapes open.

“We’re on the damn Causeway, I can’t just pull over,” Coach grumbles as I struggle to inhale.

I really might get sick. “Morgan, please. We need to get out of this car,” I whisper to her. And I see the recognition in her eyes. She knows I can’t just sit here and leave her in danger.

She slowly leans forward, her eyes closed as her lips tenderly press against mine before she mutters “I’m sorry” over them.

Her apology alone is enough to throw me off, but I can’t gather my thoughts fast enough because seconds later, the car jolts, and we’re skidding across the bridge. There’s another hit against the car. It’s all happening so fast. All I can do is cling to her as we go over the railing and the car plunges into the lake with a hard crash.

No. This isn’t right. It’s too soon. It’s too fast. Thatcher said mile marker twenty. We’re barely on the bridge—only three miles or so. Nothing makes sense, but my adrenaline kicks in as I jerk at my seat belt, finally getting it free. Morgan is beside me, way too calm. effortlessly unhooking hers. The car is already filling with water, it’s only a little for a few moments until it surges in, and I realize the windows have been busted.

Someone dressed in a scuba suit appears. My fear peaks, and I try to shield her, put my body in front of hers to keep him away from her. But I can’t get to Morgan fast enough, there’s someone behind her with a hand over her mouth and nose, and the more I fight to get to her, the farther I’m pulled back. Someone’s got me too, a hand is over the lower half of my face, and I realize there’s a cloth there. Everything gets fuzzy, eventually darkness consumes me. But it wasn’t the dark murky water that overtook me, it was something else.

34

CADE

I hear shouting before I can get my eyes open. They’re heavy, impossible to move. And it takes me a second to recognize that it’s Ryder screaming. “Where’s she at? Where’s my sister?”

Those words send enough panic through me to get my eyelids to finally open. I’m on the pavement. On the Causeway, paramedics hovering over me. How did I get here? I went over the ledge. We were submerged in water.

Ryder is a few feet away on a stretcher. Several paramedics restrain him as he fights against them and screams. I push off the ground, my head pounding as I brace myself on the hot cement.

“Where is she?” I ask the paramedic attending to me.

“Sir, lie back down.” She guides me back. and I realize I’m on a stretcher. That wasn’t the pavement? Why am I so out of it?

“No, where is Morgan?”

“We’re doing everything we can,” the paramedic assures me. “Just stay calm.”

When has asking someone to stay calm ever worked? And how would it when I don’t know if she is alive or dead?

“Please tell me where she is.” It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. He changed the plan. “I need to find her.” I manage to sit up with the help of the paramedic.