“I’m not jealous, Sebastian. Can we just eat in silence? I’m not here because I want to be. I’m here because I have to be.”
“You’ve made that abundantly clear. I did bring you here to talk about something important. About Vincent.”
I tense, my body going cold, just at the mere mention of his name. I’ll never be able to think about Vincent without feeling pain. I’ll never be able to hear the name without feeling anger.
“When was the last time you saw him or Zach?”
“Why?” I ask, my eyes narrowing on him. I’m suddenly feeling wary. Especially at the look on his face. He’s serious.
“This is important, Mackenzie. Just answer me.”
“I haven’t seen him since the accident. And if I do ever run into him? I’ll kill him. So, please, if you plan on bringing him around and expecting us to be friends, that’ll never work. Don’t even bother.”
Baz’s lips thin. “Can you tell the truth for fucking five seconds?”
I jerk back in surprise. “That is the truth, you fucking asshole.”
“I know he was at the institution visiting you. Watching you. Doing whatever it was he was doing. You never saw him there?”
My brows draw in, and I shake my head. “You mean Zach? I’m telling you the truth. The last time I saw Vincent was the night of the accident. But Zach…” My chest tightens as I recall the weight of the pillow over my face. The feeling of panic that overwhelmed me when I couldn’t breathe.
“What about Zach?”
I scrub a hand down my face, too afraid to utter the words out loud. They sound crazy. I’ll sound paranoid. He’ll tell me that I was dreaming. That it was just a nightmare.
“Mackenzie?” he prompts.
Huffing out a shaky breath, I grab the bottle of wine and pour myself more, topping off the glass. I take long pulls and wipe the excess off with the back of my hand. “I thought I saw him those first few weeks there. I thought I really was going crazy. But one of the patients, she mentioned something about Zach that made it seem like he was there, and she was going to be the one doing his dirty work.”
Baz’s eyes light with anger. He grips the edge of the table. His fingers dig into the wood so hard, I hear a crack.
“I woke up one night out of the blue, and he was there. He…he put a pillow over my face and said he was going to finish what he started. I didn’t understand it. I was scared.”
Baz shoots away from the table, knocking back his chair. I look around us quickly, glad we’re the only two up here. Not even the servers are here right now.
“You’re telling me this now? What the fuck, Mackenzie?”
“I’m sorry! I…I was scared. When I told the doctors and staff, they made it seem like I was crazy. And I really thought I was! Until that girl attacked me. It was how I cracked my head.”
“That was how that happened?” He stops his pacing as he asks the question. There’s a frightening calm that suddenly surrounds him, but like I know the back of my hand, I realize this is the calm before the storm. He’s very close to losing his shit.
“Yes. After that, there was that small moment of time that I couldn’t remember. Then you came to visit, and not long after that, I was gone. It didn’t leave me with options to find out the truth. Was he really there? Was it all in my mind?”
“Shit. I knew he was pretending to be Vincent, but I didn’t realize he’d made his presence known.”
“How did you know?”
“Dr. Aster let it slip that Vincent was visiting you. I had his visitor’s rights revoked immediately. His name was the only name used on the logs. I was sure it was Vincent until I confronted him to get some answers. He didn’t have a single clue Zach was there visiting you, pretending to be him.”
I pause. “But why would he do that? You guys are all supposed to be best friends.”
Baz scoffs. “Yeah. We were before you happened. I’m starting to realize we were all never really that close.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Sebastian?”
“Stop calling me that,” he snaps, and it’s his first show of anger. He’s been so calm and collected up until now.
“It’s your name. And I’ll call you whatever I want. Now tell me what you know.”
“I don’t trust the guys. That’s all I know. Vincent tried to kill you, Zach has been lying, and from the looks of it, tried to kill you, too, and Trent is being a fucking pussy—nothing really new there.”
“So, what are we going to do about it?”
“We?” He laughs. “There is no we. You’re done with your revenge. No more of this shit. Let me handle it.”
“Fine.” I sit back, glowering at him, while I finish off my wine, already feeling a slight buzz from the large glasses I’ve been pouring.
“I’m serious, Mackenzie. I can’t keep you out of trouble if you do anything more. I need you to do what you’re fucking told for once, just until I get this shit cleared up.”
“I said fine, didn’t I? Keep them away from me, and I’ll stay away from them. Plain and simple.”
He watches me, searching my gaze, looking for the truth, but he won’t find it. I’m telling him what he needs to hear, but I mean what I said. If I find them, they’re dead. I don’t care if it’s risking my future. I can’t let them get away with any more. They tried to kill me. And I refuse to be a victim this time around.
The tables are turning.
Most of the tension that’s been weighing heavily between Baz and me dissipates after dinner. It is probably the wine and food that take away most of the lingering anger I am harboring toward him. Or maybe it is because I finally had a conversation with him today where I feel like he is close to telling me the truth.
I know I am buzzed when he says we have one more thing to do, and I don’t even feel all that bothered. I am confused when we start driving into the hills. Past trees and trails that are normally reserved for hikers.
My gaze darts from Baz to Dan, and I start to question if he’d be the type of man to murder me and leave me here. When we pull up to gates that say keep out, I look out beyond and gasp.
“The Hollywood sign?” Excitement suddenly bursts through my system. I blame that on the alcohol, too. He smiles at my reaction, and it’s the first time in days that the smile is a soft one. It’s his smile from a simpler time, one from before. Before the shit between us got so messed up. It gives me pause, as warmth spills into my chest.
He jerks his head over his shoulder, putting his hand out between us. “C’mon.”
I take it, sliding my palm in his, enjoying the way that current of electricity vibrates through my veins.
“What if we get caught?” I ask, as we bypass the gate.
He laughs like I should know better. “We won’t. Dan’s taking care of it. Now, what letter?”
“Huh?”
He looks up. “You’ve got to have a letter you’re dying to sit under. Isn’t that the reason people want to come to the sign, to get close enough to the letters?”
I pause, looking them over. The letters look larger than life and intimidating. “I guess I never thought that far ahead. Didn’t actually think standing here would be an option, so maybe…the H? That looks the safest. Any other letters and we might go rolling down this cliff.”