The Lying Game Complete Collection - Sara Shepard Page 0,228

thought I was over it, but I guess maybe I’m not.”

I hovered close, feeling terrible. It was yet another example of how my pranks had really hurt people. I tried to remember pranking Ethan, but I couldn’t see a thing. The only memory I had of Ethan was when he’d interrupted my friends fake-strangling me in the desert. For a split second, I’d felt pure gratitude that he’d saved me … but then I’d gotten annoyed because he’d seen how scared I’d been.

“What did they do, exactly?” Emma asked.

Ethan shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Suffice to say they blew my chances.”

Emma took Ethan’s hand and squeezed it tight. “Listen, I’m not Sutton, okay? Maybe we’re alike in certain ways, but I would never hurt you. You have to know that.”

Ethan nodded slowly, linking his fingers through hers and returning her squeeze. “I do know that. I swear. And I’m sorry I’ve been so distant. I should have believed you.”

There was a long pause. The two of them watched a bunch of blackbirds land in the center of the track and then take off again. “You know what we should do?” Emma said slowly, unable to stop the smile spreading across her face. “Let’s figure out a plan to double-cross them.”

“Sutton’s friends?” Ethan gave her an incredulous look. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. I care about them, but it sounds like they need a taste of their own medicine. I’m sick of pranking people—and maybe if we can outsmart them, the whole Lying Game will lose its luster.” She turned on the bleacher so she was facing Ethan. “As of now, Sutton’s friends are planning on stealing your poems before your poetry slam and putting them online under someone else’s name. They want it to look like you plagiarized them.”

Ethan let out a whistle. “Wow. That’s low.” His light eyes darkened and he looked out onto the track. “Why would they do that to me?”

A cloud passed over the sun and Emma watched her shadow disappear. “Laurel’s furious at me right now for getting Thayer in trouble. This is her idea of revenge. She knows that I …”—she swallowed awkwardly—“like you, and she’s hitting me where it hurts.”

A small smile played at the edge of Ethan’s lips. “I see. Maybe we can meet at our usual spot and bat around ideas?”

“Well, I think we have to find a new spot, given that Laurel now knows that we meet there,” Emma pointed out. Her insides felt warm and settled. Thank God Ethan was back on her side. “Now that that’s out of the way,” she said, “there’s more I need to fill you in on.” She scanned the track, making sure they were still alone.

Ethan’s eyebrows spiked. “More about the case?”

When Emma told him that the blood on the car matched Thayer’s, not Sutton’s, Ethan stared at her incredulously.

“That’s not all,” Emma went on. “I went to pick up Sutton’s car from the evidence lot, and I found something weird.” She explained the slip of paper with Dr. Sheldon Rose’s name, and how she traced it to a psychiatric hospital in Seattle. “Dr. Rose’s nurse said Thayer checked out on September twenty-first. Against doctor’s orders.”

Ethan stared at her, his face pale. “Thayer was in a mental institution?” he said, shaking his head. He pressed his palms over Emma’s. “It’s him. It has to be. He snapped and killed Sutton. What’s to stop him doing the same thing to you?” He gripped her hands with his. “How am I going to protect you?”

Emma took a breath, feeling the smallest bit safer now that she had Ethan on her side again. “You can’t,” she said, watching Ethan’s face fall at her words. She squeezed his hands and went on, “We need to find proof that he did it. The only way I’ll ever be safe again is when Thayer is behind bars—permanently.”

A door to the school slammed loudly, and they both looked up. The bell sounded, indicating that the period was over. Emma had skipped a whole class. In her old life, she’d never even been late to school. But making up with Ethan was worth it. “We should go back in,” she said softly.

“Do we have to?” Ethan asked. “I’d rather spend the whole day together.”

“Me, too,” Emma murmured. Then she turned to Ethan, getting an idea. “Sutton’s friends are planning a secret party, and I have to be there early to help set up. Do you want to come? I know parties aren’t your thing,