Saltwater Secrets - Amelia Addler Page 0,53

time?”

Eddie’s eyes grew wide. “So?”

“So, it told us exactly where you were the night that Jade’s house caught on fire.”

He opened his mouth as though he was about to say something, but instead lunged towards Jade.

Margie was ready. She saw him coming and already had her hand on the pepper spray in her pocket. Just like she practiced, she clicked off the safety and sprayed him right in the eyes.

Even Margie was surprised by how fast she was – he never got a chance to touch Jade. He collapsed to the ground, coughing and yelling.

Margie put the pepper spray back into her pocket. “Don’t you ever come after my daughter again.”

Chapter 21

Once the initial shock of what her mom did wore off, Jade collected herself and ran to get some water for Eddie.

She felt bad for him – as soon as the pepper spray hit, he was on the ground, writhing in pain and begging that they leave him alone.

“Please! I’ll tell you anything that you want to know! I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

He repeated some combination of those phrases for the next half-hour until he was able to open his eyes again. Once he was somewhat back to normal, though, he didn’t want to talk. He rather politely asked for his phone back and promised that he wouldn’t cause any more trouble.

Morgan and Tiffany took it as a victory. Even her mom was convinced that Eddie was guilty – she said that she could see it in his face. Jade didn’t disagree with them – but there was something that bothered her. Just the things that he was saying – like that he would tell them anything that they wanted to know.

What else was there to know? Either Eddie came up with that plan on his own…or he didn’t.

When they got back to the house, everyone was giddy with excitement. Jade knew that she wouldn’t be getting any work done for the rest of the day, and that was okay; she was actually quite ahead of schedule on all of her work projects. The group decided that they would get some takeout and finish out the rest of the day as a girls’ day.

When it was time for her mom to leave, Jade walked her out to her car.

“I’m sorry that you’ve been so worried about me,” said Jade. “But hopefully now you can rest a little easier?”

Her mom smiled. “I think I can. Now I just need to go home and confess to my husband what I’ve been up to.”

“Do you think he’ll be mad?”

Margie laughed. “No, not really. But don’t worry about that. What matters is that you’re safe. I really don’t think that Eddie will be messing with you anymore.”

Jade nodded. “I think you’re right.”

“And Jade honey…” Her mom paused, hand about to open the car door. “There’s one more thing that I need to tell you.”

“Do we need to pepper spray somebody else?”

She laughed. “I hope not. But I do have a few extra canisters if you’d like some?”

Jade shook her head. “Thank you, but I’m okay. I still have the other two that you gave me – somewhere.”

Her mom nodded. “Alright, fine. But I do need to tell you something. It’s about Matthew.”

Jade felt her heart rate pick up but she forced herself to remain casual. “Oh?”

“When I told him my theory about Eddie, he really wanted me to talk to you. Especially because he knew that I’d been sitting outside your house some nights, just watching.”

“Wait, you were? Mom!” Jade felt her heart sink. Her poor mother.

“Of course, I was worried about you! And apparently, Matthew was too.”

Jade stood for a moment, trying to absorb that information. “I’m not sure – ”

“The reason that he was there when the fire started – the reason he was able to save you – was because he was already sitting outside of your house. Now, I don’t know if he wanted me to tell you that but…I thought you needed to know.”

Jade felt a little dizzy. “Wow. I don’t even know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything to me,” her mom said with a smile. “And I know that it’s none of my business. But if you feel even a fraction of what that boy feels for you – you need to tell him.”

Jade closed her eyes. “I can’t.”

“You can. I know you can.”

And with that, her mom planted a kiss on her forehead and disappeared into her car.

Later that evening, Matthew