The Lies That Bind

6: Scary Spice

"Well, yeah." She fought a smile. "But it got us through some tough times."

He made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. "I'm glad you called. I've been meaning to tell you—"

"Calla!" Olivia hollered from the other side of the store. Several heads swiveled in her direction, alarmed. "Tell Kevin we are not going as a hot dog and a bun for Marissa's Halloween party!"

Calla glanced up, amused. "You're not going as a hot dog and a bun!" she called back.

Olivia planted her hands on her hips and smirked up at her boyfriend, satisfied. Kevin pouted.

"What was that about hot dogs?" Cooper's dubious question recaptured Calla's attention.

She shook her head. "Olivia and Kevin being Olivia and Kevin."

"Ah." Cooper nodded as though this made perfect sense. "Tell them I said hello."

"I won't," she assured him. His answering glare brought a smile to her face. "What were you trying to tell me?"

"Oh." His ire vanished. "I talked to Gareth yesterday."

Calla paused, her fingers lingering on the plastic cover of a tacky vampire costume. "You did what now?"

"Relax. Gareth and I are cool." Cooper quickly explained the logistics of the fantasy football league they were in—along with Vincent, the Richardson twins, Ryan, and basically every male acquaintance he'd ever met, or so it seemed. Calla was about to interrupt and tell him exactly how little she cared about any of it when he said, "Anyway, he asked about Lauren, so I asked about Astrid, and he told me they cut things off a year ago, for good this time. Something about long distance sucking major ass and, I quote," Cooper crooked his fingers for added effect, "Astrid's constant paranoia."

"Paranoia," Calla repeated dully. "She thought he was cheating on her?"

"Nope. That's the weird part." Cooper's brows lifted. "Gareth said she was convinced someone was watching her. Like, stalking her socials, following her around campus..."

"Interesting." Calla stared off into space. Astrid's paranoia wasn't completely off-base. Calla had been stalking her socials under several different aliases, after all. But she'd never once set foot on her campus. Something like that would risk too much attention.

"Makes you wonder," Cooper mused.

Calla glanced back down at the screen. "Wonder about what?"

"C'mon." Cooper stared back at her in disbelief. "Astrid's being watched. You're being watched."

Calla hadn't thought of it like that. She arched a skeptical brow. "You think they're connected."

"I think they could be."

He's right. If Astrid has a stalker, there's a chance it could be the same someone blackmailing me. Or this could be the reach of the century and they're completely unrelated.

"Calla?"

She turned, startled. It wasn't like her to get distracted, but now here she was, caught completely off guard as she locked eyes with—

"Peter?" Her surprise gave way to annoyance as she beheld the brown-eyed, blonde-haired baseball player lingering at the end of the aisle she'd wandered down. "Peter—"

"I know, I know." He held up his hands. He looked much the same as he had when she'd cut off all communication with him two weeks prior—khaki shorts and a white t-shirt, plus that ridiculous shell necklace she loathed strung about his throat. "You don't want to talk."