Murders Of The Past

TWENTY-SEVEN

DYLAN COMES BACK with a handful of napkins, pressing them on the table and soaking up the Pepsi he spilled. Wesley is sitting across from me, laughing his head off, Vivian slumped, hiding her laughter beside him, and Carlos smirking beside me.

"I'm surprised you didn't get wine," Carlos suddenly states. I turn my head to look at him, then, with a threatening glare, I swing my fist back and into his shoulder. "Ow!" He grabs his shoulder, wincing.

  "That's domestic violence!"

  "You've been giving me domestic violence for the past six years!" I argue.

  "What? No, I haven't!" He leans in to mutter, "Keep your voice down, you're going to get us in trouble." I roll my eyes.

  "Looking at him is domestic violence," I tell Vivian.

  "Sadie," Carlos hisses, nudging me. He gives me a look telling me I need to stop, so I look away.

  "You two act like a married couple." I snort, crossing my arms and leaning back in my seat. Carlos looks at me.

  "Good, because we are."

  "Wait, what?" Vivian squeaks.

  "You guys are married?" Dylan stares at us, dumbfound. All I do is glare at Carlos while he ignores me, looking at Dylan and nodding.

  "Six years." Carlos holds up his left hand, showing them the ring.

  "Shit," Dylan mutters.

  "Let me see." Vivian holds her hand out. I take the hint she wants me to show her my hand, so, hesitantly, I give her my left hand so she can look at my ring.

  "How didn't I notice this before?" She wonders aloud, turning my hand from side to side, mesmerized by the light bouncing off the red gem.

  I shrug, looking at Wesley who's staring at the ring on my hand, a downhearted expression on his face.

  Vivian gasps, grabbing my attention. "Carlos and Caroline..." She looks between me and Carlos.

  "Caroline?" Carlos asks and I close my eyes, cursing in my head. "Caroline?" Something bumps my arm, so I open my eyes. Carlos stares me down, but I keep my gaze on the table. I hate explaining things to him.

  Carlos grabs my hand and pulls me out of the booth, my left hand slipping from Vivian's, and he takes me outside, where I continue to avoid his eyes.

  "Well...Caroline?" I roll my eyes. "Are you suddenly your mother now?"

Ah what the hell.

I take a deep breath before rushing out, "Remember when I 'died'? Well, as you know, I left and went somewhere else to get away from everything. Yahty yahty yahty, I started a new life under the name Caroline." I look up at Carlos. He blinks at me, processing this. He eventually opens his mouth to express his unwanted opinion when my phone rings. I pull it out of my pocket, but before I can read the caller Carlos snatched it from my hand and answers it, putting it to his ear.

"Car— "

"Hello?" He says into the phone, turning and walking away. I hate him. "Who is this?" His voice comes out in an angry growl, making me wonder who he could possibly be talking to. He mutters something but I couldn't make it out.

I walk after him, trying to pull my phone from his hand but he keeps spinning around so it's out of my reach.

Finally, he hangs up. He turns around and glowers at me, crossing his arms.

"You have three seconds to explain before I tell your friends who you really are," he mutters through gritted teeth, a cold, serious expression on his face.

"Explain what?" I shake my head.

"Everything."

"Like?"

"Who wants you dead? How did you get that scar? Why are you even here? Tell. Me. Everything." I gulp. "Or else Caroline is going to lose her friends." Is he threatening me? I let out a sigh, realizing I should just be honest now.