Life's Fear

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jason knew I knew something about the photograph and the girl.

The way I went still and silent... how I was staring at him... he just knew. He was staring back at me, his lips ajar in an understanding way that I must know something. And I did, but how could I tell him? How could I tell him that it was all my fault after we'd made love three times the previous day?

The shorter cop nodded at me once before he stalked off to the car and took the driver's seat. The taller cop turned around in his seat and said something to Jason, but he wasn't listening. I could tell. He was staring intently at me. His eyes never left mine... not even when they began driving off. Even when they drove off down the road, he turned around in the seat. All I could do was stare at him.

And even Jason's neighbour was still gawking until I turned back around and marched into the house. I slammed the door behind me out of sheer anger.

I had no idea what to do now. Was I supposed to cry that my best friend had just ratted out the guy I liked and could end up putting him behind bars? Do I confront her? Do I talk calmly to her?

One thing for certain was that I needed to see her immediately. I ran upstairs and texted her. There were no calls or messages waiting for me.

Me: Are you in?

Max: Yeah, why?

I didn't bother replying. I changed into my own clothes, grabbed my bag, and trotted back downstairs. Jason's keys were still suspended from the lock on the front door, so I pulled them out and locked the door behind me on my way out. It didn't take me long to get to Max's, even though I was still carrying my bag. I hadn't been thinking about it. I dropped the keys in my bag of essentials.

All I could think about was why the hell would Max do something like that. It was my photograph I'd captured. It should have been wholly my decision to determine what to do with the photograph. And if it had been my decision, and I'd had my way, I would not have sent it into the cops. And nor, for that matter, would Max. I should have deleted that photograph... a long time ago.

My knocking came out more aggressively on the door than I anticipated. It made me shameful when Max's mum answered the door and wore quite a confused smile on her face. "Blair, I didn't know you were coming. Max is upstairs in her room."

"Thank you," I replied, trying to muster a friendly smile and be as polite as I could possibly be, despite the ire bubbling in my stomach. It would only need the tiniest amount of fuel from Max before it would spark and ignite.

I made it to the top of the stairs before Max's mum had even shut the front door. Without even bothering to knock on the door, I barged in to see Max with headphones in, her head bopping with whatever beat it was and her laptop open. She had been doing some sort of assignment for sports, it appeared. But I was not focusing on that.

"How the fuck could you?" I shouted at her, dropping my bag on the floor. It hit my leg at first, but then flopped to the other side. My unworn pyjama top was threatening to spill onto the floor.

I didn't mean to swear. I just ended up blurting it out having been so enraged. But Max had ripped the headphones out of her ears and jumped up to close the door before I had managed to let the profanity slip so I had no doubts that her mum wouldn't hear me. And her dad wasn't even home, so that didn't matter either.

"That's Jason's influence on you – the swearing," she clarified, turning back around to me. "You would never have sworn if you didn't know him." She was evading the true question at hand here though. I picked up on that straight away.

"Swearing is nothing to do with this. Do you realise what you've done? They've arrested Jason! He will most likely be sent down because of that photo!"