Things Lost In The Fire (22 page)

“Did I fall asleep?” she asked, her words barely more than a husky whisper. She sat up and stretched her arms, not seeming to mind the fact that she’d fallen asleep in his.

“Out like a light,” he mused. “You missed the ending. The fluffy white dog turned everyone into zombies and then they all did a flash mob of ‘Thriller.’”

Her face contorted with confusion. “Ryan Reynolds became a zombie?”

“Yep. He chewed off Sandra Bullock’s face.”

“Shut up.” She smacked his leg and laughed. “You’re messing with me.”

“Hey, I’m the one who watched the movie. You passed out after two beers. Lightweight.” He winked at her and got to his feet. He gathered up their beer bottles, taking them into the kitchen. When he came back into the room, she was still seated on the sofa, eyeing him strangely.

“Brody?”

He stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Sadie?”

“I was going to offer you another drink, but you look like you’re ready to go.”

“Yeah, I should head out.”

She nodded, rising from the sofa to meet him at the front door. Her hand fell on the knob and she turned her face up to his. “If you call me again, I promise not to yell at you like last time.”

“Good to know.” He stared into her eyes, wondering what she was thinking. Did she feel, as he did, that somehow simultaneously so much and yet so little between them had changed?

“Well, goodnight.” She opened the door, standing back so he could leave.

He smiled. “I’ll see ya around, McRae.”

“Okay.”

He felt her eyes on him as he left and climbed into his car. When he turned on the engine and looked back to her door, she had disappeared inside.

“Great,” he grumbled, backing down the driveway and onto the street. He flipped on the radio and rolled down his windows, needing fresh air to cool the fire in his blood. He didn’t like complications any more than he liked refusing what felt natural. Unfortunately, Sadie was turning out to be an ironic mix of both.

T
WO DAYS had passed since Sadie last spoke to her mother. Two days of avoiding the news, the radio, the internet. She didn’t want to hear what everyone was saying about her. Instead, she shut herself in her father’s home and did nothing but work on her music.

Isaac and Tommy had both checked in on her, but she’d kept the conversations brief and impassive. The last thing she needed was to be reminded that things outside were no longer the same for her. Everything would be different from now on.

She took a break from practicing a new song, realizing she hadn’t eaten all day. It was past noon and her stomach was ready to revolt. Caffeine in the form of coffee and the occasional soda were all she’d been running on for nearly twenty-four hours, making her a jittery mess. If she didn’t eat soon, she wouldn’t have the strength to continue working. And right now, the music was all that was keeping her sane.

She threw together a turkey sandwich and brought it out to the patio to eat. The weather was a favorable seventy-five degrees, with a light breeze coming in from the sea. Settling into one of the patio chairs, she bit into her sandwich and sighed.

Brody hadn’t called her. She didn’t know why she cared. It wasn’t like she didn’t have enough to occupy her mind without him hounding her with questions about Lee Walker. But she’d gotten that oh-so-typical female fear of rejection that came when a guy didn’t bother to call after a date.

Not that what they’d had was a date, she reminded herself. They were barely even friends again much less dating. It would take time for her to fully trust him, and even more time for her to figure out these insane feelings stirring within her just at the thought of him.

She frowned as she chewed, hating herself for feeling so much so fast. Thinking of that night and how it felt to curl up beside him, completely at ease, sent her mind reeling with thoughts she knew she shouldn’t have. They were old friends, so that connection would always be there. But she couldn’t let it become anything more. She wasn’t in L.A. to start a relationship that would only fizzle up when she went back to Lake Tahoe. She was here to help her mother. End of story.

Though helping her mother was turning out to be one big, fat mistake. Now that the world knew of Valerie Ryan’s illness, everything had changed. Her mother was off basking in the publicity and the sympathy of the public, putting on a strong face and promising a full recovery. She was acting as if the cancer was her ticket back to chart-topping stardom.

Maybe it was. And maybe now that the truth was out, she didn’t need her daughter for emotional support. Maybe Sadie could just go home, leave this mess behind and wipe her hands clean of it.

The thought troubled her. Excited her. Then scared her. Like Tess had suggested, she could leave. She’d done what she came to do. She’d also blown her alias and reignited an old crush, but that could be dealt with. In fact, if she left L.A., she could escape all those things and try and reclaim her old life. There may be the occasional paparazzi sniffing around her grandparents’ house, but if they weren’t bothering her at her father’s then surely they wouldn’t make the trek up north.

She could do it. She could go home.

Or maybe not.

Sadie felt a knot form in her stomach. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized there was some part of her, undoubtedly a big part, that couldn’t bear to go. Leaving meant ending this adventure. It meant leaving Tess and her mother behind. And though she didn’t want him to matter, it also meant leaving Brody.

Brody. Her mind spun as she closed her eyes, recalling the sound of his laughter and the charming curve of his mouth. She didn’t know what was going to happen there, but she didn’t have the strength to end it just yet. Besides, he needed her help. They were going to solve her mystery together. If she left now, she’d be letting him down.

The thought pained her. She couldn’t leave. Eventually, her mother might realize she still needed her. And Brody definitely needed her. So leaving would be incredibly selfish and she just couldn’t do that to them.

A smile lifted her spirits at the thought. Yes, she’d stay. She’d stay and do all the things she still had left to do. One of them being her music.

If the world really wanted Sadie McRae, then damn it, she’d give it to them.

BUMPER TO bumper traffic cluttered all five lanes of the 405 South, just below the legendary Getty Museum. Brody stared out the windshield, his eyes on the looming appearance of the West L.A. skyline. It was shrouded in the usual late-afternoon haze, the buildings nothing more than silhouettes against a burnt blue sky.

Without working air conditioning his car was a sweltering hot mess, but he was used to it by now. Just as he was used to the petroleum aroma of heated steel and exhaust fumes from the sea of cars that surrounded him. He’d grown so accustomed to the entire ritual of things that the traffic and the smells barely fazed him anymore. He just relaxed back in his seat with one arm hanging out the window holding a cigarette, and let the radio blare loud enough to tune out his thoughts.

When there was a break for commercials, he took a drag on his cigarette and hastily flipped through the stations. Bouncy pop and Mexican polka flooded his ears before he landed on a station playing the latest Coldplay song. He grinned and began to sing along, tapping his free hand against the steering wheel.

Moments later the song wrapped up and the DJs cut in, their voices gossipy and arrogant. He was about to change stations again but froze when he heard them mention Sadie. His hand hovered over the dial, irritation flooding his veins.

“
I still can’t get over it. Piper Gray was already a big deal, but now that we know she’s actually Ben and Valerie’s daughter? I just can’t believe she fooled everyone. And why? Why not bank on mommy and daddy’s reps and make millions?
”

“
Maybe she’s got something to hide,
” another host suggested, earning snickers from the others. “
What? You never know. I remember when the whole thing went down eleven years ago. She practically disappeared. I bet money she knows something that the family wants to keep under wraps.
”

“
So what, she knows she can’t perform as Sadie McRae so she makes up a fake identity and gets her kicks performing that way?
”

“
Exactly. She didn’t want to attract attention to herself or to what happened to her. A lot of good that did.
”

The hosts erupted in gleeful laughter at the irony of it, sending Brody’s blood boiling. He flipped off the radio and sucked in a deep breath, unable to listen any longer. The hyenas were out in full force, and had been for the last few days since the news broke. It was all anyone could talk about—Sadie McRae and her mysterious reappearance in L.A. as the popular YouTube artist Piper Gray. Speculation and rumors were running rampant, made only worse by the resurgence of articles about Lee Walker. The media was having its heyday all over again, which meant the conspiracy theories were front and center.

Hoping they were done, he chanced turning the radio back on. It annoyed him to find they weren’t—in fact, they’d only ramped up their gossip by entertaining calls from listeners. He listened to one such caller claim he always thought Valerie Ryan bought off the cops, and that what they
said
happened that night wasn’t at all what really went down. He claimed Georgina likely caught Lee drunkenly making out with some other woman in Sadie’s bedroom—since witnesses claimed they saw Sadie downstairs—and that she shot him for cheating on her. The whole business with Sadie was merely a cover-up of the real crime, and they’d sent her away to keep the press from questioning her.

Another caller suggested that Sadie was actually the one to shoot Walker, but the family and the police covered it up. It would explain why no other shooter ever emerged, even after the police located most of the party guests and interviewed them. Valerie Ryan likely spun it that way to protect her daughter, even though it notoriously backfired on her.

Disgusted, Brody turned off the radio for good. Traffic was beginning to lighten up, so he veered into another lane and cruised up to thirty miles per hour, wishing none of this was happening to her. Exposing her alias in the long run would be a good thing, he was sure of it, but the embarrassment she must be facing now destroyed him inside. Even though she’d forgiven him, it was still his fault. He needed to make it right.

The best way would be to figure out what really happened to Walker and stop the wagging tongues once and for all. If he didn’t get on it, someone else might get to it first and then this would all be for nothing. Maybe it was selfish, but damn it, it was important to him. He needed to know the truth, and so did she.

Feeling determined, he cut in and out of lanes to expedite his trip south, making his way to the Hollywood Hills. He’d drop in on Sadie and convince her she remembered more than she thought.