I blink and stare down at Mayhem, who has shifted her gaze to the paperback in her hands. If she’s not reading a book on her phone, it’s one on her tablet, or a good old-fashioned paperback, like tonight. “Elaborate.”
“Uncle Luc, Uncle Jordan, Aunt Jessie, Aunt Rose, Aunt Leah, Uncle Cole, Grandma, Grandpa, Dad, Mom, Liv, Tenley, Harlow, Theo, and Grady.”
“Why is Grady home?” I ask.
"Grady is injured, Con," Mayhem explains and her brows pinch together enough to become visible through the eye holes in the balaclava. "Didn't you look at the family WhatsApp? Groin pull. He's out until the new year so the team let him come home for the holiday. Mom decided to throw an impromptu Christmas party. I was in there, with all of them, but they're so loud and distracting that I kept reading the same page over and over."
Mayhem frowns. I frown harder. I amnotready to deal with all of them at once. I run a hand through my hair and then scrub my stubbled chin. I haven’t shaved in a few days and it’s gone from five o’clock shadow to scruff, which isn’t my normal look. Mayhem watches. “You need a shave and a haircut.”
“Yeah,” I mutter. “Actually, I’m going to go do that now.”
I about-face and start back down the stairs. “What? Are you kidding? You just got here!”
“I know but… no time like the present.”
“It’s late and there’s a blizzard, Con!” Mayhem sounds confused and maybe a little concerned. I open the door to my SUV and jump in as Mayhem stands up, the bench swinging behind her. “You live here! Where are you going?”
“I’ll be back tomorrow, okay. Just… can you not tell them I’m here yet? I just… I’ll be back. Just give me a minute.”
She nods, but it’s hesitant. Concern is still all over her pretty features. “Con-Con… are you okay?”
“Yep. Back tomorrow!”
I do a U-turn on the drive. Mayhem yanks off her hood and balaclava and I can see her sweet, confused face in my rearview, and I feel bad. But not bad enough to turn around and face all my relatives.
I drive aimlessly around Silver Bay as the weather conditions worsen and the roads get icy. I can’t go back to my parents’ but I don’t know where else to go. And then it hits me. When cousins Tenley and Tate are in Silver Bay they share the old farmhouse Aunt Jessie and Uncle Jordan used to live in when they first got together. The old barn, which is a home gym the whole family uses, also has an apartment. Aunt Rose used to live there before she married Uncle Luc, but no one has lived there since. I’m pretty sure everyone has forgotten it exists. But it does. So I turn left and head to my new hideout.
Chapter 2
Mac
Someone is in my apartment.
I didn't realize it when I stumbled in after a long, grueling shift at the hospital, but I should have. The signs were everywhere. The bathroom door was closed, and I always left it open. The light was off in the kitchen and I always leave it on when I know I'm coming home after dark. I know better than to miss these signs. I'm street-smart because I used to actually live on the street. I'm a survivor.
But yet, the realization that I am not in this space alone feels like a dream… not real. Logic tries to stamp it down. This is Silver Bay, Maine. And my apartment is in the barn on Jordan and Jessie Garrison's property. The Garrison family is the closest thing this town has to celebrities. No one would dare break into this place.
The bathroom door swings open.
Fear floods my veins. I jump up from where I collapsed on the couch a few minutes ago, exhausted from twelve hours on my feet. Before my eyes can register more than a backlit shadow, I scream. The figure jumps and screams too.
“What the fuck?” a deep male voice yells. I hurl the onlything I’m holding directly at him. My keys. They hit him square in the middle of his forehead. “FUCK!”
Both his hands shoot up to his face, which means he’s let go of the towel at his waist. It’s his only piece of clothing. It drops to the floor and now I’m face-to-face with anakedintruder. Well, naked except for the bubbles on his shoulders and chest. My serial killer was taking a bubble bath? God, I wish I was going to be around to seethatDatelineepisode.
My brain is screaming 'Help!' but all that comes out of my mouth is another blood-curdling wail. As I bolt toward the door, to run to freedom and safety and all those good things, I manage to get a good look at the face of my potential murderer. In the dim glow of the single string of Christmas lights I bothered to hang in the living room window, I see the light brown hair, the strong chin, and the sharp angle of his high cheekbones. I stop running. My intruder is… a Garrison. Conner Garrison?
"Oh shit!" I gasp and then take a step toward him. But he's still naked and so I spin around to face the other way, covering my eyes for good measure. "I'm sorry. I thought you were a murderer or something. Are you okay?"
“No!” he barks out. “Who the fuck are you?”
Right. I know who he is becauseeveryoneknows who the eldest Garrison offspring is, but Conner hasn’t seen me since—I do the mental math—I was a freshman in college and he was still in high school.
“I’m renting this place from Jordan and Jessie while I intern at the hospital.”
“You should be a pitcher in the MLB with an arm like that,” he replies in a clipped tone and then he swears under his breath again.
“If you put on some clothes I can take a look at your forehead,” I offer. “I’m a doctor. Well, about to be. My specialty ispsychiatry but the first few years is general medicine and I’m basically a GP at this point.”