Free Chaos by Timberlyn Scott Page A

with mine.
    “Why did you take Sebastian’s car that night? For the race?”
    Leif didn’t answer me right away, his attention turning to the raised voices in the hallway. When he turned back to me, he looked as though he was choked by emotion. “I’d been having issues with my brakes for a while. I needed to get ’em replaced but hadn’t done it. I wanted in the race but didn’t figure the car would handle well, so when I stopped by to talk to Sebastian, I noticed he’d left the Camaro. So I took it.”
    Leif sat motionless for a moment, but then he continued.
    “If I’d driven my Mustang, I’d be dead right now. The doctors told me that the roll cage saved my life.”
    Payton remembered that Garrett had mentioned the same thing.
    Leif looked right at me. “Did Sebastian tell you that he had a dream that the Camaro exploded during a race?”
    I narrowed my eyes on him. “No, he didn’t.”
    “Yeah,” Leif said, exhaling slowly. “Turns out that was why he didn’t take the Camaro. He thought he’d avoid disaster if he didn’t drive it. Apparently he’d had the dream more than once.”
    Holy crap.
    Sebastian hadn’t shared that little bit of information with me, but now that I thought about it, it explained why Sebastian had been trying to assume the blame for Leif’s accident.
    But it was just that … an accident. It was unfortunate, but Sebastian was no more to blame than Leif was.
    “I don’t even know what to say to that,” I told Leif.
    “Nothing to say. I’m alive and breathing. That’s all that matters.”
    That was true. Having Leif home was all that mattered. I snagged the remote from the coffee table and handed it to Leif. “If you do need anything, just yell. I’ll make sure someone comes running.”
    Leif nodded, looking down at the remote briefly. When his eyes slid back to mine, I saw a question reflected there.
    Pushing him to open up wasn’t going to do any good. I’d learned that from Sebastian, so I just sat there, willing my legs not to go to sleep beneath me.
    “Have you … uh…” Leif glanced over at the kitchen before returning his attention to me. “Has anyone talked to Aaliyah?” Leif’s eyes bored into me as though he was trying to figure out whether my answer would be a lie or not.
    I had no reason to lie to him. “I tried calling her right after the accident. I left her a message to call me, but I didn’t tell her what it was about.” It was my turn to glance back to see if anyone was listening. When I noticed no one else was in the room, I lowered my voice and said, “I don’t think she ever got that message, Leif.”
    His dark eyebrow lifted slightly. I didn’t break the eye contact, willing him to think about what I’d just said. His eyes darted back to the remote briefly but then back to my face. A subtle nod was all I got in response.
    I knew that Sebastian hadn’t told Toby or Leif his suspicions about his father, but he would eventually have to. Especially if there was any chance that we were going to figure out just what had happened to Sebastian’s mother. If Conrad was somehow responsible — I still shuddered at the thought — then we were going to need all the help we could get. And being that Leif’s mother’s boyfriend just happened to be a detective, I fully intended to encourage Sebastian to open up to his best friends soon.
    Patting Leif’s hand, I pushed to my feet and forced a smile. “If you need anything, just let me know.”
    “Thanks, Payton.”
    Heading to the kitchen, I glanced back at Leif once more. I knew Sebastian and I had agreed to leave Aaliyah out of this for the time being, but I truly believed it was time for her to know. She was probably going to be pissed, because despite what might’ve happened between them in Vegas, I knew without a doubt that Aaliyah cared about Leif.
    The question was, who was trying to keep Aaliyah away from him?
    And why?

Chapter Ten
    Payton
     
    Monday morning came way too quickly.