“Why else did you disappear and not return my text messages?”
“I was driving. I couldn’t respond, and I did when I got back.”
“Yeah, to tell me you left the car. What the hell?”
She made a move to breeze out as fast as she’d come in. I snagged her by the arm and tumbled her in my lap. The stubbornness in her lip was too enticing for me not to kiss her.
“No,” she said. “You’re not getting off that easy. Let me go.”
I loosened my hold. “Will you let me explain first?”
She stopped fighting me and crossed her arms.
“I couldn’t be on camera with you, and you know the reasons why. I’m a cancer to your future.”
That was the truth no matter what we wanted.
“No, I don’t accept that. You are a part of my future. And it’s my decision who I associate with.” Her brow lifted as if she was waiting for me to dispute that. “You will get through this. You’ll see. One day we’ll laugh about it.”
I seriously doubted that.
“Whatever Finn, Sawyer, Shelly, and the lawyer are doing is keeping my name being linked to my dad’s out of the paper. But it will happen. I’ve already found a mention of me in connection to an investigation of a rape here at Layton. The only reason it isn’t a bigger story is because of that hurricane heading to the Gulf. But eventually, the weather won’t be the story they chase, especially when they can tie me back to the guy who made national headlines years ago.”
One thing worse than making her cry was seeing the pity in her eyes. When her hand landed on my cheek, I let my eyes fall shut.
“I may have something,” she said. “I forgot because, well, you distracted me when you arrived at my hotel door.”
There was something about the look in her eye that made me believe I wouldn’t like what she said next.
“I thought you promised to stay away from Lacey,” I said.
The cheerleaders were there, and I’d been lucky not to run into her. August had surely been leaving his room to find either the girl he’d been hooking up with or maybe even Emily. Something I would have known if we were still friends.
“I didn’t,” she said and then proceeded with her story.
I had to bite back a curse when she mentioned Billy.
“I haven’t had a chance to call him yet. But if she did this to him, maybe he might have some advice.”
I laughed bitterly. “You said he left school. How could this Lonnie possibly help?”
She shrugged. “It’s worth a try.”
I tugged her closer and let my hand glide up her ribcage. That was when she rolled off my lap in a giggling heap on the floor.
“Not yet. I’m gross.”
I reached for her, but she slid away. “Did you shower after the game?”
I wasn’t sure where they’d put her to accommodate that.
“Yeah, August and Cooper kept watch. Talk about awkward. I don’t think I’ve ever showered that fast. But, I need to shower off the long bus ride. You could join me.”
I glanced over at the open door in time to spot August walk by and cover his ears. Finley turned a lovely shade of red. She got to her feet fast and ran to her room. I got up and prepared to follow, but August was still in the hallway.
Even though he’d stood up for me twice in less than forty-eight hours, the gulf between us was deeper than the distance that separated us.
I didn’t waste words.
“I love her,” I said, not giving him a chance to cut me off. “Maybe I always have.”
“When?” was his one-word question.
“After we moved away, when I finally got to come over and hang out, I realized how much I’d missed her too.”
“So you’ve been secretly pining away for my sister all this time?”
I lifted my shoulders in defeat and let them fall. “I knew how your dad felt about me and how you would cut me off if you knew. And I was right.”
“But you did it anyway.”
“I didn’t do anything until it became clear that I could lose her for good. And I’m sorry, but the thought of losing her forever trumped everything.”
When his hand lifted, I braced myself for him to take another swing at me, which I planned to dodge. But he only scrubbed a hand over his mouth.
“If you ever expect me to be okay with this, I won’t be.”
I’d thought a lot about this moment.
“I’m not asking you to be. If you want me to give her up, the answer is no. This isn’t your decision. I just hope that you know I would never do anything to hurt her.”
“And if your shit lands on her?”
He didn’t have to specify what shit. The link to my dad was a valid question.
“I’ll never let that happen. I will walk away before I ever let my shit land on her.”
He nodded and walked passed me. The chill I felt as he passed wasn’t half as bad as Finley’s cool stare from the bathroom doorway. I opened my mouth to explain, because she’d heard me say that last bit, and her words replayed in my head. It’s not your decision who I associate with. The door closed between us.
I knocked my fist on the door, and when she ignored me, I hit the closest wall in frustration before going back to my room. I took out my guitar only to recall my notebook was in police evidence. It was another reason I was right about this. She didn’t see the ramifications of if we were found out. But she would.
When I heard her room door open, I was too late to catch her. She’d already locked it and didn’t answer it when I knocked. I went in my room and got the only card I could play.
With guitar in hand, I started strumming the chords of my song to her.
She didn’t open the
