He rolls his eyes, taking a step back. Toward the door.
I have to stop my hand from reaching out. I want to settle this with him.
“Shane—”
“It wasn’t just that morning,” he says, cutting me off, a flash of anger in his eyes. “And she wasn’t the only one to jump to conclusions that morning. You went along with her when you had to know it wasn’t true.”
“Is that what you thought? That I actually knew the truth and didn’t speak up?” My God. He believes I lied? My stomach plummets.
“How can you claim you didn’t? When you moved in, I made sure I was nice to you. More than nice. When did I ever say no when you asked for my help with anything?Never.”
I open my mouth to speak, but he doesn’t give me a chance. He’s more animated now, the anger spilling out like oil from a tanker that’s been ripped open.
He steps forward and leans into my personal space. I can feel the rage wafting off him like heat from the pavement.
“By then, you’d lived with me a year, Avery. So don’t pretend you didn’t know you could trust me. Youknew!” He jerks back, his lip curled. “How could you act like I’d rape you while you were unconscious? The way my dad looked at me…” He swallows, his eyes distant, as if recalling the moment in horrible, vivid detail. “That was a knife you buried in my fucking heart.”
The pieces, which I now realize I’ve had all along, shift into place. His lingering anger finally makes sense. He’s in pain. The bone-deep kind.
Shane and his dad were incredibly close…right up until the moment I was found naked with Shane standing over me, dressed only in a pair of boxer briefs that failed to hide his obvious erection.
My mom lost it. Though I couldn’t remember anything, she was adamant that her worst nightmare had come true, that Shane had exploited my incapacitating drunkenness to take what she said teenage boys want most. Mom accused him of coming back for more when she caught him.
Once awake, I’d been shaking and tearful, my brain in a hung-over fog. Shane glowered at us in a way he never had before. For the first time since we moved in, he’d seemed menacing to me.
Then Ethan came downstairs and saw his wife distraught and me dazed and confused, clumsily trying to cover my naked body. It was a horrible mess. And once the police are called, they investigate. It didn’t matter that I told her to call them back to tell them not to come.
When the police talked to me in my room, I told them I didn’t think Shane raped me, or that he would rape anyone. But maybe I wasn’t forceful enough about it. I couldn’t get animated because I was so sick to my stomach. Any sudden movement caused me to throw up.
Thank God Ethan remembered he had security cameras and thought to check them. It proved Shane was already in his room asleep when I came downstairs, wildly drunk and completely out of my head. I’d shed my own clothes, like I was changing for bed, but then I didn’t put anything else on. I’d been blackout drunk and pretty much comatose all night.
I was mortified at having the police and my stepdad watch my indecent drunken behavior, but it was hard to focus when I still felt wretched physically.
My mom and Ethan were relieved. They cast the blame for my drunkenness on the older kids who’d given me liquor and told Shane they were sorry for suspecting him of an assault.
All three of us had just wanted to pretend that night and its aftermath never happened. But Shane’s white hot rage at us burned out of control. Our apologies fell on deaf ears, and he packed a bag the next day and left, refusing to speak to us. It took almost three months before he even took a call from Ethan. He was shockingly distant. It was as if we’d all died.
“It was a terrible mistake,” I say, hoping he hears the truth in my voice. “She’s sorry. We all are. I should’ve defended you more strongly, but I was just so stunned and sick. So disoriented.” When he’s silent, I try to explain more. “It all happened so fast. Can you—”
“Whatever.” His expression shutters, his rage disappearing behind the cool, unfeeling mask I’ve seen him wear the past two years. “The real mistake was my not moving to Dec’s sooner. I should’ve left the minute they said they didn’t want me on the second floor, like I was a fucking dog that couldn’t stop himself from humping someone’s leg.”
My mouth drops open. Why had I never realized this was how he felt? Ethan had made it sound like living in the basement was what Shane wanted. That having his own in-house apartment was a good move for Shane.
“They must have been trying to protect me—”
“Fuck all the excuses and rationalizations,” he says through clenched teeth as he shakes his head. “You know what? Enough of this. Let’s go in the house. It’s time for you to pay the rent.”
5
SHANE
My cock’s rock hard and raging to get out because even fighting with Avery makes me want to fuck her. As soon as we’re back in the house and facing off in the living room, I jerk the zipper of my jeans down and free my erection.
Avery stands a few feet away, watching me with wide eyes.
I crook a finger at her. When she doesn’t move, my eyes narrow.
“The deal means I don’t need to coax you.”
