I didn’t mean to spend the night…
What did she mean by that? Spend the night at her friends’ house? Then why was she so upset?
She’d named two female friends, but something tells me there was more to the story. Who were the ‘some others’ she’d referenced?
If it were Tabby... if it were my baby girl stumbling home looking like she’d gone ten rounds with a Mack truck... I’d want to know. I’d want five minutes alone with whoever put those marks on her.
Secrets are a cancer. They eat you up from the inside out. This one in particular could do more damage in the dark than being brought to light.
I clear my throat, tension pulling at me from within. “Eddie, listen, about yesterday?—”
“That reminds me,” he grunts, cranking the wheel to the left. “Gotta grab my other piece from the house. Never know what kinda mood Peña’s gonna be in. That cool with you two?”
I bite back a curse as we pull into his driveway, the window of opportunity closing. Mason shoots me a curious look, but I shake my head.
Later. I’ll tell him later.
We trail Eddie inside, finding that not much has changed about the Youngblood household since the last time we came by (which was years ago by this point).
The home is like a time capsule, every inch of it frozen in the moment Reggie died. Ed hasn’t changed a thing since he lost his older brother, Solana’s father, preserving it as if he’ll be back any day now.
The living room walls are plastered with decades-old photographs, smiling faces forever young and untroubled, a shrine to happier times. An ancient TV monopolizes space in the corner, the kind with knobs and dials that still somehow works, despite being a relic from a bygone era. The shelves are cluttered with dusty knickknacks and tchotchkes, each one a memory collecting dust.
It’s like the whole place is holding its breath, waiting for an expiration date that never comes.
But I remember when this house was full of life, the air thick with the smell of Solana’s mom’s famous chili, the cluttered patio where sometimes barbecues were held, Reggie’s booming laugh rattling the windows.
Now it just feels cold and empty. Almost depressingly so.
“Be right back,” Eddie mumbles, his heavy footsteps clomping down the hall.
Mace and I linger awkwardly in the living room, the silence stretching between us like taffy. He picks up a tacky ceramic angel from the mantel, turning it over in his hands with a smirk.
“Syd’s been nagging me to redecorate our place,” he says with a husky chuckle. “She says it looks straight outta the ’90s. I should bring her here. Show her what a real time warp looks like.”
I open my mouth to reply, but the words die before they’re ever born. The front door slides open, and Solana enters with her keys in hand and bookbag slung over her shoulder.
Her eyes are downcast, brow furrowed, lost in thought ’til she realizes she’s not alone. For once, she hasn’t come home to an empty house. She has visitors.
She stumbles to a stop, her gaze flicking up and meeting mine.
Suddenly the world’s grinding to a halt. It’s just the two of us standing a few feet apart, both thrown by the sudden appearance of the other.
Both unsure how to react or what to do or say.
In this moment, I’m struck by how much she reminds me of Rachel. Not the Rachel of today. The Rachel I’d known so many years ago, before things got twisted and jaded.
She’s got the same freckled face and round cheeks. The same wide, guileless eyes. Even the same air of innocence that seems too good for the gritty, fucked-up world we live in.
But at the same time, she’s different. There’s no denying that—she has copper skin and her hair’s done up in long, thick locs that fall down her back. Her soft, plush lips part as if she’s about to say something, then she stops herself.
I take in the oversized sweater that engulfs her frame, the chunky scarf wound around her throat, and realize why she’s dressed the way she has.
She’s hiding the evidence.
More anger simmers in my gut, threatening to unleash itself.
But I made a promise. I can’t confront her like this. Not in front of Mace and her uncle. Not after I gave her my word.
