Still, I don’t push. Not tonight.
Instead, we shift gears like we always do. Dinner turns into snacking on the floor, gossiping about school, and laughing over the latest ridiculous TikTok dance. The choreography is way harder than it looks, and we keep bumping into each other and laughing until our stomachs hurt.
Whatever shadows were creeping behind her eyes fade into the background.
“Time out. I need another drink,” I laugh, breathless and flopping onto the edge of Reign’s bed. I grab a water bottle from the nightstand, but the lid refuses to budge. “Why is this so hard?” Giggling again, the sound bubbles out with little reason. “Help, I can’t open this. I’m too weak.” I hand it over to Reign like it weighs a hundred pounds.
She takes it but pauses, staring at me, then the bottle. Her eyes widen dramatically as if she’s just putting a puzzle together. “Okay, wait—where are the guys? I thought they’d be here by now.”
I glance at the clock, squinting to bring the blurry numbers into focus. “Rowen said they’d be here before dinner,” I murmur, my voice softer than I expect. My bottom lip juts out in an involuntary pout. I hate how much I miss them right now.
A lazy, knowing smile creeps across Reign’s face. “You are so gone for them, it’s actually disgusting.”
I should laugh, but I don’t get the chance. Her expression suddenly sobers as she shakes her head, blinking hard like she’s trying to clear a fog. “Berk,” she says more urgently, her voice sharper now. “Listen to me.”
When I look at her, her face zooms in, then out again—like I’m looking through a camera that won’t focus. “Whoa,” I whisper, blinking heavily, but it only makes it worse. There’s a weight settling over my shoulders, pressing down through my chest.
Something’s off.
Very off.
“Listen to me!” Reign slaps me—hard, enough to jolt me, but I don’t feel the sting. The sudden movement snaps my blurry vision into something resembling focus.
“Shit’s about to go down,” she hisses, her voice trembling even as her eyes blaze. The words make no sense, but the panic inher expression cuts through the haze in my mind. My limbs feel heavy, like they’re sinking in wet cement, but the fear in her eye’s spikes adrenaline sharp through the fog.
Tears spill freely down her cheeks. “They’ve come for me a few times now... and it always starts with drugs.” Her voice breaks on the last word, her whole body shaking as she grabs my face, forcing me to look at her. “They promised that if I stayed silent—if I didn’t fight back—they’d leave you alone. Theypromised, Berk!” She whirls, glaring at every shadow in the room as if someone might step out of it. Her breathing turns ragged. “But they lied. I should’ve known they would.”
A knock slams against the door.
It echoes—booms—through the room like a cannon blast.
For a fleeting second, my heart leaps, thinking it’s the guys. Relief surges up my chest—until I see Reign’s face.
The color drains from her face. Her whole body stiffens. Pure horror twists her features.
“Reign?” My voice is barely a whisper, the words like cotton on my tongue, thick and slow. “What’s going on? Who is that?”
But deep down... a sickening image is already clawing its way to the surface.
That first attempt to speak comes out as a broken sob before she clears her throat, voice shaking. “My dad... some of hiswork friends... Uncle Bryce... they’ve been hurting me for a while.”
“Reign... are you saying what I think you’re saying?” My voice cracks, sharp and panicked, another spike of adrenaline slicing through the haze clouding my mind. Her words replay like a nightmare I can’t wake up from.
She’s dropped to her knees, rocking slightly, whispering “no” again and again like a prayer that’s going unanswered.
“We need to get out of here. We have to tell someone—I’ll call my dad or the guys.”
Another knock pounds against the door—harder this time, less patient. I lunge for my phone, fingers fumbling, heart pounding, every second screaming that we’re running out of time.
“Come on. Come on,” I chant under my breath, fighting to steady my trembling hands as I fumble with the phone. My fingers feel like rubber—useless, numb, barely responding as I tap the screen. Ronan’s last message is still open—a kissy meme that now feels like it’s from another lifetime.
I try to typeHELP, but my fingers betray me, hitting random letters instead.
Then—
A soft, deliberateclick.
And everything inside me stills.
