I reached for her, but she held a hand up, not to push me away, but to brace herself.
“I promised him,” she whimpered. “I told him I wouldn’t tell you. I gave him my word.”
Of course it was Jeremy.
My stomach twisted with something hot and acidic. Not jealousy, not really—but that sharp sting that came when someone else got the pieces you didn’t know were even on the table. The pieces that mattered. The pieces that made her.
Why him and why not me?
We had a whole history carved into our bones, and yet Jeremy got the one thing she never gave anyone. The truth.
Fuck, I cared about him, too. That was the worst part. We were never in a relationship, but I cared for him like a brother, like a partner, like someone who shared the weight of loving her, too.
“I... ” She sniffled, wiping at her face. “It didn’t feel like mine to tell. He asked me to hold it, and I did. Even when I wanted to tell you. Even when it hurt not to.”
My chest ached. “Why him?” I asked, and I didn’t mean for it to come out so raw. “Why did he get that part of you?”
“Because he’s the secret.”
21
luna
“I have to go, Jer. I can’t stay here.” I shoved clothes into my backpack, not even checking if they were clean or folded.
The social worker was finally coming. After months of telling the school counselor that I didn’t want to be here anymore, they finally listened.
Jer leaned in the doorway, his brows pulled tight. “But he likes you. I don’t get it.”
I swallowed hard, staring down at my bag. I couldn’t tell him. Not the real reason Arthur “liked” me. Not why I had my own room. Not why I jumped every time the hallway light flicked on at night.
“You won’t like it anywhere else,” he whispered. “I’ve been to other homes. They’re not better.”
I zipped my bag with shaky fingers. “I have to, Jer. They’re all better than this.”
I’d learned how to hold things in. How to keep secrets. Secrets kept people safe. This one would protect him. Becausehe was right. Arthur did like him, and I’d rather leave forever than find out what would happen if that ever changed.
“You’ll be good here, Jer.” I grabbed his hands, holding on tight, my eyes locked on his. His dark hair flopped over his forehead, those wide, scared eyes burning into me. “Be good, Jer. Do what he says, and whatever you do, never, ever tell anyone about us. Remember? We’re each other’s secret.”
Jer nodded slowly. “Luna . . . ”
I shook my head, already backing away. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Jeremy. Don’t you ever forget that.”
“Jeremy is the secret? I’m not following.”
I was looking at his bright blue eyes, his blonde hair neatly styled. He was perfect. Dirks was soft and supple in all the ways I needed him to be, but I’d never told anyone this secret.
“Nova doesn’t know,” I whispered.
He nodded, seemingly understanding the weight this secret held.
“Jeremy and I are . . . we’re foster siblings.”
The world stopped spinning. The air left my lungs. My heart thrummed quickly inside my chest.
He stood up from where he’d been sitting, his stool scraping back against the tile. His movements were slow, as though his body was trying to catch up to what his mind had just heard.
“You kept this from me? Both of you?”
