Ethan's hand found mine. Squeezed once.
"It's going to be okay," he said.
We both knew it wasn't.
But he said it anyway and I held onto it anyway.
Because tomorrow was coming whether I was ready or not.
And there was nothing left to do but show up.
Chapter 19: Liam
The cold night air hit me like a slap.
The kind of cold that found your bones immediately—no buildup, no warning. Just ice against skin.
"Emily!"
She was halfway across the parking lot. Moving fast. Heels clicking on gravel and cracked asphalt.
"Emily, wait!"
She didn't stop.
The parking lot behind the Riverside Club was small—lit by a single streetlight that cast everything in harsh orange. Most of the cars were gone now, donors and alumni filtered out. The music from inside was muffled, bass thumping through the brick walls.
I ran after her and caught up as she reached the edge of the lot where it met the street.
"Please. Just—just let me explain."
She whirled around.
Her face was wrecked. Mascara in dark streaks down her cheeks. Eyes red and swollen. Tears still streaming. The cold had turned her skin blotchy, her breath coming out in visible clouds.
"Explain?" Her voice came out high. "Explain what, Liam? How I just found you kissing a guy? How you've been lying to me formonths?"
"It's not—"
"Not what it looks like?" She stepped toward me. "Because it looks like you've been using me as a cover while you fuck around with Alex Harrington."
My whole chest compressed. I tasted something metallic at the back of my throat—adrenaline or bile, couldn't tell which.
"That's not—we're not—"
"Don't lie to me." She was shouting now. Her voice cracking in the cold air. "Don't youdarelie to me anymore."
I glanced around. A few people standing by their cars near the back entrance. Smoking. Talking. One couple loading something into a trunk.
They were looking at us.
My skin prickled.
"Can we just—can we talk somewhere private?"
"Nowyou want privacy?" She laughed—bitter, harsh, the sound breaking in the middle. "Now you care about who's watching?"
"How long?" she demanded. "How long has this been going on?"
