I’m never letting her go.
Tossing my backpack onto the back seat of my Audi, I slip into the driver’s seat and start the engine. At least Eva’s flight isn’t until tonight. I’ll see her at school. We can talk then and figure something out, even if it means finding her someplace else to stay for a little while. Blowing out a breath, I hightail it to Whitney’s. She lives only a few minutes from my house, but the pressure in my head verges on fucking unbearable as my questions and fury continue to mount.
Whitney’s red hair and yellow dress are like a neon sign as she waits in front of her house in an oversized pair of sunglasses. I pull up to the curb, and she lets herself in on the passenger side.
When she glances my way, she frowns, lifts her sunglasses up, and takes in my expression. “What dead animal crawled up your butt this morning?”
I don’t respond.
She sighs, “Whatever,” before she buckles up.
My knuckles whiten around the steering wheel as I drive. I expected to start shooting out questions as soon as I got the chance, but to see her in person, so fucking nonchalant, it transforms my rage into something explosive and alive. It’s impossible to speak.
We’re almost to school when she breaks the silence.
“Anyway.” She clears her throat, looks out the window. “Way to show up out of the blue. You have been super evasive lately, ignoring most of my texts and all. You know what seeing my mom does to me. I can’t drive myself home from the hospital when I get like that.”
She shifts so she’s facing me. I don’t look at her. It’s irritating enough I can still see her out of the corner of my eye.
“I’ve had to use my old driver every night since the anniversary party. Remember Richard? He’s well, in case you’re wondering, Mr. Chatterbox.”
My jaw tightens as I pull into the school parking lot. The campus buzzes with students and teachers, cars and bikes, and the chaotic commotion only sets me more on edge. I need quiet. I need her full attention. I needanswers. I keep driving.
“Okay, weirdo. You can drop me off here, thank you.”
I ignore her and park in an empty corner of the lot. A few teachers’ cars are parked here, but it’s quiet. I put the car in park and unbuckle my seat belt, finally turning to face Whitney.
She looks at me. Then out the window. Then back at me. “What?”
“What’d you do, Whitney?”
Understanding flashes in her eyes. She chews her lip, glances away, and the obvious guilt is enough to spike my anger ten notches higher.
I knew it was likely, based on what Eva said, and still, I can’t believe it.
“What do you mean?” She lifts her hand to examine her nails. “I’ve done countless things today. Curled my hair, updated my Insta—”
“Do you have any fucking idea how serious what you did is? How much worse things could have been for her?”
Whitney’s lips thin, and steam may as well be shooting from her ears. Just like that, her innocence washes away, replaced by freckled cheeks reddened in anger. “What isupwith everyone’s obsession with her? She is a horrible person!Horrible.”
“Because she’s different from you?”
“Because she sucked my dad’s dick!”
My head jerks back. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“It washer, Easton. The girl I saw leaning over my dad when I was fourteen? She’s a year younger than me. Do you realize what that means? She wasthirteen.” She shudders. “And filthy. I don’t even know what possessed him to sneak away in the middle of the night when he wassupposedto be taking care of my bedridden mom. Of course, I had to follow him, but I never in a million freaking years would have guessed he was going to The Pitts.”
I rub the side of my neck, pull at the collar of my T-shirt. Thirteen years old. She was the same age when she would slip behind my house. Starving, tired, hurting. An ache creeps up my chest as I realize what she had to do to survive, and the feeling is quickly chased by a violent, sickening heat wave. She wasthirteen. Taken advantage of by a man old enough to be her father. And somehowshe’sin the wrong here?
“I recognized her the instant she set foot in our school. I wanted to claw her eyes out, but then I found out she was adopted into your family. I have been beyond nice, considering, and don’t get me started on that stupid Daddy Fucker poem. I didn’t even write that. It was a moment of weakness when I confided in Carter at Elijah’s one night.” She pushes a curl over her shoulder and straightens her posture. “As if I would ever publicize what happened, let alone misspellyours.”
Contempt drips from my voice. “So you waited three years, then decided to slip her adate rapedrug?”
“I—what?” Her jaw drops. She looks away. Shakes her head. “No. I ... I mean, I wondered ... before he left—”
“Who?”
