As I pull onto the highway, one thought consumes me. I lied to him back there. If he actually tried to cuff me, I’d probably let him. I’d be a willing abductee, and I’d willingly let the Stockholm syndrome take over.
Hell, I’d do anything for him, and maybe that’s why I’m so scared to tell him I love him too. Because once I say it, I’m not going anywhere, even if it means risking my heart all over again.
CHAPTER 26
EMERY
“Okay, that’s enough,” Eve says, sitting opposite me on her couch with Eli flanking her side.
“What?” I mumble with a mouth full of moo shu pork.
“I told you we shouldn’t ambush her while she’s eating,” Eli says, turning to my sister like there’s some pretend forcefield filtering out their discussion.
“It’s been two days of her moping around,” Eve groans. “Her vibe is really mucking up the place. Even the yellow walls can’t drown out the tragedy taking place on my pull-out couch.”
“Geez, guys. You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not right here,” I snap, placing the food carton on the coffee table.
“Sorry, sis,” Eli says, speaking for both of them. “We’re just concerned. This was supposed to be a fun sibling weekend, and I hate to say it but…you’re acting like a real?—”
“Drag,” Eve says, finishing his sentence.
“Eve,” my brother warns, giving her his world-famous side eye. She shrugs nonchalantly and falls back onto the couch with a soft thud.
“We’re just worried about you, Ree,” Eli says after taking adeep breath, “and I think there’s something you’re not tellingus.” He places extra emphasis on the last word, and it feels a lot like a hard poke begging me to tell Eve about my summer arrangement.
I sigh, letting more guilt drown out my aching heart. I know it’s killing him to keep such a big secret from Eve. After growing up in a tumultuous household, the three of us became a unit in adulthood. We never kept things from each other, and we had monthly family meetings that involved hour-long dump fests, including everything from grievances to new crushes. And even though they both knew about Knox, I had neglected to share one very important piece of information with my sister.
“Fine,” I say, ready to set all my cards out on the table. The last two days have been agonizing with the image of Knox’s face in my rearview mirror, haunting my every thought. Every time I tried to figure out what comes next for me, his beautiful smirk snuffed out any logical or sane thoughts.
Eve arches her perfectly maintained brow and hunches over. “This should be good.”
I bite my lip and bow my head. My pulse hums under my skin. My body is just as anxious to get the truth out.
“I was neveractuallydating Knox.”
Eve squints her eyes, and I swear if she could shoot laser beams out of her eyes, this would be the time for it. “You what?”
“Knox came to me when I first moved to Honey Grove and asked if I would be his fake girlfriend in exchange for him fixing my truck…” I go on to explain more, but the deeper I get into the explanation, the more Eve’s eyelid twitches. “And of course this entire thing has bitten me in the ass, and now I think I’m in love with him. But after what happened with us before, I’m scared to give up everything to be with him. And of course, there’s the fact that the money from selling grandma’s shop could help me create a career that I want instead of trying to slap a coat of paint over a building that seems more like a money pit than a gold mine.”
Eve doesn’t speak for a moment, but when there’s finally movement, she turns to Eli. “Why aren’t you more surprised?” she asks, but it doesn’t take long for everything to click into place. “You son of a bitch. I can’t believe you told him and not me. What the hell, Ree?”
My face turns an unflattering shade of circus freak red. “Eli is less…erhm dramatic.”
I know it’s the wrong thing to say before the words even leave my mouth. Eve’s face lights up in pure rage. “Dramatic? Me? I’m—what? Oh, come on,” she says, slapping her hands against her legs.
Eli clears his throat. “Nope. Not at all.”
“Oh, shut up,” she says, throwing icy daggers at him with her eyes. “Ree, the reason you didn’t tell me is because it was a bad idea and you didn’t want me to talk you out of it.”
I blink slowly and sink back into the soft couch cushion. “Yeah, I guess that’s a better way to put it,” I say, feeling my resolve deflate. “I’m sorry, Eve. As you can see, I haven’t been doing a great job at communicating.”
“It’s safe to say none of us are good at doing that,” Eli chuckles.
“Okay,” Eve says, taking a deep breath before turning on her big sister game face. “So let me get this straight. You hated the guy, agreed to be in a fake relationship with him and now you’re in love with him.”
“Sounds about right,” I mumble, staring straight at the ceiling. I was ready for the depression to take over and a possible reboot of my middle school emo phase.
“And you’re here because?”
