“Hey, Zinnia.”
She looks up at me.
I lean down so we’re eye to eye and lower my voice to a whisper: “I need to ask you something.”
She waits, and my heart pounds. I’ve avoided this question for days now, even though it’s eating at me.
I whisper, “Did you tell Dad about Jax and Zeff?”
Zinnia stills. Her eyes go wide, but she shakes her head quickly at the sound of their names.
“I didn’t,” she whispers. “I promise.”
I want to believe her.
But I see the way her hands fidget. The way she won’t hold my gaze for more than a second.
“Okay,” I say softly. “Go to bed.”
She walks down the hall and closes her door.
I stand, staring out the window again.
She’s lying.
I don’t know how I know. I just do.
And the worst part? I was hoping she’d admit it. If she told me the truth—if she said yes, I told Dad—then I’d have a reason to leave. I’d have permission to go.
Because if both my dad and my sister betrayed me, then I’d have nothing left to stay for.
But she didn’t admit it.
So I’m stuck, even though I feel it in my gut that she told him.
I go to my room, sit on my bed, and stare at the wall.
Staying isn’t fixing anything.
At what point, am I going to leave?
On Friday, Elle catches me between classes.
“Hey! You want to hang out tonight?”
I hesitate. “I’d have to ask my dad first.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’re twenty, Lily.”
“I know. But—”
“Come on. It’ll be fun. I’m having a bunch of girls over. We’ll play games, eat junk food, watch the hockey game.”
I freeze.
The hockey game.
My stomach flips at the thought. The last hockey game was memorable in every way I want to forget, but it’s also the night I met Jax and Zephyr.
