Because whatever this was between Candace and Garrett, it wasn’t just a bad argument.
And if I was right, it wouldn’t be the last.
I watched them leave, allowing them space.
My eyes trailed to Emma’s furniture again, and with a resigned sigh, I set on a quest to find a salesman.
Chapter 36
***
Emma
The drive home was painfully awkward.
Candace sat in the back seat of Damien’s car, her reflection faint in the window—shoulders hunched, hands folded tightly in her lap. Streetlights washed over her in shifting amber and shadow, each pass catching the faint tremor in her fingers.
Damien’s grip on the wheel hardened, knuckles pale against the dark leather. He hadn’t said a word since we left Peeksville. Neither had I. Every time I tried, the words dissolved before I could form them.
I glanced at the mirror. Candace’s hollow eyes stayed fixed on the blur of headlights trailing behind us—the sight painful enough to finally spur action.
I twisted in my seat to face her. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
She startled. “Yeah,” she answered too fast. “Just—embarrassed, I guess.”
“You did nothing wrong,” Damien said. “If anyone should be embarrassed, it’s him.”
I reached across the console and squeezed his hand.
“Did… did you really bump into a corner back there?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she shot back. “I wasn’t paying attention and caught the corner. It’s nothing.”
My stomach turned, bile rising.
“I just…” I hesitated. “After that last fight, I saw the bruise on your arm and—”
She exhaled hard. “You’ve got to stop worrying about every little mark I have. The mugger grabbed me, too.”
“I only asked because—”
“Because you think you know better,” she cut in, the words pointed but tired. “I told you then, and I’m telling you now—it’s fine. I’m fine.”
I dipped my chin, guilt spreading through me. I should’ve trusted my gut earlier. Something in Garrett had shifted—he’d always been cruel in small ways, but lately he’d stopped pretending. The nastiness came easier now. Bolder. Meaner.
In the mirror, Damien’s expression set like stone, but he offered nothing. The car filled with the drone of tires on asphalt, constant and relentless.
Candace sank back, eyes closing.
Conversation over.
And I stared out the window, unease skittering like spiders across my skin.
The rest of the drive blurred by in heavy silence.
When we pulled up outside her building, I ventured one final time, “Do you want to stay with me tonight? Just until things settle?”
She gave me a tired smile. “That’s sweet, Em, but no. He just needed time to cool off. We’ll be fine.”
