I jump off the bed before she gets too close and snatch the nearest shirt off the floor, shoving my arms through the sleeves. It’s Gabriel’s, but I’m too pissed off to care. It hangs almost to my knees.
“America!”I snap, voice catching. “Tell me. The goddamn. Truth!”
Each word bursts out of me, breath short, chest heaving like the air’s too thick to swallow. I sound like an asthmatic—which I’m not.
Gabriel, wisely, seizes the standoff as a moment to recover, scrambling into his pants. He stays shirtless, but at least now his dick is covered.
“You’ve always been too soft, Noah.” My sister chuckles, her eyes dragging down to my semi peeking out from the bottom of the shirt as I gather the material in my fist. Then she smirks. “Well, obviously not at the moment.”
And then… she laughs.
My fucking sister actually laughs. The one thing we’ve never been able to do.
This isn’t relief. Or joy. Or anything close.
This is?—
And just like that, it clicks.
I recognize exactly who I’m dealing with.
MeeraandMimi.
Both of them.
At once.
Pressed into the same moment.
My fists clench. My jaw aches from grinding my teeth. My legs—those traitorous trembling legs—feel like they might collapse beneath me as I take a step back, needing space, needing air, needing…somethingthat makes sense.
But nothing does.
My skin feels too tight. My heart’s pounding a hole in my chest. My head is spinning with names and lies and truths that came too late.
Alex.
Ana.
Emilee.
America.
Erica.
Mimi.
Meera.
Mother. Mother.Motherrr!
I rub my hands over my face, but it doesn’t help. I’m not even sure I’m breathing anymore. The edges of the room blur. My ears ring.
“I can’t,” I whisper to no one.
And then louder?—
“I can’t.”
