He didn’t know.
He’s not my brother.
“What?”
I don’t know who says it. Everyone turns to look at me, and it dawns on me thatIsaid it.
Kiera walks down the stairs quickly, not toward Carter, Darren, or Luna, but towardme. Her hands land on my shoulders. “I didn’t mean to. I swear, I didn’t mean to. I wanted to tell you the night Carter brought you here, and then again when I went to talk to you, but you look and act so much like your father. It was like I had gotten a part of Seb back, and I couldn’t let you go. I’d finally gotten my chance to make things right, and I?—”
I jerk away, cutting her off from the pathetic explanation. My skin is crawling, and I think I might be sick. Kiera was using me as a placeholder for my dad? Does she have any idea how fucking creepy and disturbed that is? “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I ask, my hands trembling at my sides.
I was wrong.
“Bailey, I swear I didn’t mean to. It was an accident.”
Why the hell does she keep saying that? How do you continue to tell lie after lie formonthsand then claim it was an accident? There weremultipletimes for Kiera to come clean—thousands of chances, and she didn’t take any of them.
Luna looks just as horrified as I am, and I don’t have to ask if she knew and didn’t tell me.
“You’re still lying, or is that your default setting now? You could’ve corrected Carter when he asked you about Sebastian Walker, but you didn’t want our kids to know what kind of person you are,” Darren says, and she shakes her head.
“Darren, please. It got out of hand so quickly.”
“I’m done.Do you hear me?I’m done with the lies and the games you’ve been playing with everyone.”
A desperate sound comes from Kiera as the glass castle she has built shatters around her, leaving jagged cuts in the process while she takes everyone down with her.
My brain is struggling to keep up, the last year playing on a loop in my head.
“How could you do this?” Carter asks, finally speaking. I honestly forgot he was there for a minute.
“I . . . I didn’t know how to explain.”
Explain?That’s what you do when you make a mistake. This is so fucking far from a mistake. If I didn’t know Carter, I’d think this was all some elaborate scheme. Regardless, I was so desperate to fit in somewhere I pushed away everyone I loved for this lie. I made my parents out to be these horrible people and convinced myself they deserved to hurt after the lies they’d told. I treated everyone horribly and then ran away without facing the destruction I left in my wake.
Is there any way I can come back from how I’ve acted?
Carter scoffs, opening the door to leave. I turn to follow, but I’m too slow. He’s already pulling out of the driveway, and I feel like I’m a million miles away from here.
Luna’s behind me, apologizing profusely for sins that don’t belong to her, but I don’t trust myself to speak because I don’t know what will happen next. I feel . . . numb.
“Do you want me to come up with you?” Luna asks from where she’s parked in front of Carter’s apartment building. I know we need to talk, but I’m afraid this will change everything.
I shake my head, but I can’t avoid this. “That’s okay.”
“It’ll be okay.” She reaches to squeeze my hand.
I don’t have the energy to tell her I don’t know how any of this can be made okay, but I appreciate her trying to make me feel better. I think I’m a pretty shitty friend because her life imploded today as well, and Lu’s trying to comfort me.
“Thanks. I’ll call you later?”
“Of course.” Luna smiles faintly at me before pulling out of the spot, driving away.
Every step I take that brings me closer to the apartment feels like a step closer to my execution. The dark and scary thoughts are swirling in my head, but at least we’ll be going through this together? We were both lied to. He might not be my real brother, but it doesn’t erase all the time we’ve spent together over the last eight months.
I briefly consider knocking but decide against it because I live here too, instead opening the door.
I’m greeted with silence. After Carter left the house earlier without me, I didn’t know what to expect coming back here.
