Heat rushes to my face.Am I that obvious?
“She’s not one of your conquests,” he continues. “She’s my sister. And I don’t want to see her get hurt.”
“I would never?—”
“Promise me,” he interrupts. “Promise me you’ll keep your hands to yourself. Being her friend is fine as long as you take it slow. Anything more than that? Off-limits.”
I want to argue, tell him he’s overreacting, but the fierce protectiveness in his eyes stops me cold.
Logan and I have known each other our whole lives. Hell, all three of us used to take baths together. He’s the same guy who’s stood by me through thick and thin. And now he’s asking me to stay away from the one person I still care about more than anyone else?
“Fine,” I sigh. My next words taste bitter on my tongue. “I promise.”
Relief washes over Logan’s face as his shoulders relax. “Thanks, man. I just don’t want things to get messy, you know? We’ve got a little over six months until graduation. Then we’re both outta here.”
Right. Six months. I can keep my distance for six months. Talk to Lizzy only when necessary. How hard can it be?
As it turns out, keeping that promise is a lot harder than I ever thought it could be.
After Logan leaves, I stare out the window at the treehouse and cringe. I should go apologize to her first. I never should’ve spoken to her the way I did.
Raking my hands through my hair with a sigh, I trudge back down the hall to Lizzy’s room.
eight
SIXTEEN YEARS AGO
After readingthe same paragraph four times without registering a single word, I toss my homework aside with a frustrated sigh.
“Time for dinner, buddy,” I announce to Gorgon, my bearded dragon. He perks up immediately, his spiky head tilting as I lean over his terrarium. At least someone in this house is happy to see me.
Rowan’s words keep playing on repeat, over and over in my head.“You bring a lot of boys over, Iz? Sneak them into your room late at night?”
I sprinkle calcium powder over the crickets in Gorgon’s feeding cup and carefully open the top of his habitat. “Here you go, little guy. Bon appétit.”
“You still a virgin, Iz?”
My heart clenches as I close the lid. The last thing I’m going to do is give Rowan the satisfaction of knowing he got under my skin. Which is what he was obviously trying to do. The Rowan I knew would never have said those things to me.
“Figured you would’ve outgrown your reptile obsession by now.”
The deep, unexpected voice makes me nearly jump out of my skin as I whirl around in surprise. I was so lost in my thoughts, I didn’t hear the door open.
Casually leaning in my bedroom doorway, Rowan’s hands are stuffed into the pockets of his jeans as his gaze roams around my room.
Mentally kicking myself for forgetting to re-lock the door, I pin him with a lethal glare. “What the fuck? You scared the shit outta me!”
He smirks and shrugs, not even bothering to look me in the eye.
“It’s not an obsession,” I huff, annoyed at his assumption and even more annoyed at how good he looks standing there, all tall and broody and shit.
Stepping inside, he starts nosing around, picking up a framed photo of me and my girlfriends at the lake last summer, studying it before setting it back down.
“Whatever you say, Iz.”
“Excuse me. What is it with you and coming into my room uninvited?” I snap, watching as he runs his fingers along my bookshelf, touching my things as if he thinks he has the right.
Lips twitching, his eyes flick over to me. “You never had a problem with it before.”
