But she’s already gone.
Chapter Seventeen
Hollie
I wake early, the morning light flooding my room. I’m still half-dressed and my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth.
Several thoughts flood my mind at once.
I told AJ I kissed him at Amber’s party.
Afterward, I was unceremoniously loaded onto a coaster and driven back to Canyon. The first person I saw when I stepped off the coach? My stepmother, alongside the county sheriff.
So, she knows exactly where I was last night.
I sit up in bed, rubbing my eyes. My fingertips come away all black from not having removed my makeup.
I know the call is coming. I just have to wait for it.
So, when my phone rings on the nightstand, it feels like kismet. I take a moment to calm myself. Last night, I’d had a tad too much to drink, and I let my emotions spill out all over the place. If I’m not careful, the same will happen this morning speaking to my father.
‘Hi, Daddy,’ I say when I answer and I’m surprised by the depth of huskiness in my own voice.
‘You went to Rapture?’ he questions, without even saying hello.
Here we go. ‘I did,’ I say quietly.
‘Why?’ he questions, and it’s enough to cloak me in a blanket sewn of guilt.
‘Because I was invited.’
‘You lied to me.’
‘Me not telling you does not constitute me lying to you. I know perfectly well how you would have reacted.’
‘I cannot believe you would go out there.’
‘There were some people from my high school there I wanted to see, Dad. I mean, obviously, I didn’t think you would find out about it. I’m sorry if you’re disappointed in me.’
‘I am,’ he blurts, followed by a lengthy pause. ‘But it’s not me you need to apologize to. You need to speak to Evelyn.’
At the mention of my stepmother, my mind wanders. I think about last night, and the fact that AJ now knows it was me who kissed him five years ago. I want to know what he thinks of that revelation. What he would have said or done had the sheriff not interrupted my tirade. For most of last night, he ignored me, so I’m proud of myself for finally getting the words out. For finally saying what I wanted to after he left me hanging in Roswell.
Though the way we left things unresolved has put me in a panic. Maybe for him, me kissing him is a case ofso what?
‘I get that’s she’s unhappy,’ I say to Dad, because he’s still droning on about Evelyn. ‘It wasn’t meant maliciously.’
‘So, what are you going to do about it?’ he asks tersely.
I go quiet. I’m not minded to do anything. ‘What does she want?’
‘She wants you to have nothing to do with Rapture. She wants your backing. Your support. That, and a groveling apology.’
It’s another ten minutes before I hang up. I crawl out of bed and go to the bathroom, groaning at the sight of my makeup making me look like the undead. I get a shower and wash my face, wondering how I handle the AJ situation, given that I’ve just offered my father a vague promise that I won’t go back to Rapture again.
I’m in the kitchen when there’s a knock at the front door.
I pause. It’s still early.
