Page 360 of Mad Girl

“Fuck!” I yelled, turning on my heels, heading straight for my phone. I swiped it off the hall table.

Bree, now propped against the wall with her arms crossed, asked, “Why are our dads fighting over you?”

“This isn’t the time, Bree.”

“My dad asked my mom for a separation.”

With shaky fingers, I looked up the address for this place Sienna had mentioned. The Phoenix House.

“He says he’s tired of the lies in this family, but my mom wants to know why he has to walk away from her, too—if Nic’s the problem. She doesn’t understand what the hell’s going on.”

I gazed up at the giant eye in the ceiling, feeling that crushing weight on my chest. I forced myself to take a deep breath.

“But I have a pretty good idea,” Bree said. “It’s because of you, isn’t it?”

“Bree,” I said, gripping my phone. “I have more pressing issues to correct right now.”

“The picture, right? Of you in Michael’s bed?”

I froze. “How do you know about that?”

“Sienna showed me. Right before Halloween. Asked me if I knew.”

So that’s why she’d been giving me the silent treatment since Halloween. Why she’d been cold to me for months.

“You lied to me when I asked if something was going on between you and my brother,” she added.

“When you asked me, it was over. It’s been over.”

“Then why are you so desperate to stop Casey from seeing the picture?”

I glanced down at my phone, where the address on Mt. Auburn Street had finally popped up. Got it. I just had to beat Sienna to the reveal. You needed to hear it from me—not her.

“Everyone’s a mess right now,” Bree said, “and it’s all because of you. Everything you touch breaks. Michael looked awful when I stopped by his apartment after school today. I’m not sure what you did to him, but you definitely broke his heart.”

I shoved past her. “I need to talk to Casey.”

Bree followed me to the kitchen. “How do you plan to do that?”

“I’m taking the Range Rover.” Nic kept the key fob in a drawer next to the fridge. Bree trailed after me as I yanked open the drawer and snatched it.

“To where? The party?”

“Yes. I have to get to him before she does,” I said, heading back to the entry hall. I pulled on my sneakers, grabbed my crossbody bag off the newel post, and tossed it across my body.

“Wait,” Bree said. “I’m coming with you.”

My hand hovered over the doorknob. “Why?”

“I promised Casey I’d stay with you tonight,” she said. “Unlike some people, I don’t lie.”

Arguing with her would get me nowhere, so I flung open the door and sprinted for the car, nearly busting my ass on the cobblestones along the way.

We slid into the Range Rover, and I peeled out of the parking spot.

Boston traffic, as always, proved hellacious. Primarily because my driving experience was limited to the open, winding roads on the Cape.

Horns. Taillights. Pedestrians darting between cars. I gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles ached, foot twitching with every red light. I needed to go faster, but the traffic prohibited it. No wonder everyone honked like crazy in this city.