Page 111 of Striking Range

“People are complex,” Ash tells me. “It’s not your fault that you couldn’t see him for what he truly is until now. But it is your fault for falling for him. For going down this path.”

We’re staring at each other; the sounds of dishes clanking in the kitchen have long since been silenced.

I never could have guessed this would happen. I figured my father might disown me, but removing me from Florida altogether? That’s… I’m reeling.

And Skylar… What is all of this new information? I’m being force-fed a million horrible details about the man I love, and I’m suffering for it.

For loving him, for defending him, for wanting him.

It suddenly becomes apparent to me that I do not have every version of Skylar stuffed in that never-ending folder dedicated just to him. There is, in fact, an entire side to him that I have been blind to—that he never bothered to show me.

“Dad…” I call out, my voice shaky and full of the fear I’ve been repressing.

“Not anymore,” Ash replies. “I’m nothing to you now. All of my time and money have been wasted. Go upstairs and grab your things; I will drive you to the bus station. Leave anything that is not a necessity.”

“But graduation is—”

“They can mail your diploma,” he interrupts. “You will not attend.”

His expression tells me that there will be no more arguing. He is done with me, completely and thoroughly. And as much as I’ve tried to prepare myself for losing my family, I never anticipated it would hurt this badly. That it would feel like being sliced into and dissected.

I didn’t prepare myself for the hole in my chest, the one where the love of a family is supposed to sit, to grow wider, becoming a black hole and sucking me into it.

Turning to head toward the stairs with my head hung low and the manila envelope in hand, I cannot hold back the tears.

“Oh, and Everett?” Ash calls after me, and I turn to face him. “If I find out that you see him before you leave, if you contact him and I hear about it, I will send this document to every hospital on this side of the country.”

My heart sinks. I can’t even say goodbye? Have I lost him despite my best attempts at keeping him? What will he think once I disappear forever? Will he know that I love him? That I now know the dirtiest parts of him, and I think… I think I still love him?

I guess I will never find out. It’s his happiness or mine, after all.

“Okay,” I whisper.

Ash studies me for a moment before, with the least amount of emotion possible, he says, “I regret adopting you that day. I regret bothering to give you a life worth living. It was wasted. You were a waste.”

I think he might be right.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Skylar Parish

I can’t reach Evie. I’ve tried his cellphone a million times. He was supposed to come over after visiting his family yesterday, but I haven’t heard a word, and it’s already midday.

Kelly and Henry are on the way over; they haven’t heard from him either. I’m tempted to find Ashley’s contact, but I have no way of doing so. I don’t know her friends or her family.

It just doesn’t make sense. Our date on Monday went well, and we spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday either taking our finals or studying for our finals. His father called out of the blue, asking him to come home, but he’s convinced that Everett is dating Ashley, so it can’t be for an argument.

Unless… Did Everett do something else to piss off his family? Did he eat the wrong vegetables or something?

I’m confused and majorly worried. I even drove down to the beach and popped into Angie’s Diner, just in case he was lingering there.

It’s not like Everett to disappear, and knowing his situation with his family, I’m panicking more by the second. The only reason I haven’t stormed into the Carmichael residence is that, if it’s not them causing this disappearance, I’d be outing how much I truly care for their son.

It would put Everett’s deceit on the line.

The front door to my apartment is unlocked, so Kelly and Henry barge right in, finding me lying in bed in distress.

“He’s just gone?” Kelly rushes to ask, panting in the doorway.