Page 134 of All the way home

“It wasn’t my business.”

“Kieran! Lucas and I have been together for years. Were you ever going to tell me what you thought?”

“Would it have mattered?” Kieran snaps. “It’s not like my opinion counts.”

Rena flinches. “What are you talking about?”

“Come on. I’m not dumb. I know what you think of me,” Kieran says, voice stripped of color. “So why bother trying?”

“Your opinion is the most—”

“Don’t,” Kieran says. “Don’t. Fuck that, Rena.”

Panic clamps down hard in her gut. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Well, try. Figure it out.”

Rena buries her face in her hands. “I asked you here for support.”

“Funny way of showing it.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just—it’s been a tough night.”

“An apology from Her Majesty.” Kieran’s voice is lofty and obnoxiously superior. “I never thought I’d live to see the day.”

Rena shakes her head. “I don’t want to fight with you again.”

Kieran’s gaze darts out into the dim terminal, flashing with something dark.

It’s the look.

She’s seen it everywhere in the past year, in the inward curl of his shoulder, the hollow slant of his gaze; that sick, strained heartweep.

Carefully, she prompts, “Kieran?”

Slowly, Kieran says, “I disagree.”

At a loss, Rena waits for him.

Finally, after what feels like an eon, he turns that look on her. She can see every inch of the agony he hasn’t told her a word about in his gaze as he says, “I think we should fight.”

Chapter Forty-Three

Zach

Zach sits right where Kieran left him with his back against the cold glass, feeling the air pass between his parted lips, heart still racing.

Is this his real life?

When his phone buzzes, his fingers fumble for it, frantic, but it’s not Kieran.

It’s Mara.

hi hi hi hi hi

i was doing my best not to bug you

but like hooooly shit i have to know everything