Daphne nods. “They just made it official like a few weeks ago.”
Rylie Altman is a star volleyball player. She’s a year younger than us, tall and lean and super cute, with great style. Blonde hair and golden eyes, nice to everyone. She’s popular. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad thing about her.
I don’t personally know her, but she’s always been polite to me, and I’ve been polite to her in return. Now, I sort of want to pull her hair out. Which makes me a petty human being.
“You and Ash never did anything else beyond kissing, did you?” Kaya raises her eyebrows.
“No.” I shake my head. Though if he would’ve pushed, I probably would’ve caved in. Actually, I’m sure I would’ve. Every time we were together, he made me burn. “Just kissing. Nothing else. And that’s bad enough, considering the last time we kissed, I was still with Ben.”
“And we had no idea.” Daphne reaches over and swats my arm, making me yelp. “You’re a big ol’ sneak.”
“I was embarrassed.” More than anything, I didn’t want it to get out. I didn’t want them to judge me. I didn’t want the entire school to judge me, really. Not that I think Kaya and Daphne would’ve blabbed and spread my secret, but you just…
You never know.
Sometimes it’s best to keep things to yourself is my motto.
“You big ho.” Kaya acts like she’s going to hit me and I dodge away from her, making her laugh. “Was he a good kisser?”
I press my lips together, thinking about it. Honestly, I don’t have to think for long. “Yeah.”
“Better than Ben?” Daphne asks.
“Yes.” I don’t even hesitate with my answer.
They both laugh. “Oooh, this is so juicy,” Kaya says.
“You can’t tell anyone. I’m serious. If this gets out, and Ben finds out?” I shake my head, unable to comprehend what could happen. “That would be awful.”
“My lips are sealed.” Kaya motions zipping her mouth shut. “I swear.”
“Same.” Daphne nods vigorously.
I change the subject to cheer stuff. We’re already over it and the season has barely begun, and I’m blaming that on senioritis. It is real and I feel sort of bad that I feel this way, especially when Mom’s always telling me to enjoy my senior year, it’s my last year of school where I can truly be a kid, and blah blah blah. She means well and I know what she’s saying, but seriously.
Get me out of here.
Sixteen
It’s late. I’m sitting on my bed, binders and textbooks open and spread all around me, along with my laptop. I’m watching my favorite YouTubers while trying to do homework and I can’t necessarily concentrate on both, which means homework is suffering. Leaning over, I slam my laptop shut, and immediately hear loud voices.
At—I glance at my phone—9:37 at night.
Sliding off my bed, I make my way to my closed bedroom door and slowly open it to find my sister is already lurking outside her room in the hall, her expression full of concern. When she spots me, she raises her fingers to her lips, and I nod to let her know I get it.
What’s going on? I mouth to her.
Ava drops her finger from her lips and shrugs, then waves a hand for me to follow her, so I do. Beck should already be asleep and Jake’s in his room, meaning it’s just the two of us out here.
Raised voices is not a common thing in our household. My parents don’t fight much. Oh, they squabble a little bit here and there, but if they ever full-blown argue, they never let us catch them doing it.
We creep down the hall to the stairwell, standing at the top of it. Ava looks at me and it’s like we can read each other’s minds—we both sit at the top of the stairs, listening. We can hear everything said, yet no one can actually see us unless they’re standing right in front of the stairs.
It’s a risk we’re both willing to take.
“…I don’t know if he should be here, Drew. You know how I feel about bringing problems home. We vowed to each other a long time ago we wouldn’t do that,” Mom says.
I’m frowning. Bringing trouble home? What is she even talking about?
“He’s sitting outside right now because he’s too damn embarrassed to face you. You need to see him. Talk to him. What his mother’s boyfriend did to him is…” Dad’s voice drifts and he makes an angry sound. “If that asshole ever came near me, I’d tear him apart.”
Who in the world are they talking about?
“I just want to protect our babies. You know that’s all I’ve ever wanted,” Mom admits, and she sounds so sad, it’s almost heartbreaking.
“I know. You also always want to help those who are in bad situations, and this boy…he needs our help, babe. He’s in the worst possible situation ever.”
Unease sweeps over me. I’m pretty sure I know who they’re talking about.
Mom sighs. “Is it a good idea that he stays with us, though? He’s troubled. Beyond troubled, really. Do you want him constantly around our children? Our son, who’ll take his place next year on the team? And our daughter, who’s the same age? I think Autumn’s had a few run-ins with him over the years, though I’m not exactly sure,” Mom says.
Oh God. I was right. They’re talking about Ash. Something bad happened to Ash. And Dad wants him to…
Stay at our house?
No freaking way.
Uh uh.
“I thought they were friends.” Ah, clueless Dad.
“Not exactly friends, no.”
“Maybe friendly then? They did run for homecoming together, right? I thought they might’ve become a thing at one point.”
Me too, Dad. Me too.
“No, they’re definitely not a thing. They’ve never been a thing. But I don’t know how she’ll feel about him living in our house. I don’t know how I’ll feel having him live in our house.” Mom sounds upset, and it makes my heart hurt.
Ava nudges me in the ribs, and when I glare at her, she makes an exaggerated pouty face before she whispers, “Are they talking about Asher Davis?”
“Shh.” I don’t want to miss a word they say.
“He has nowhere else to go, Fable. The kid desperately needs a stable environment, and we can provide him with that. We have plenty of rooms in this place. He’d probably get lost. Hell, we’ll probably never see him,” Dad says, using his most persuasive voice. I’ve heard him use it on Mom before, and it usually works.
They’re quiet for a moment before she finally speaks.
“We’ll have to set down rules.” Look, she’s cracking already.
“Let’s go outside and talk to him,” Dad says.
“Why can’t he come into the house?” Mom sounds confused.
“I already told you: he’s embarrassed. He doesn’t even want to be here. I pretty much forced him to come home with me.”
“Drew! That’s probably against the law or something!”
“Where’s he going to go? And who’s going to report me? His bitch mom who had her boyfriend beat the shit out of him? Like CPS is going to be on her side,” Dad mutters. I hear the creak of the back door opening. “He’s sitting by the pool. Come on.”
The door shuts, and then there’s no more talking.
“We should go find Jake. He’ll know what happened.” Ava rises to her feet and runs down the hall, knocking on our brother’s door. She tries the handle, but it’s locked. “Jake! Let me in.”
“Go away!” Jake yells in response.
Ava sends me a look, and now I’m the one shrugging. “If the door’s locked, you don’t want to go in there. If you get what I mean.”
Ava makes a face, then knocks on Jake’s door again. “Come on! Autumn and I have questions!”
“Ava, quit screaming. You’ll wake up Beck.” Though that kid sleeps like the dead.
We hear stomping, the door unlocks and then Jake’s standing there, his tall, lanky body filling the space. “What the hell do you want?” he growls, glaring at Ava.