“Okay.” I take a deep breath to settle my jumbled nerves. “Okay.”
I follow Jon inside. His brother is in front of the TV, but otherwise no one’s home. We go to his room and he closes his door. I collapse onto his bed, but then realize with a jolt of adrenaline that I need to warn Bran.
I pull my phone from my pocket and dial. After a few rings, it goes to voicemail. “Destiny knows. Call me.” I disconnect and resist the urge to throw my phone across the room.
He’s probably not answering because he’s pissed at me, but if the police show up and haul him to jail, he’s going to wish he took that call.
Chapter 23
Bran
I climb out of my car in front of Sam Hill and see I have a welcoming committee. Destiny’s standing in front of the door, her fists bunched at her sides, ready for a fight.
So it starts.
“You sick bastard,” she shrieks as I approach. Her arm swings out, but I’m ready for her and catch her wrist before her palm makes my face.
I probably should have let her hit me. Fuck knows, I deserve it.
“You got tired of fucking me and moved on to my baby sister?” she spits. “I’m going to make sure everyone in this fucking town knows what a twisted creep you are.” She swings her arm wildly at the front of the bar. “Imagine posters on every storefront with your face and the caption ‘baby fucker.’ Think that will get people’s attention?”
“Do what you have to do,” I say, brushing past her.
“Tell your mother I quit,” she shouts at my back. “I can’t even make myself set foot inside there to do it myself. And if you ever come near me or my sister again, I’ll call the cops and have your pedophile ass thrown in jail.”
I push through the door, then stop and rub a hand down my face. “Fuck,” I growl under my breath.
Because my sorry truth is, I can’t stop thinking about Lilah. No one’s ever turned me inside out the way she does. No one’s ever had me thinking past the first fuck. But Lilah has flipped everything on its head.
My phone rings and I fish it from my pocket. When Lilah’s number flashes on the screen, I take a breath and brace myself for everything that voice does to me. But then I realize, if I do this, hold on when I should let go, Destiny will follow through on her threat. Lilah will be dragged through the mud. She’ll be forced to testify to every depraved thing I did to her.
I’m not going to put her through that. So I send the call to voicemail, then delete the message without listening.
Chapter 24
Lilah
I listen to Jon’s mom’s side of the conversation as she talks to Destiny. She insisted on calling after dinner to tell her I’m staying overnight. “I don’t believe it’s my place to get into the middle of a family dispute,” Bethany says, “but that said, Lilah seems quite shaken. It might do you both good to have a night apart to pull your thoughts together so you can work out whatever the issue is with clearer minds.”
I pray to God Destiny won’t enlighten her on the “issue.” I’m not mentally prepared to defend it in any way other to say I love Bran, and I feel like I need more to justify it. Because what Bran and I did technically is illegal in the state of California. I Googled it on Jon’s laptop before his parents got home. I thought if I told the cops I consented, he would be okay. It turns out consent doesn’t matter. I’m sixteen and it’s illegal for a twenty-six-year-old to touch me with any sexual intent.
Destiny says something and Bethany’s calm demeanor doesn’t change, so I’m sure she didn’t spill my secret. When she hangs up, she smiles. “Family is the most important thing, Lilah. I hope you take this time to truly search your soul and find a way to mend this fence.”
I nod, but I’m pretty sure the fence is trampled beyond repair.
Jon and I go upstairs and sprawl across his bed with our algebra homework while Bethany makes up the double bed in the guest room.
“So…are you going to tell me what’s really going on?” Jon asks from under long blond lashes. He’s been uncharacteristically subdued since I told him I needed a place to stay. “Shoot me, but I checked your search history. Did you have sex with that guy?”
I tuck my legs underneath me. “Can I plead the fifth?”
“You slut!” he says with a grin, holding up a hand for a fist bump.
I shove his hand away. “Did you know the legal age of consent is sixteen in more than half of the states?”
He nods. “I saw the Wikipedia page in your history.”
I flop backward onto the bed. “I know he’s older but we just clicked, you know? Even though I knew it was wrong, I started feeling things that were totally out of my control.”
“Such as?”
I roll on my side and prop my head in my hand. “I didn’t choose to fall for him, but it was like a freight train. There was nothing I could do to stop it.”