“Where?”
“Bythe lake,” I offered and regretted it immediately as she sat upright, her eyesopening wide.
“Peoplemake out by the lake,” she said like a high schooler talking about the hottestspots to get felt up. “Did you guys make out?”
“Godno,” I shot at her, and there was that gnawing in my stomach again. The pangsof disappointment against my heart. “Anyway, I’m going to bed. I’ll see youtomorrow.”
Shebid me a good night with a slight wave as I grabbed the vase of daisies andheaded into my room, sinking further with every step taken. I placed the etchedcrystal on the bedside table and flopped onto my bed. Staring at the ceiling,gripping my hands over my chest.
I’ddone such a good job for so long, guarding my heart and keeping the boys away.Afraid of being hurt, of being judged. But I never counted on meeting someonewith a presence so large, he practically forced his way in.
Now,the only way I could protect myself was to keep him at arm’s length and praythat with enough time, it would get easier to ignore the way my heart sang tothe tune of his name.
CHAPTER THREE
2007
Devin
The phone was ringing, and my eyesreluctantly opened to the glowing red numbers of the alarm clock.
Itwas 3AM.
ImmediatelyI bolted upright, knowing it must be Kylie. She did this sometimes—thelate-night calls, the moments of sadness she wouldn’t explain. I never pried,assuming she’d tell me eventually, and so I settled for simply being there forher. Taking comfort in knowing that she neededme.
Trentthought she took advantage of me, and maybe he was right. Maybe shewasusing me and maybe I was a pushover for allowing it, but my gut told me thatwasn’t it. My gut said she truly just needed the arms of someone who wouldn’tdig their fingers in and pry her open.
Igrabbed the phone from the bedside table and yanked it from its charger. Thewire snapped back against the wall of my bedroom and I flipped the phone openbefore my eyes had a chance to focus on the Caller ID.
“Hello?Kylie?”
“Devin?”It was a female’s voice, but it wasn’t her.
“Brooke?Why are you—"
“Something’swrong with Kylie. Like,reallywrong Dev.”
Mythroat was sucked of moisture and my tongue swelled. I swallowed frantically, imaginingevery possible scenario given the vagueness of her words.
“What’sgoing on?” I asked, jumping out of bed and grabbing my discarded jeans from thefloor. I held the phone between my ear and shoulder as I pulled them on.
“Sh-she’s in her room, and she, um … she’s crying a lot. Shethrew some things, I think, or maybe, um … maybe she pushed stuff over? I don’tknow.”
Istuffed my feet into my work boots. “Brooke,didsomethinghappen?” I asked impatiently, as I grabbed my keys from thedresser and left my room, walking through my dark apartment and to the door.
“Well,she was out for a long time today …”
“Uh-huh,and?” I locked the door behind me and walked with purpose down the hallto the stairs.
“Whenshe got back to the dorm, she didn’t say anything to me or Trent, but shelooked really upset.”
“Okay,anything else?” I encouraged her to go on as I ran down the two flights ofstairs, jumping down the last few to save those extra two seconds.
“Uh,just that a little while later, I heard her phone ring, and I wasn’t reallypaying attention to what she was saying, because Trent and I were, uh … well,you know.” I groaned with a roll of my eyes as I pushed the outside door openand ran down the walkway to the parking lot. “Anyway, shit went to hell afterthat.”
Eloquentlyput. “Have you gone into her room?”
“Ican’t. The door is locked.”
