I close my eyes for a beat, letting myself just feel her.
Mine.
This girl is fucking mine, and no one better try to take her from me.
LILAC
The moment we pull into the circular drive of my parents’ house, I feel my stomach twist into knots. I honestly would rather be on campus with a serial killer than here with the two people who raised me and their golden boy.
It’s too quiet. Too perfect. White fairy lights line the hedges, and a new luxury car I don’t recognize is parked beside my mom’s Range Rover. The porch swing on the side patio is still there. Callum and I used to sit there and swing for hours in every season of the year. I think out of anything on this property, it’s the one thing that means something to me. Callum doesn’t say anything as he throws his truck in park, but I feel the tension rolling off him. He doesn’t want to be here anymore than I do, which is such a shame because Callum loved this place more than anyone.
We talked the whole way here, reminiscing about anything and everything we could think of to keep our minds off of things. I’ve been researching the old Whittaker mansion whenever I can’t sleep, and I filled him in on everything that I learned. It wasn’t as much as I’d like, but from what I could dig up, it sounds like Professor Whittaker moved there a few years agoand then no one heard anything from him again. I tried to look up any relatives of his, but there was nothing. I don’t see how it would be possible that anyone was living there just from the little bit we saw. Clearly, someone was using it as a haven to murder girls.
I stare out the window for a moment, swallowing hard as I shake the thoughts of the Whittakers out of my mind and focus on the task ahead
This is going to be a shitshow, and I’m trying to mentally prepare myself. Every part of this house is tied to a version of me I don’t want Callum to see. The perfect daughter. The obedient girl. The one who learned to shove every emotion and smile sweetly so no one knows what’s bothering me.
Callum glances over, his hand tightening briefly on the gearshift. "You okay?"
I nod, though it feels like a lie.
His voice is lower than usual when he says, "We don’t have to do this tonight. Say the word, and I’ll drive you anywhere you want to go."
I shake my head. "They’ll just make it worse if we don’t show up."
His jaw ticks, but he doesn't argue with me because he knows I’m right. I reach for the door handle, but before I open it, he touches my arm.
“Don’t you dare, bambi,” Callum says playfully, but there’s something stern in his voice.
“Someone’s feeling bossy,” I say as he gets out of the truck and walks around to open my door for me.
He helps me out of the truck and brings my hand up to brush his lips across my knuckles. I get instant butterflies and by the way he winks at me with a smirk tells me that he knows exactly what he’s doing. We walk slowly up to the front of the house and dread fills me from the inside out. Callum lets his palm drop,brushing the small of my back in a way that feels protective and possessive all at once.
When we reach the front door, my mother opens it before I can knock, so I’m sure she just watched us getting out of the car, so I’m glad that he made a spectacle of helping me out of the truck. “Lilac,” my mother says with a tight smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Her gaze flicks to Callum and cools even more. “Callum.”
“Mrs. Fairbanks,” he says, voice polite but clipped.
Dinner is already on the table when we get inside the house. It feels formal, and truly uncomfortable. My father is on his third glass of wine, red-faced and smug, cutting into his steak like it insulted him personally. My mother picks at her salad and comments on my posture. Callum doesn’t eat much, but he watches everything, every glance, every shift of tone. He’s waiting for them to bring it up.
“So,” my mother starts, turning her wineglass by the stem, “when exactly did you decide to make this... engagement official?”
I tense. “It was recent. We just wanted to keep it to ourselves for a while and enjoy it, and then suddenly it just felt too big to keep a secret.”
“And sudden, Lilac. How long could you have possibly been dating?” she replies, eyebrows raised. “You didn’t think we deserved to know before your entire school?” She likes to twist words. It wasn’t theentireschool. But now is not the time to point that out.
“We didn’t think we needed your blessing,” I say quietly. I don’t know what else to say. I just need them to see how Callum and I are together, so they’ll stop hassling me about Vincent.
“Of course you didn’t,” my father mutters, more to his glass than to us. “Kids today would rather cause scenes than follow expectations.”
“I’m not trying to cause a scene,” I say.
“You never are,” he says with a pointed look. “But you always do.”
Callum reaches under the table and brushes his knee against mine and he stretches his long arm out and wraps his big hand around my shoulder. He pulls my chair close to his, and at first I think it’s because he’s trying to show my parents how close we are, but the way his fingers flex tells me that he’s comforting himself…with me.
My brother strolls in, a drink already in his hand. His shirt is unbuttoned too far and his smirk is instant. He looks like absolute shit.
“Didn’t realize this was a family reunion,” he mutters, sinking into a chair across from me.
