“You lost the right to ask me that a long time ago,” I say, moving to walk past him. “You check out of my life, then have the nerve to ask me where I’ve been.”
He stands, blocking my path, and I swallow down the nervousness that rises at the bottom of my throat. I don’t want to fight him, for multiple reasons.
First, because I could get hurt, and hockey is everything to me right now. And second, because if the cops are called, the Michigan coach still has time to withdraw his offer to me. I don’t have any wiggle room, and I won’t jeopardize my spot.
“You’re living under my roof,” he growls.
“I’m eighteen,” I fire back.
“That’s right,” he says, satisfaction oozing over his features. “So you should be paying me some rent, right?”
I bite my tongue and force back the urge to hit him. I’ve never hated him more than I do at this moment. What kind of man extorts his own kids for money and waits for them to come home so he can pick on them?
My eyes dart to Shelby’s room, and not for the first time, I think about taking her with me, convincing her to live with me in Michigan.
Could the three of us make it work? Maybe Shelby could enroll in high school there. Maybe she and Lara would become friends.
My sister and I aren’t that close, but I get the feeling that even if I asked her to leave, Shelby would say no. She still has a soft spot for Dad that hardened over in me a long time ago.
“Here,” I snap, digging into my pocket and slapping a few twenties into his limp palm. It’s not much, but the violence of the movement soothes the urge to push him out of my way. “Here’s your fucking rent. And don’t worry about next month. I won’t be here.”
He opens his mouth to say something else, but I’m already down the hallway, heart pounding in my throat. I unlock my door smoothly, close and lock it behind me, and get to work on packing up my things so I’ll be ready to get out of this town the second I can.
CHAPTER 7
LARA
“Lara? Do you need a second?”
My head swims, ears full of rushing water. Nausea swoops up in my stomach, touching the bottom of my throat, and little lights spark in my eyes.
I’m sitting on the edge of the gray examination chair at the doctor’s office, still in my street clothes, feet not touching the ground. The room feels boiling hot, yet goose bumps erupt along my biceps and forearms as I try to think of something to say in response.
“Yeah,” Zachery says from beside me, his hand tight in mine, his expression surprisingly calm as he looks at the doctor. “Just give her a second.”
He was the first person I called when I realized I’d missed my period. Even as I made the appointment, I didn’t want to think about the possibility.
Even when Zachery picked me up this morning, as he drove me to the clinic, and when they drew blood to do some testing, I still didn’t think there was any way I could be pregnant.
And yet…
The doctor nods, glances between us, then backs out and closes the door behind her. She’s pretty and can’t be more than ten years older than us. She said we could talk about my options.
Myoptions.
The moment the door is shut, my eyes flutter back down to the page of lab results, the numbers and levels like a different language telling the doctor what she relayed to me a minute ago.
“We’ll have to do an ultrasound to be sure, but our estimate is that you’re about three months along.”
Jake and me in late April in Ann Arbor. My parents thought I was with Zachery. Jake said his dad wouldn’t even notice he was gone. Jake did a campus visit and I went to a few coffee shops, noticing every way they were different from my mom’s place.
That must have been when this happened. But wealwaysused a condom — Jake was so careful.
“Hey,” Zachery says now, circling around the front of the bench and taking my head in his hands, a lot like what I did to Jake just a few days ago, like he’s trying to ground me in the moment. I need it, because it feels like I’m two seconds away from floating right out of my body.
My best friend’s face comes into focus, and I realize for the first time that he’s wearing sparkling eyeshadow today. He must have been feeling brave to put that on and wear it around town.
I’m not feeling brave at all.
