Morto

ion and let the familiar chords of Led Zeppelin fill the space between us. I leaned my head against

shielding me from the prying eyes of the media, from the ruthless world he inhabited. "I need you to be ready, Hope," he'd say dur

being the long-lost sister who brought scandal and disruption to his perfect life, that I accep

was all

isiting just often enough to make sure the hinges hadn't rusted shut. He wasn't

for me-I would have grieved, but I would have understood. I would have walked away. I wouldn't have

It was the calculated cruelty of it. The way he used my love for him, my desperate yearning for

llow glow. This was the Spencers' home, the place Jaxon and I had landed after aging out of the system

e," Jaxon

seat. "You don't have to talk about it if you do

caped my lips, and then another. The tears I'd refused to shed in the face of Kingston's cruelty now flo

ng, just squeezed my

of me, the warmth of the food slowly seeped into my bones, chasing away some of the chill. M

nstop. I knew it was Kingston. I knew he was panicking, not because he missed me, but because his pe

ozen texts, escalating from confusion to anger t

w wouldn't do this. Don't let that mechanic po

He still di

romises, all the lonely nights spent waiting. I thought about the girl who gave

It wasn't angry or accusatory. It w

t girl anymore.

ched his face, smiling in his profile picture, disappear from my life with a series

s terrifying, but it was also freeing. For the first time in eig

toolbox. He had to fix a neighbor's leaky faucet, even at

stained hands and his kind, steady eyes, a

me, I truly meant it. "Ever

n her place, someone new

-