Dad: Cameras in the house. I installed them after Hayley was taken. I wanted to make sure you all were safe.
I felt Ollie ti
ghten beside me. “Oh shit.”
My hand fell to his arm. “What’s wrong?” Ollie’s face turned white. The muscles along his cheeks were tight. “Ollie? Are you okay?”
He turned his head to mine, and the look in his eye had my own heart beating fast. He looked afraid. Or sad. Maybe both.
“He knows.”
My voice was softer. “He knows? He knows what?”
“He knows I know, Piper. That’s why my birth certificate was missing. I go in their room all the time. I don’t usually snoop like the day I had you come keep watch, but I go in there and sit.” He dropped his head. “It helps me feel closer to my mom. At peace.”
How was it that I could actually feel his sadness? His sadness became mine, and I was bleeding out watching him. His broad shoulders were caved in; his head was low. His breathing was choppy as I pushed his phone out of his hand and made him lie down.
Ollie was lying on his back, and I did the same, falling softly onto the pillow behind my head. I intertwined my fingers with his and held his hand tight. “Then, that means it’s time to face the truth, Ollie.”
He sounded pained. “I don’t know if I want to know the truth.”
We both stared at the ceiling above our heads. “I think you do want to know the truth; you just don’t want to face the outcome.” I squeezed his hand. “I’ll be here, though. You won’t be alone.”
He squeezed back. “This is going to open up a lot of shit. Christian is going to flip out, knowing there are more secrets buried about our mom.”
“Buried secrets are never a good thing, Ollie. I think we can both attest to this.”
I felt him look at me, so I did the same. He shrugged. “They’re not all bad. I mean, secrets brought us together, right?”
I smiled. “Yeah, they did.”
He turned away, and we continued to lie there, holding hands, lost in our own thoughts.
And that was how I remembered falling asleep, hand in hand.
Chapter Forty
Ollie
When I walked into English Prep on Monday morning, I was on the prowl. Eric and Christian were behind me as I all but jogged to the front entrance. My hand landed on the willowy handle, and I jumped over the threshold.
I knew Piper was already here. Little Miss Sunshine always got here early, and Hayley was usually right there beside her. What they did before the bell rang each morning, I had no idea, but I was ready to see her.
Piper and I stayed up in my room for the rest of the party on Saturday. When Sunday morning rolled around, she and Hayley had dipped out early, and I knew it was because Hayley wanted the details.
Christian, Eric, and I—along with a few underclassmen who desperately wanted to be in our inner circle—cleaned the house. My dad texted a few times, reminding us that we needed the house “fucking spotless” before our housekeeper showed up today.
I threw all my anxiety and frustration into scrubbing the kitchen and throwing out beer cans with as much force as I used to throw a football on the field. Christian questioned my behavior, asking why I was so pissed when I’d spent the entire night with Piper, but I brushed him off.
My phone morphed into a heavy boulder in my hand every time I looked back at the text my father had sent. My father had to have suspected that I knew he wasn’t my real dad with as many times as I’d gone into their room.
I promised myself I’d deal with my own drama after Saturday, which was going to be a whole ordeal. My jaw snapped closed as I pushed the rising stress down. My throat was constricting, but I grabbed onto my backpack straps and continued walking down the hall.
I found her instantly. Piper was pulling books out of her locker as Hayley was leaning back with her foot propped up behind her. She was laughing at something Hayley had said and shaking those long locks out.
The stress was gone almost instantaneously. There she was. We hadn’t discussed what really laid between us. Though, Saturday night was a game changer. We were no longer dancing around hidden secrets and hushed truths. We weren’t teetering over the invisible line drawn between us.
We were simply us, and that was just how it was.