“I wasn’t following you,” I snap. “I needed to know where you were because you were a danger to yourself.” All the peace from the river is gone, even though we spent the afternoon there. It just takes five minutes to ruin it all.
“When did you put a tracker on my phone?” she insists.
“When I pulled you out of Preston’s truck.”
I can see her calculating how long it’s been since the day she tried suicide. Realizing that’s why I texted her when she went to the quarry after that. I already knew where she was, I just had to know she was safe. That’s how I knew she’d gone back to Faulkner High, too, and why I tracked her down there. She doesn’t belong there. She’s a Willow Heights girl now.
She turns and walks out of the open garage to the Escalade parked in the grass off the side of the drive. I follow her because I can’t fucking let her walk away. “Are you going back to him now?”
“Royal,” she says, sounding pissed. “I’m not fucking Preston. And maybe I’d explain things if you didn’t fly off the handle like this at the slightest mention of him.”
“You can see where I’d get that idea,” I say. “Seeing how many times you’ve fucked him before.”
“When I wasn’t with you,” she growls.
“Are you with me?”
She stares at me, then swallows. “Yes,” she says. “Aren’t you with me?”
“I wasn’t the one fucking someone else all summer.”
“You fucked Lo.”
“Once,” I grit out. “And it was before anything happened with you.”
She takes a deep breath, squeezing her hands into fists. “I went on a road trip with Preston over the break. I’m telling you this, even though I know you’ll be pissed, because I don’t want secrets between us. But I would never cheat on you. I had my reasons, and you’ll have to trust me on that. Nothing happened between us. We’re friends, and that’s all.”
Something shifts inside me, but all I feel is a raw sensation, like two boulders grinding together where my heart should be. I reach for the dark shadow inside me, the monster who keeps me from doing something worse than what I’ve already done. I shake my head in disbelief. “And I’m supposed to take your word for that?”
“Yes.”
“Get off my property,” I say, my voice matching the cold blankness that’s taking over my body. I’m not even surprised at her betrayal. I’ve expected it all along.
“Can you give me the benefit of the doubt?” she asks. “Just this once, can you stop being such an impossible dick and trust that I’m not out to hurt you?”
“I have no reason to trust anything you say,” I answer. “It’s always been a lie. You’ve always been a lie. Why would this be any different?”
“Because I fucking love you.”
We stare at each other a long moment, the dense, cold air around us going still while we absorb what she said.
Then I shake my head. “You don’t know the meaning of that word any more than I do. Now go home.”
“Fine,” she says. “Then I hate you. We both understand that one, don’t we?”
Before I can answer, a van turns into the driveway. Probably one of Dad’s or Baron’s connections. Harper swallows and steps back toward her car, this look in her eyes I haven’t seen in a long time—fear and trepidation mingling together. It makes a knot of dread fall into my stomach like a lead weight.
“You can get around them,” I say, jerking my chin at the Escalade. “Go. I’m sure you have a few Darlings left to fuck on your rotation.”
“Fuck you, Royal,” she says. “I didn’t have to tell you.”
“Yeah, and you probably shouldn’t have.”
The van stops on the gravel drive, and the passenger door swings open.
“Royal…” Harper starts.
I barely hear her. I’m staring at the girl who just climbed down from the passenger seat. Her hair is light brown, almost blonde, but she looks just like…