Herc glares. “I don’t want you near my family. Ever again. Stay in school or don’t. I don’t give a fuck. But get on with your life, and you can start by not continuing to drag my sister down with you.”
I know what this is. This is pain talking. We’re all in pain and saying things we don’t mean—Herc, especially.
Nobody says anything for a long while. I join my pinky with Titus’s, squeezing it, letting him know I’m here. And that he should not say anything else, for now.
“I’ve gotta go pack. So should you, Herc.”
My twin brother looks at our joined pinkies, shakes his head, then stalks away without another word to his best friend or me.
NINETEEN
Titus
What canI say about my girl and my best friend leaving school?
Of course, I can’t stay.
First, I help Cass pack up her things at the sorority house. The women of Beta Beta Psi are confused, scared, and sad for her. Watching how they hug and say goodbye to Cass with tears in their eyes, I feel guilty for judging them so harshly in the beginning. Watching the way they care for my girl tugs at my heart.
At our storage locker, I begin to unpack her things while she stands there, confused.
“I can’t leave my things here. We’re not coming back. Might as well settle up with the office and take my stuff home.”
Box after box goes into the unit as I explain the situation. “First of all, it’s temporary. You’ll be back here after the trial is over. You’re not going to jail. You’ll need the locker. Two: what home do you think you’re going to?”
“I’m not sure,” Cass says weakly. “I was going to look for a hotel near the courthouse, maybe. Nothing too fancy. I think I can pay cash….”
“You’re staying with Dad and me at our house.”
Her eyes widen at me. “No…that’s generous of you, but—”
“No butts, baby. You’re staying with me.”
She thinks for a minute, biting her lip. I know she’s fighting back the urge to cry. Then, I see her mind pivot. She scans the contents of the storage locker and thinks some more. “Where’s the trunk? The tennis ball trunk? It still has some money in it. I can use it for a hotel room.”
I’m the worst, most terrible scum who ever walked the earth. I’m not going to tell her where the trunk with the money is. I don’t want it for myself, but I want to keep it safe.
I follow her gaze. “Oh my gosh…I don’t know. Is it possible the FBI has already been here, and the office let them into your unit?”
Cass’s expression is suddenly full of fire. “I’m going to talk to the office, and then I’m calling our lawyer.”
She looks ready to storm the castle, and I have to stop her. “You can’t do that…because …they’re cooperating with the prosecution. You can’t trust them. You can’t trust anybody, Cass.”
I’m going to hell; I’m going to hell; I’m going straight to hell. First, I’ll probably go to jail, but after that? Hell. For lying and manipulating this perfect, innocent creature.
TWENTY
Cassandra
The next fewweeks are a blur of depositions, interrogations, and meetings with lawyers.
It’s exhausting, draining, and headache-inducing.
And I thought college was taxing on the brain.
I work part-time at a sporting goods store when I’m not meeting with lawyers. I’m learning a lot, mostly that retail work is not for me. But I have to contribute something, even though Titus’s dad, George, has made it clear that I’ll always have a room here, and so does Herc if he needs a place. I think he feels sorry for us.
In the evenings, I have Titus. It’s a tiny three-bedroom bungalow, but Titus has ensured my room is my soft place to land. The old-fashioned brass bed is piled with antique quilts, which are lovely to sleep under. He brings me tea and massages my head and feet.