She opens her mouth, to possibly say it back, but someone knocks on my door. “Come in.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be at—” School dies on Dad’s lips as I glance over my shoulder at him. His gaze lands on Breanna, then jumps to me. “Pigpen didn’t tell me you had company.”

“He didn’t know. Did I hear Rebecca?”

“Yeah.”

I rest my arm over Breanna’s shoulders and edge her forward for the living room. I kiss her temple and briefly close my eyes with the embrace. This could be the last time I touch her. “I need her to take Breanna home.”

Breanna

RAZOR’S GOING TO tell his club. The way he kissed me, the way he told me he loved me, the return of the frozen blue eyes as he watched me riding away in the passenger side of Rebecca’s car—it was all there, the answer I didn’t want to hear. The answer that is tearing us apart.

Rebecca’s car idles at the end of the driveway and she waits like I’m walking the last few feet of my life. Maybe I am. Maybe when I enter the kitchen, my family will literally kill me, but when I round the corner, Mom’s and Dad’s cars are still missing.

I slip in the back door to buy myself as much time as I can without Clara and Liam and drop into a chair at the kitchen table. Weeks ago, I stood at the sink washing dishes—being the good little girl most everyone has predicted me to be. The smart girl, the best friend, the one who follows every command, the sister keeping a secret.

A secret.

I now have so many secrets that I’m buried alive—still in the box, still chained inside, and I’m losing air. Razor’s words come hurtling back at me... Are you ashamed of me?

What causes bile to slosh around in my stomach was the internal hesitation. How come I never told my parents? Why didn’t I proudly hold his hand at school? Why wasn’t the love from this fantastic man enough for me to rise above the thoughts and fears of everyone else?

Because I’m a coward... I’m afraid...

Around the room, everything is the same. Dirty dishes piled up. A half-eaten apple turning brown on the counter. A stack of mismatched shoes in the corner near the door. The same scene, another day, but I left this house one person last August and I’m sitting here someone new, someone changed, and it’s time not to be afraid anymore.

Across the kitchen on the island is my phone, because in truth, my parents assume me to be the good little dog. They’re convinced I’ll obey.

Just like Clara expects me to forever keep her secret.

Just like Kyle expects me to write his papers.

But there is one person who expected the unexpected from me and the only time I noticed disappointment on his face was when I cowered like a sheep. And I had to take a moment to figure out I’m not ashamed of him. It’s him who should be ashamed of me.

I’ve put Razor in an unfair position. He introduced me to his world. Welcomed me with open arms. Made me feel like I belonged and I’ve asked him to keep a secret when doing so is killing him. And I told him that we would be over... I did the same exact thing to him that Clara did to me and that’s not okay. No part of it is okay.

I cross the kitchen, and when I pick up my cell, it feels epically heavy. My heart picks up pace and dizziness causes me to lean against the counter. I can do this. I can end this nightmare and Razor won’t have to choose between me and keeping my secret.

With a swipe of my finger, my phone powers on. I never knew that being fearless could be so terrifying.

RAZOR

I WISH I HAD Breanna’s mind. If I did, maybe I could sort through the possible solutions faster. Find the way to protect her without risking that picture going live on the internet. Find a way to convince her parents to let her stay. But I don’t have her mind. I have mine and I can’t think of an answer that will work.

The board is here. All but Pigpen inside the house. He’s sitting on the railing on the opposite end of the porch from me, staring. Just staring.

It’s an eerie sensation that my mother’s cramped house is filled with so many men and there’s hardly a sound. It’s like everyone has their guns loaded, are lying in a ditch, watching a hill, and they’re waiting for someone to yell “charge.”

Messed-up part? They’re waiting on me.

I’m in the same place as when Rebecca left with Breanna—my left shoulder leaning against the corner post on the front porch. I’m putting off the inevitable. As though if I remain in the same spot I was in the last time I saw her, I won’t cause myself pain.

“There’s a Bible story.” Pigpen breaks the silence. “About this guy named Jacob and how he wrestled with God. Have you heard it before?”

I blink a no.

“The two of them went at it all night,” he says. “Think about it—you’re Jacob and he’s God and you’re evenly matched enough that you fight for hours. Jacob had to believe he was kicking ass. Thinking he was big and bad enough to do it on his own, but do you know what happened?”

It’s a biblical story, so nothing good. “A plague? Pillars of salt? Brimstone and fire?”

“God touched him.” Pigpen points one finger in the air. “And with that one touch, he dislocates Jacob’s hip. One touch and it was over.”

God smashed him like a bug. I crushed fireflies. Mom’s dead. Breanna’s floundering. And Pigpen wants to spin a story about how shit happens. “Working on a seminary degree?”

A smile stretches across his face. “Naw, but we had a chaplain over in Afghanistan. Cool son of a bitch. And he’d do this. Out of nowhere tell a story that would put it in perspective.”