I heard her say my name but I ignored it. "I couldn't do a fucking thing to stop any of it. It's my fault they were there! It's my fault they hurt her! You don't think I fucking know that?"

"Stop," she yelled again.

I kept my eyes on Ethan. "You don't think I have to live with that guilt every day? Ethan, I was right there! It was on me. I couldn't fucking save her!" I was crying, sobbing like a fucking baby.

"Fuck you," he yelled, pushing against me again.

"I couldn't fucking save her," I repeated. "I fucking hate myself for what I let those assholes do."

"STOP IT!" Her high-pitched scream sliced through the night air. We both turned to her. Tristan was holding her back. She wrenched herself free and stepped towards us. "It's my fault."

"What?" Ethan and I spoke at the same time.

She glared at both of us before speaking. "It's my fault," she said again. "I should have stayed outside like you'd asked." She turned to me now. "The first thing you did when you knew we were in danger is get me out of that house. You picked me up, threw me out and locked the door. You told me to call the cops. That's all I had to do," she shouted over the sound of the rain. Her voice was strained from her withheld sob. "All I had to do was call the police and wait. But I couldn't even do that. I had to go back in . . . and for what? To save you? How the hell could I save you? One minute. One fucking minute and the cops would've been there, and everything would've changed. I'd be safe, just like you'd intended." She turned to Ethan now. "You would've never seen me in that position. I would've never even been in there. And Logan, he would've never left." She faced me again. "It's my fault. You think you're to blame for it all? You're so wrong. It's me. It's all on me." She collapsed to the ground. Her head fell in her hands.

I tried to speak, but the lump in my throat prevented it. I wanted to tell her she was wrong. She was beyond fucking wrong.

"And now you're here." She lifted her head. Her eyes met mine. "Now you're here, and Ethan blames you." I knelt down so we were face to face. She placed her hand on my cheek. I did everything I could to stop from wincing in pain. "I'm sorry," she said. "I should've told you it was my fault, but I was so—"

"Stop." I kissed her once, ignoring the sharp ache. "You can't ever think like that. Ever. Promise me?"

She shook her head, her sobs taking over.

"The neighbors are watching. Let's get inside," Tristan spoke up.

Amanda's head turned as she looked around at us. Then her eyes met mine. "I'm coming with you," she whispered.

I shook my head. "You can't. You need to stay here. No more running. No more hiding." I kissed her forehead. "We'll get through it together, okay? Swear it."

"But I want to stay with you." She ran her thumb under my eye. It'd started to swell.

Tristan picked her up off the ground. "No-one's going anywhere." He held his hand out to me. "You can't drive, your eyes about to swell shut." He helped me up, and the same time looked around us. "Y'all can get back inside, everything's fine. There's nothing to see here." He chuckled to himself. "I've always wanted to say that."

28

Logan

I sucked in a breath with a hiss.

"I'm sorry," she grimaced.

"It's fine." I ran my hands up her thighs. She sat on the counter in her bathroom. I stood between her legs while she tried to clean my face and the mess that Ethan had created. "You're not freaking out over the blood. It doesn't bother you anymore?"

She shook her head, and quietly repeated, "I'm sorry. He had no right to do this to you."

"Yeah, he did." Truth. "We fucked up, Amanda. We shouldn't have been sneaking around behind his back. We wanted to live in our own world—our own little bubble—it had to burst at some point. This was the bursting point."

She sighed. "He didn't have to hit you."

"I would've done the same." I moved her hand away from my face and kissed her wrists. "I mean, I knew that he'd be pissed, but not like that. But you—you knew, didn't you?"

She swallowed, and nodded slowly.

"What the fuck did you expect would happen, Lexi?" Loud shouting from the hallway caught our attention. Ethan's voice echoed through the house.

Amanda's eyes went huge. "Oh no . . ." she muttered.

Moving me to the side, she hopped off the counter and tiptoed to her closed bedroom door, putting an ear to it, as if we actually had to strain to hear them.

"Fuck you, Ethan. You think acting like a dick is going to make me want to move in with you? No fucking way." Her footsteps got louder as she got closer.

"Baby, come on." Ethan was right in front of the door now. "You already said you would, you can't just take it back."

"Bullshit," Alexis snapped. "Watch me. And you can watch me walk out of your fucking life, too."

"What?" he yelled, the desperation clear in his voice.

I moved Amanda out of the way and opened the door. They were right there, with his hand gripping her elbow stopping her from leaving.

I cleared my throat. They both turned to me.

"Look what you've done to his face, you asshole." She pointed to me but she was talking to him.