Chapter 4

Ashton was leaning against his black Mustang, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

He'd lost weight. Dark circles carved deep under his eyes. Everything about him radiated a kind of wrecked, volatile energy — like someone running on fumes and spite.

When he saw me, he flicked the cigarette away and closed the distance in a few strides.

"Chloe, how long are you gonna keep this up?"

His voice was raw, barely holding back something ready to explode.

"Quit the act. Come home with me."

Jamie tensed up beside me, instinctively grabbing my arm.

"Chloe, who is this guy?"

"Nobody worth knowing," I said flatly.

"Nobody worth knowing?" Ashton let out a short laugh, but his eyes were ice. "Sure. Yeah. I've lost my mind. And you're the one who drove me there."

"You disappeared without a word. Nuked every account, changed your number, dropped off the face of the earth — do you have any idea how many people I had to call before I tracked you down?"

"And what if you did?" I kept my voice as steady as I could. "I already told you. There's nothing between us anymore."

"Nothing?" He grabbed my wrist, squeezing hard enough to make me wince. "We grew up together. Ten years, Chloe. You think you can just say 'nothing' and wipe all of that out?"

Then he leaned in close, dropping his voice low. The kind of low that's meant to get under your skin.

"Let me remind you of something. Your parents still live in my family's house. Still work for my family. Eat our food, sleep under our roof. If you keep this up, one phone call — one — and they're out on the street tomorrow."

"Think about that for a second. Your dad's in his fifties. If my family cuts him loose, where's he gonna go? Who else is going to hire him?"

This was the first time he'd ever used my family against me.

Every drop of blood in my body went cold.

"Let go of her."

A calm, steady voice came from beside me.

It was Eli.

I hadn't noticed him walk up. He was standing right next to me, and without any rush, he reached over and pried Ashton's fingers off my wrist. One by one.

Unhurried. But there was nothing gentle about it.

Ashton's eyes narrowed. He looked Eli up and down.

"Who the hell are you? Where'd you come from?"

"Her classmate." Eli stepped in front of me, calm as anything.

"Classmate?" Ashton scoffed, glancing between Eli and me like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Well, well. I really did underestimate you, Chloe. You bail on Saint Mary's, land at some public school, and it takes you — what, a week? — to pick up a broke nobody? Your taste is just as pathetic as ever."

Eli's expression didn't change. Not even a flicker.

"Whether I'm broke or not is none of your business. All you need to know is that she doesn't want to go with you."

"Since when does some outsider get to decide what she wants?" Ashton spat.

His fist was already flying.

I screamed.

Eli dodged — fast, clean. But Jamie, who was standing right behind him, caught the edge of Ashton's swing on his shoulder and went stumbling to the ground.

Everything went sideways after that.

School security came running and pulled the two of them apart. Eli, Ashton, and I all ended up in the principal's office.

Aunt June got there fast.

So did Ashton's parents.

His father walked in without so much as a glance in my direction. He went straight for the principal.

"This is what passes for discipline at a public school? My son drives all the way here to pick someone up, and your students jump him? Who gave them the right?"

Then he turned to me. The look on his face was one I recognized — the look of a man who'd been generous for ten years and had finally run out of patience.

"Chloe, you've really grown some nerve, haven't you? Feeding us that line about a summer program, and all along you've been hiding out here messing around with boys. Does your father know about this? Because if he did, he wouldn't be able to show his face in my house ever again."

Ashton's mother, meanwhile, hadn't let go of her son since she walked in. She was inspecting every inch of him like he was the only victim in the room.

"Let me see, let me see — is this cut? Does it hurt?" Her voice pitched high with worry. Then she shot a venomous look at Eli. "Some stray kid with no manners and no self-control. Where are his parents? Get them in here!"

The way she looked at him — like he was something dirty she'd stepped in.

Aunt June was shaking with rage.

She grabbed the diagnosis report and slammed it down in front of Ashton's father.

"Messing around? That's rich. Why don't you take a good look at what your precious son did to my niece."

"Acute stress disorder. Severe anxiety. Depressive tendencies. It's all right there in black and white. That's what your boy did."

"You people drove all the way here to point fingers. Maybe you should've spent that energy reading this report first."

The room went silent.

Ashton's parents stared at the paper, frozen.

Ashton's face drained of color, slow as a tide going out.

"Depression? That's not… how…" he muttered, more to himself than anyone. "She was always fine… she was always completely fine…"