door, stare at the mess of milky liqueur and glass on the countertop, and my chest closes up.
Can’t see this.
He’ll know.
Can’t see her.
He’ll know.
I’m already moving before the thoughts have finished tumbling through my mind. A hand on my belt, I yank at the buckle and have it halfway out through the loops by the time I pull open the sliding door.
I keep my gaze down, tugging free my belt and letting it fall to the floor as I slide the door closed behind me. My shoes are next. The last one drops to the floor a second before my father’s shadow falls over me.
“What the hell are you doing?” he says.
I look up, squinting when the sun hits my eyes. “What’s it look like?” I ask, tugging down my pants.
Dad scans me with a sneer before his gaze snaps back to my eyes. “Where is she?”
“Who?”
“Your sister,” he snarls.
I walk past him and stand on the edge of the pool. It’s brisk out, so much so that it takes everything I have to come to terms with the fact that I’m about to jump into an icy pool.
“Haven’t seen her since we got home.” I force myself not to look at him, not to give him the slightest indication that I might be lying, and dive into the pool.
Sure, he could go into the pool house, but he looks like he’s on a mission from God—no time to waste.
When I surface, he’s headed back toward the house. I puff out the breath I’d been holding and draw cool air into my lungs.
Fuck, this water’s freezing.
I swim a few laps, willing my muscles to warm. Willing Candy to stay inside the pool house. Willing my father to give up his search.
For once, things go my way.
I’m shivering when I get out, but at least I can still feel my extremities. I pick up my clothes and head back to the pool house as casually as I can. I pause for a second and glance over my shoulder. I can’t decipher anything out of place—dad could be anywhere inside the—
A car starts up, engine growling like a caged animal.
He’s leaving, but why? Where’s he going?
I push away the thought, shivering. There wasn’t any time to grab a towel, and the air’s become arctic out here. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that he didn’t go inside the pool house, that he didn’t find Candy—
The glass door slips from my hand and crashes against the jamb.
She’s sitting on the floor by the bar stools. Her hair hangs down in a curtain, and it shifts like silk when her body tenses as if she’s keeping in a sneeze. One hand clutches the bottleneck of the Irish creme, the other is fisted in her lap.
The bottle is empty.
At first, I’m convinced she downed the whole thing, and I’m already working out the fastest route to the hospital.
Then I see the wet slick down the front of her throat, her chest, how her shirt clings to her. Some of it may have gotten into her mouth, but more ended up on her.
“I’m sorry,” she croaks.
“Hey, it’s okay. It’s just a little…” I don’t know what to say. “Just had an accident.”
“Accident,” she murmurs, and then nods gently. “A little accident.”
Her head nods, and this time, it doesn’t lift.
“Candy? Darling girl. Can you hear me?”
“Yeah,” she says, her voice light now, as if she’s about to drift to sleep. She’s even started to sway as if she’s about to topple over. “Doesn’t work,” she mumbles.
“Sure about that? Looks like you had more than enough to get pissed.” I ask as I sit back on my heels. “But if you want to make sure, there’s probably another bottle back there somewhere. Should I bring it?”
Perhaps she wants to believe that there’s someone in this fucked up world who won’t shun her for this. Who won’t think she’s sick and twisted and broken.
“I can still feel,” she says, and then shudders violently.
“Then it’s a good thing you stopped, isn’t it?”
Candy watches me behind a veil of dark hair, eyes the most intent I’ve ever seen.
“Candy, you have to stop drinking.”
It takes a few seconds, but she eventually looks up at me. “Can you help me?” she whispers.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Candy
I wake up to darkness and a throbbing head.
“Ow.” I grimace and roll onto my side, blinking hard to distinguish shape from shadow. When my eyes finally do adjust to the lack of light, what I can make out is