of the world, she’s still such a child. It surprises me how naïve she is, but I love it about her. The truth is I love everything about her. Tattoos. Lack of drinking skills. All of it.
Maddie loosens her grip and I roll away. Carefully climb off the bed and cover her with a blanket.
My front door opens. Slams closed. “Kyle. Bro. You decent?”
I crack my knuckles and take a deep breath.
Evan is smiling.
“How did you get in here? I locked that.”
He holds up a key. “A spare.” Evan gives me a once over. “Nice outfit. Bet Pu… uh, Maddie loved it.” He laughs, obnoxious. “Now that you’ve got her all warmed up, can I play?” His eyes glance toward the spare room.
“No. She’s sleeping.”
“Not for long,” he says, walking toward the door.
I jump up. Block his path. “I said no.” My arms are crossed, my feet planted firmly.
“Dude. What do you care? She’s played you. Treated you like dirt under your feet. Why are you protecting her? Let’s have some fun. She des—”
“Evan, I swear to God. If you finish that sentence I’ll kick your ass into next Tuesday.” Obviously our little chat the other night meant nothing to him.
Evan snorts. Shoves me. “You sayin’ you’d choose her over me? Over your family?”
“That’s what I’m saying. Yes.” I nod once.
“Her parents drove a wedge between my dad and yours. She’s doing the same to you and me.” He shakes his head. “I don’t get you. And my dad is going to be pissed. He isn’t going to like it.” Evan moves to the door. “If you do this, choose her over us, there will be consequences. And they ain’t gonna be pretty.” He yanks open the door. Slams it shut.
Maddie
I open my eyes and am surprised to see that it’s light outside. “What happened?” My head is woozy, my mouth tastes like it’s stuffed with cotton. Too much alcohol. I sit up and am shocked to see I’m still in my bra and undies. Plus I’m in Kyle’s room, not the secret room.
Last I remember Kyle was touching me with a feather.
I look around. Listen for signs of life. Kyle isn’t here. Flustered, I climb out of bed. Grab my phone. There are two texts from Gina. One from last night.
Staying the night with Collin. Don’t worry.
Then, this morning.
Are you and KK still together? Still a V?
There’s one from Kyle.
Had an emergency. See you in class. Lock the door when you leave.
My heart sinks. I feel terrible—guilty. Kyle and I were supposed to be together. He wanted to do things and I was going to let him. But I must’ve fallen asleep. Or did something happen and I just don’t remember it? I shift my body, trying to see if there’s anything different. Whether I feel pain, discomfort. I don’t.
The big V is still intact, I think, somewhat disappointed.
I smack myself in the head. How can I be so stupid? He probably hates me. I can’t blame him. I’m so rude. The queen of rude. If there were an Academy Award for rudeness, I’d be the winner—hands down.
“Dammit.”
I quickly text Gina. Yep. I don’t go into details.
I stare at Kyle’s number, trying to decode whether or not his text tells me he’s angry, or that he’ll be fine if he never sees me again. But he did say he’d see me in class. That has to mean he still wants to see me. Right? Ugh!
I make a mental promise to stop drinking. I survived the first eighteen years without it. No amount of warm fuzzies is worth falling asleep on the only guy I’ve ever cared about while he was in the process of doing things to my naked body. Double ugh!
The clock on his bedside table says it's eight fifty-five. My English class starts in five minutes. I’m not going to make it. And since I have Kyle’s place to myself for the next hour at least, I decide to take a look around.
His room is kinda plain. There’s a bed. A dresser, a closet, and a desk. On his desk is a computer. The screensaver is music notes. A piano rendition of Titanium. I can hear the melody in my head as it crosses the screen. His window has blue curtains. They’re open. I peer out the window and can see the Bellam Springs campus. What few trees there are have lost all of their leaves and are stark. The grass is yellow. It’s windy out, a