Page 128 of Embrace

“Look, I don’t really know what’s going on between you two. Honestly, this whole thing is shocking as hell, but she’s really not in the space to talk.” Sierra’s rigid posture melts, and I know it’s from seeing that kicked-puppy look on Kian’s face. “I’m sure she’ll call you when she’s ready, Kian.”

“When is that going to be?” His voice cracks on the last word. It shoots a dart through my chest. “Can you tell her that I’m here for her? She can tell me anything. She knows that. Ihopeshe knows that. No matter what.”

Sierra nods and closes the door, giving me a pained look. As if asking,What the hell did you do to the poor guy?

“Thanks,” I say quietly.

“Okay, first, was he always that hot, or do I just love to see men in pain?” Sierra asks.

“Both,” I say quietly.

“Good to know.” Her head tilts with a sympathetic look. “Now, tell me what’s got you poor souls so twisted up.”

So I do. I tell my best friend everything.

Forty-five

Scarlett

Writing an examafter I’ve pissed off everyone is a surefire way to be distracted through it. But still, I fly through the questions, dying to get my phone back.

It’s been two days sincethe incident, I’ve been calling it that rather than the day my dad caught me dry humping his hockey player. Sierra thinks I need to reach out first, which was the nicest way she could tell me that I’m an asshole for keeping it from them.

Kian’s face keeps replaying in my head. That look when it clicked—when he saw me and my dad standing there in front of him. His eyes weren’t just wide with confusion; it felt like I’d betrayed him. My dad is his mentor, the guy whose approval he’s been chasing since freshman year. And I’m the idiot who blew that up for both of them.

I’m a coward, I realize. A lying coward.

After a quick review of my answers, I stand to hand in my exam, feeling the eyes of my classmates burning with resentment. The moderator lets me take my phone, and I’m barely out of the room before I’m scrolling through my notifications. My heart races as I finally press call on Kian’s number, but when I step out of the building,he’s already standing there, pacing in the cold. The door behind me slams shut, snapping his attention to me.

Rain patters, slow and then fast. But even the sound doesn’t penetrate through the ringing in my ears.

“Hi,” I say, breaking the silence.I’m sorry. I’m a terrible person. I should be the one waiting in the cold for you.“I— How was your exam?”Pathetic.

Kian’s final exam for statistics was this morning, the one that determines forty percent of his grade. We studied endlessly, and I hate that I could have been the reason he was distracted during something he’s worked so hard for. Those credits meant more to him than graduation; it was his way of keeping his dad alive.

“I was one of the first people to finish. Aced the online multiple choice.” He says it flatly, like it’s the last thing he wants to discuss.

“Did you— Were you ever planning on talking to me again?”

It’s a punch to the sternum, not just his words but the way his eyes stay shuttered.

“Of course I was. I just…I didn’t know how.”

“You didn’t know how to talk tome? We’ve communicated in every way people can, yet when you needed to the most, you shut me out.” His Adam’s apple bobs. “That’s bullshit.”

Good. He’s mad. He should be.

“It never felt like the right time. You were so happy to be captain, and then the stuff with Victor, and then your mom. I didn’t want to pile this on. You don’t deserve that.”

“I deserve the truth,” he says. “From my girlfriend. From mybest friend.”

My chest is tight, and my hands are clammy under his heavy gaze. There are students exiting the building behind me, and I feel panic rising.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I blow out a frustrated breath, a thin cloud floating past my lips. “I don’t know.”

In two strides, Kian’s in front of me. He pulls me into a roofed corner, tucked fully out of sight. “No.”