Page 54 of More For Me

She stares straight ahead, her jaw tighter than I’ve ever seen it. “No.”

“Take me back, Everly. I mean it. You can drive your own car home and I’ll—”

“Shutup, Bodhi,” she practically growls. “I’m not even kidding right now. Sit there and shut up and let me take you the fuck home.”

“You plan to actually be at home tonight?” I bite out. “Or are you sleeping at your parents’ again? Maybe Alex’s this time? Or has your relationship with Trey progressed to sleepovers?”

Her mouth presses into a thin line. “I know what you’re doing right now. I have three little sisters, Bodhi. You can’t pull this shit with me.”

“What am I doing?”

“You’re trying to push me into a fight because you think yelling at me is going to make you feel better.”

Well, damn. That’s pretty much the gist of it right there. So why can’t I seem to stop?

“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I’m pushing you into a fight because I’m pissed at you?”

“What the hell didIdo?”

“Why haven’t you been home?” I shoot back.

She shifts, clearly uncomfortable. “I’ve been home.”

“Bullshit. You slept somewhere else at least three nights this week—”

“You’re keeping tabs on me now, Bodhi? Jesus, I thought I only lived with one of my over-protective male family members.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I need to shut the hell up right now. There’s no way this is going anywhere good. “If you could just put me away in that little box.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s how you describe me, right? Your favorite roomie. Yourbestie. Just like family.”

“What’s wrong with that?” she demands, and I snort, loudly. “Youareall of those things!”

“And maybe that’s not enough anymore!”

The silence that settles over us feels very heavy. Fuck.Fuck. I should have shut up when I had the chance. I should have just enjoyed the quiet ride home and—

“Maybe it’s not,” she says softly, her voice shaking.

Wait. What? She’s not saying—

“Or maybe I was thinking that before tonight,” she continues, and my heart drops right through to my feet. “But apparently there’s a whole lot about us that I didn’t know.”

Silence settles around us again, thick and tension filled. “Everly,” I finally say, my voice breaking on her name.

She shakes her head. “Please, Bodhi. I said I didn’t want to make things worse for you right now and I meant it. We can talk about this some other time.”

I don’t want to talk about it another time. I want to know what she meant about it not being enough. I want to throw myself at her feet and beg her to forgive me for not talking about Ari before. I want to thank her for being there tonight. I want to tell her, once and for all, how I feel.

“I’m sorry I never told you about Ari,” I finally settle on. Even saying his name aches. “It’s not…it’s not that I didn’t trust you.”

“Then what is it?” she asks, and I can hear the hurt in her voice.

“I…I try really hard to make things easier for my mom.” My voice cracks and I have to swallow a few times before I have my shit together. “Both my parents. Nisha.” I shift in my seat. “You saw what it was like tonight. How much pain they’re still carrying around.” How awful it feels in that house, how…suffocating.

“Okay,” she says slowly. “What does that have to do with me?”