The words land between us with the weight of a blade striking true.
I’d kept these thoughts locked away, even from myself, in those dark hours when I pictured life beyond competing, beyond the metallic taste of victory.
But fuck it—the truth burns hot in my chest.
Em’s got the talent, and I’m not about to let her fire die. Not when I could be the one to forge it into something lethal.
“Olympics?” Her laugh is brittle. “You’re insane.”
“Every competition that comes up, you’re entering. Win, and there’s something in it for you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Like what?”
“Whatever the fuck you want, kid. You want jewelry? We’ll get fucking jewelry. Want Princeton letters? I’ll get my friends to write some for you too. Want new sneakers? Want to come to movie premieres? You got it. But you’re going to be fencing.”
She shifts. “Don’t you have more important shit to do? Your stupid movie? Getting unsuspended? Hollywood?”
“Yeah, I do.” I think of Reese’s smile across the gala, my chance to get the Red Bull exec to put in a good word for me with the USFA committee. “But this matters more right now. I’ll deal with your parents, and you’re going to join Lev’s academy full time, not as some fucking temporary youth program.”
“I can’t afford that.”
“I can. But from now on, Em, you have to be honest with me.”
The silence stretches taut between us, broken only by a muffled sniffle. Em’s shoulders shake, but she keeps her face turned toward the window. Without a word, I reach into my breast pocket and pull out my silk pocket square, holding it out to her without looking. She takes it, the fabric rustling softly.
“My parents…” she cries. “They fucked off to Reno for the weekend. Left me here on my own, and I don’t know. I couldn’t stand being on my own for another weekend in that stupid empty house, ordering pizza with the cash they left me.”
Something raw and familiar twists in my gut. “What about your sister?”
“They took her with them, of course.”
“And they’re coming back? Are you sure?”
“Yeah, they always do. They just never bring me with them. I wanted—I thought if I took something big, that if they got a call, they’d come back. It was dumb. But then they didn’t pick up, and, well, then I called you.”
My heart aches so badly because I did have parents to pick me up. I had parents that were so panicked about me.
Em doesn’t have that. But she will now.
“Then I’ll find somewhere safe and comfortable for you to stay. All my siblings are in town—we’re going to the family house for a few days. You can stay with us.”
“I don’t need your char—”
“Just say thank you, Em,” I say.
She swallows. “Thank you.”
My grip on the wheel loosens. I’m far from perfect, but I understand what it takes to claw your way out of the dark. I can’t rescue Em from herself, but I can be what I never had—someone who sees the fire in her and refuses to let it die. Maybe that’s why I had to walk through my own personal hell—to recognize thatlook in her eyes and know exactly how to break through those walls.
And watching Em be brave enough to trust me, to let me in despite everything—it rocks me.
Because I need to do the same with Reese.
I need to be honest with her, completely and totally honest.
Because in four months, Reese has become my everything. She’s the person I want to be there for in every possible way, whatever that means.
Chapter 43
