Page 143 of The Next Lie

“She’s hurt and scared, Reva. Trying to drive you away.”

Reva huffs. “She’s doing a super-duper job.”

“She’s scared,” he repeats.

“Yeah, you said that already. You heard what she said, Cal.”

Cal’s jaw tightens. “I heard.”

“Then stop trying to explain her to me.”

He goes quiet for a moment.

Good. The man learns.

When he speaks again, his voice is softer. “I’m not explaining her. I’m asking you not to turn one fight into a grave.”

Reva laughs under her breath. “That’s poetic for you.”

“I’ve had a rough week.”

“You’ve been in New Orleans for twelve hours.”

“Twelve hours, one week.”

She looks toward the pool. The bruise on her cheek is faint this morning, half hidden by the angle of her face. Delia’s handprint could be gone by tomorrow.

The rest will take longer.

Cal shifts his weight. “Can I ask you something else without you biting my head off?”

“No promises.”

“What’s going on with them?”

Every muscle in my body stills.

Reva does not answer right away. Then—“Well, slot A fits into slot B, and sometimes slot C…”

His hand shoots up. “Reva, please.”

She drops her forehead to her knees for a second, then lifts it again. “I’m emotionally constipated, what do you expect?”

“Clearly.”

“They’re…” She stops, frustrated, and rubs both hands over her face. “I don’t know what they are.”

Cal waits. Smart man.

“I care about them,” she says finally. “All of them. In different ways, which sounds absurd, but it’s true. Shiloh gets under my skin and makes it easier to breathe even when I want to strangle him. Ever steadies me. He sees when I’m struggling, and he pulls me back without making me feel stupid for needing someone.”

Her voice changes before she says my name. I feel it in my chest before I hear it.

“Nash scares me,” she says.

Cal’s head turns slightly.

Reva pulls at a blade of grass growing between the bricks. “Not in a bad way. Not because I think he’ll hurt me. I don’t. He scares me because he makes safety feel…like something I crave. He’s bossy and impossible and controlling and sometimes I want to hit him with my hairbrush. Fucking hard.”