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I close my eyes and breathe in his sultry cologne. “Can we sneak out of here? Is the espionage part of the morning over?”

When I open my eyes, Luke smiles and brushes his lips against mine. “Whatever you need.”

“I need to stop being treated like glass. Like at any point I might shatter.” I swallow and step in close to him, pressing my body against his. “All I really need is you. All of you. I’m awake. I’m alive.”

He tightens his hand in my hair at the reminder. Maybe I’m not as broken as I should be, but they’re struggling. I get that we had to come here, but we need to find ourselves and to do that we can’t be surrounded by users.

“Let’s find something to do that isn’t related to Homecoming or worrying about our parents’ history or what they want from us.” I wet my lips, and his gaze drops to them. Longing, sharp and hot, floods me. “Let’s be teenagers for once.”

Luke’s smile makes heat swell in me. “What did you have in mind?”

CHAPTER 38

The Release

Nico

The quarry is the last place I thought Harper would want to come to, but the little patch of green and trees is peaceful in the late morning light. With my hands behind my head, I lie in the grass and stare up at the sky.

Harper snuggles into my side with her phone open to a book. Jack has his tablet and sits against the tree on her other side. One hand scrolling through whatever he’s looking at and one hand in Harper’s hair.

Luke, Eli, and Caden wanted to take a look around to check that no one else has been here or set up any new equipment. Harper tried to protest, but Jack kissed her and told her they needed to make sure.

He didn’t add that we all need to confirm she’s safe here. That no one is planning on swooping in and taking her from us. It’d be a lot harder to corral us here. More ways to escape. But it’s still good to have a plan.

“Do you think my parents did this?” Harper’s been so quiet, I thought she might have fallen asleep.

I turn my head her direction. “Relax in the grass?”

“Yeah.” She turns and looks up into the canopy of leaves above us. “Do nothing. Just breathe in the air.”

“The quarry used to have water in it. So they might have come here to swim.” Jack looks out toward where the old equipment lies rusting in place. “They cleared it out a few years after our parents would have been teens. Apparently, some teen died diving into it.”

Harper’s eyes widen, and she sits up like she can see into the past to that tragic moment. “This place really is a death trap.”

Her father. Is that why she wanted to come out here? To be close to him? Or at least the place he probably died?

I bring her knuckles to my lips and kiss them. “Don’t think about it, sunshine.”

She turns to me. “I can’t stop thinking. So many fucking questions. Why aren’t my memories coming back? When will we find out what happened to my dad that night? Was it really an accident, or will we have proof that someone killed my father?”

She faces the edge of the quarry again. “What will that mean for all of us if some of your dads are responsible for my dad’s death? I know I won’t blame you, and neither will my mom, but what if that’s not enough? What if the guilt over it tears us apart?”

“There’s no statute of limitations on murder,” I say softly. “If we have proof, we use it and get your family justice.”

“Even if that means your father goes to prison?” Her brown eyes sparkle in the light like the thought makes her want to cry. But she doesn’t understand how our family dynamics work. How could she? Her mother is amazing.

“If my dad did it and it wasn’t an accident, then yes, he deserves to go to prison. Even if he didn’t, they all had to cover up Sean’s disappearance. That should be punished.”

Her brows furrow in confusion. “You really mean that.”

It’s not a question.

“I do, sunshine.” I tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

She looks out over the quarry and, for a moment, she doesn’t say anything. Jack gives me a look before going back to his tablet and what he was working on.

“Maybe we should stop digging.” Her voice is little more than a whisper.