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Brad follows on my heels, and when we get to her, she’s already dabbing at her mouth with a wet wipe from her handbag and sipping on her bottle of water.

“Gross. That’s like the fourth time today,” she groans.

When I look over at Brad, he’s turned white as chalk and stands rigid. “No. No. No fucking way.” He stumbles over the words a little. “You and I—we haven’t actually—not for months—”

Now it’s my turn to feel the blood drain from my face as I look on in horror. “Izzie … are you …” God, I can’t even say the word. What if it’s Brad’s? What if this whole situation is about to go south faster than a sinking ship blown to pieces by cannon fire?

I’m gonna be hurling my guts into that trash can alongside her if that’s the case.

“Urghhh. Quit looking at me like that.” She presses a wrist to her forehead. “It’s not yours. You can quit freaking out over there, Rhodes.”

It doesn’t make me feel much better.

“Start talking,” I grunt. Not liking the way she just spoke to him at all.

“Fine. Yes, I’m pregnant. But I’m not supposed to be telling anyone, not until we’ve got a few things sorted out.”

“The professor?” Brad snorts. “Yeah, I bet you’ve got a few things to sort out if it’s his.”

That’s when my sister does something I didn’t actually think would be possible. Big fat tears well up in her eyes, and she sniffs. “Brad, I’m a terrible person for lying to you. I’m sorry I dragged you into this, but he told me it would seem less suspicious if I had a ‘boyfriend’ … especially if I was seeing someone … another student.”

A gruff noise bursts out of me. I don’t give a shit that she’s crying and apologizing. “What the fuck? You can’t be serious. You used him?”

She starts crying more freely now and has to wipe her cheeks on her sleeve. “Okay, okay. I messed up, alright? Is that what you wanna hear? I was scared Karl would dump me if I didn’t. And you’re a good guy. You’re smart and good looking. It wasn’t hard to … You know, it wasn’t like I had to fake being into you or anything. We had fun, right? I’m sorry, I really am.”

Her hiccupped apologies just feel so damn hollow to my ears.

I fucking hate that she manipulated him.

All my own experiences being duped and taken for granted, the anguish of finding out the truth about someone who I’d wasted time and trust on, that all simmers just below the surface.

“And the worst part is, now that I’m knocked up, I don’t even think he wants to know me anymore. He won’t text me back.”

Well, Merry fucking Christmas to one and all of us.

Fuck.

CHAPTER 19

Sky:

Looks like I’ll be blessing you with my presence at your New Year’s Eve party after all, bitch.

???

My folks decided to do a loop back to Crimson Ridge in their RV. So they’ll be home for the whole holidays.

But they’ve decided to put the house on the market, so they’re permanent gray nomads now. It’s gonna be our last Christmas together at the house.

Wow. Look at them, living the dream.

Wait … so does that mean you won’t be staying in Crimson Ridge after all?

You’re abandoning me all alone in the land of zero sushi?

Undecided. There’s a cute shop coming up for rent.

Come with me to check it out in the New Year? I gotta make sure it’s not a total roach fest.