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“You know I would never pry.” There’s a frown between his eyes now. “Is that what you’re afraid of? Is that why you’ve never agreed to see the therapist with me?”
My cheeks are even warmer now. I shake my head. “How is talking about what happened going to change the past? What happened was more humiliating than you’lleverknow.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “Really? I know nothing about humiliation?” There’s an edge to his voice now. Hard and sharp. I take a step back, my cheeks glowing.
“I didn’t mean—”
“You think when the church got involved, that wasn’thumiliating?”
My breath catches. “Dad, please, I didn’t—”
“Maybe it’s best you concentrate on your schoolwork for a while,” he says coldly, heading for the door.
“But… do you still want me to come over next weekend?”
He doesn’t look at me as he holds the door open. “I have a lot of things to catch up on too, Evie.” When he does lock eyes with me, I wish he hadn’t. I feel all that humiliation, all that regret, washing over me again. “You’re not the only one who needs to get their life back on track.”
I swallow down another pathetic apology. I’ve said sorry so many times, it’s starting to sound like a foreign word. Tears well up in my eyes, and I turn too quickly, in a rush to get into the hallway before he sees me crying again. My arm crashes into the doorjamb lintel, jarring the bundle of things in my arm.
“Evie, wait…”
I hiccup through the words. “No, you’re right, I should go.”
“Evie! You dropped… this.” His voice changes so dramatically, I freeze in my tracks.
My heart hammers hard and fast in my chest as I force myself to look back.
Hagan’s face is unreadable as he holds out a slip of black leather to me.
It’s Owen’s collar.
Why the fuck did you take it?
The bigger question was what possessed me to actually bring it with me. A question I don’t think I’ll ever be able to answer.
I rush back, snatch the collar from my dad’s hand, and storm down the hall. I don’t bother to apologize. I don’t even try to explain that it’s not mine.
He’s heard that story before. Back then, I was lying through my teeth in some futile attempt to save face.
There’s no way he’ll believe me now.
No one ever will.
