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“It was my mom’s ex.”
“Hold up,” I frown, “I’m confused.”
“You’re not the only one, Hads.”
“He broke into the house and attacked me. Tied me to a chair—”
“Oh my God, that’s horrible.”
Her expression fell. “It gets worse.”
“You’re killing me, Princess,” Conner chimes in. “The short version: we thought our dad was dead. He isn’t. I mean, he is now... but he was the one texting and following Remi.”
“I thought it was her mom’s ex...”
“It was.” Conner gives me a pointed look, waiting as the truth falls into place.
And when it does, I’m speechless.
“Your mom’s ex is your dad?”
“No, James is our dad.”
“You might have to write it down or something.” A strained chuckle escapes my lips.
“It really doesn’t matter now, anyway. He’s dead. Ace stabbed him, but he got away. The police found his body the next morning. They think it was suicide.”
Everything slams into me at once.
Remi’s story.
The conversation I overheard in the girls’ locker room.
Finding Cole that night, bloody and in shock.
“Hadley?” Remi’s voice pulls me back into the room.
“I... uh... shit. I really don’t know what to say. Sorry, I guess.”
“Nah, that piece of shit doesn’t deserve your sympathy,” Ace growls. “The way I see it, the world’s a better place without him.” His eyes flick to Remi, and she nods.
“There’s more to the story, isn’t there?”
“Yeah.” She looks me dead in the eye, and I see the pain behind her gaze. “There is.”
“Whoa, it’s like something out of a soap opera,” I say, accepting the beer Conner just fetched from the refrigerator.
“I know, it feels like waking up from a bad dream.”
Ace pulls Remi into his side and kisses her head. “He’s gone, babe. And that fucker Bexley is across the country by now. You’re safe.”
“Yeah, I know.” She stares up at him with so much love in her eyes it hits me square in the chest.
I had that once. Or, at least, I thought I did.
Now I have a hole in my heart and darkness in my soul.
I was a mess.
