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In the near distance, the elevated Rail Park loomed. The old rail line had been converted to an overhead jogging path, and I loved how close I lived to there. Hell, I loved this spot in the city in general. It had so much character I’d barely gotten to crack into. I jogged up the wooden ramp to the entrance, my heart thumping hard. Up here, the city stretched out around me, the sharp lines of the skyscrapers lit up for the night. Despite the overwhelming darkness that coated Philly, the number of streetlights and illuminated buildings made it look like a reflection of the starry sky.
I’d just hit the main stretch of the Rail Park when my phone began to buzz in my pocket. I slowed down, ready for a brief break anyway. A sheen of sweat had burst on my forehead, and I wiped it away with my forearm before answering my phone. “Hey?”
“She lives,” Nina said. Instant guilt surged through me. I’d been in my bubble since I moved here and even more so the past week, ever since Sam and I hooked up. Had I been avoiding Nina on purpose? Maybe a little.
“Sorry I’ve been so shit at communication,” I said, my heart thumping harder. Best friends didn’t sleep with estranged sisters. Except I’d gotten the opportunity with Sam and had dived in headfirst, without a thought to how much this would hurt Nina. Fuck, I was the worst sort of friend. I made a beeline to the hanging benches lining the path, only one at the end taken by a couple who seemed to be in deep conversation.
“I’d be mad if I didn’t already expect it,” she said in her light, cheery tone. She wouldn’t be feeling the same if she knew the big secret I kept. “Not only are you in a new place, but with the fight this weekend, I assumed you were in hardcore training mode.”
My heart twisted hard. Of course she’d remember my big fight. Because Nina was a good best friend, unlike me, who hid so much from her I wanted to burst. All my fantasies about Sam deciding she wanted to be my girlfriend felt naïve and stupid now. What was I supposed to do when my two worlds eventually collided? Considering Nina had flinched and told me to drop it the last few times I’d asked her about Sam, this would be the ultimate betrayal.
“Yeah, it’s been crazy.” I clutched my phone a little tighter as I leaned back onto the bench. “But you need to come visit.”
What I’d do about Sam at that point was a goddamn mystery. I should be telling Nina about her sister, yet I hadn’t spilled a word.
“Once you’re through your fight and finals are done for me, we’ll have a week of debauchery in the city,” Nina said, as enthusiastic as ever. I swallowed hard—simultaneously missing her like crazy but also overwhelmed with guilt that consumed me.
“That’s a deal,” I said, my voice coming out a little hoarse. “You just let me know when.”
And I’d figure out what damage control I would need to do. My skin prickled, but not from the cold. More from the realization that if Nina found out about me seeing Sam, I might be starting over in the best friend department.
“Most definitely,” she said. “You won’t be able to hermit away forever, Ames. I’ve got to finish this paper, but soon, okay? We’ll take the city by storm.”
“See you then,” I said as I hung up. A figure approached from farther down along the path, and my shoulders tensed. Except then she stepped under a nearby streetlamp, and my mouth dried. I knew those curves intimately.
Sam caught my gaze and began to approach, as if she’d been summoned by me talking to her sister. The guilt oozed like a fresh wound, and I was tempted to run in the opposite direction to escape it all. Too many questions clouded my mind. First and foremost why she’d left in the first place.
But I’d told her I wouldn’t push, and I’d meant it. If she trusted me enough, she’d eventually tell me.
“This seat taken?” She pointed to the spot next to me on the bench.
I shook my head, and she crooked her brow.
“On an important call?” she asked.
The glare of my cell screen by my cheek alerted me. Shit, I still gripped my cell like I was midconversation. “Nah, just finishing up one.”
She opened her mouth as if she was about to ask something, but she plunked down onto the bench beside me with an audible thump. I drank in her scent, all cloves and sweat that made my pussy throb.
“Nina was worried.” The words slipped out. Regret thudded through me a second later. Why the hell had I led with that? Sam had made it clear she didn’t want to broach the past. An awkward silence settled between us, so different from the ease of any other time. The question rested on my tongue, but I wouldn’t voice it.
Sam gripped the side of the bench and stared down at her thighs as we drifted back and forth, back and forth on the swing. “I just don’t—” she said but stopped. A low breath hissed out from her, followed by a bitter laugh.
I didn’t dare say a word. I’d already stepped onto a landmine, and I didn’t want the shrapnel to eviscerate us.
When Sam looked up at me, my heart stopped.
Her dark eyes glistened with unshed tears, and the hard jerk in my chest at the sight had me reeling.
“Why?” she asked. The helplessness in her tone had my fingers digging into my thighs. “Why you and not me?”
Her voice broke, and the first tears slipped down her cheeks. A thick lump formed in my throat.
The past couldn’t be evaded any longer.
Chapter Ten
Sam
