Are you expecting company?” I ask Emory. Someone is knocking on our door, so I look down at my phone. It’s after ten.

She shakes her head. “It’s not for me. Humans don’t like me.”

I laugh and make my way to the door. When I look through the peephole and see Trey, I sigh heavily.

“Whoever it is, you seem disappointed,” Emory says atly. “Must be your boyfriend.” She stands and makes her way toward her bedroom, and I’m thankful she’s at least learned the meaning of privacy.

I open the door to let him in. I’m a little confused as to why he’s here in the rst place. It’s after ten at night, and he said he was out of town until tomorrow.

As soon as the door is open, he rushes inside. He kisses me brie y on the cheek and says, “I need to use your restroom.”

His hurried appearance throws me off for a second as I watch him remove his things from his belt. Gun, handcuffs, car keys. He sets it all on the bar, and I can’t help but notice the sweat dripping down his temple. He looks nervous. “Go ahead,” I say, gesturing toward the restroom. “Make yourself at home.”

He heads straight for the restroom and as soon as he opens the door, I experience a small moment of panic.

“Wait!” I say, rushing behind him. He steps away from the door, and I brush past him. I walk to the sink and pick up all the seashell soaps. I walk out of the restroom and he’s eyeing my hands curiously.

“What am I supposed to wash my hands with now?” he asks.

I nod my head toward the cabinet. “ ere’s liquid soap in there,” I tell him. I look down at the soaps in my hands. “ ese aren’t for guests.”

He closes the door in my face, and I walk the soaps to my room, feeling a little ridiculous.

I have serious issues.

I set the soap down on my nightstand and pick up my phone. I have several missed text messages, and only one of them is from my mother. I scroll through them and they’re all from Owen. I start at the bottom and work my way up.

Call me.

Are you okay? It’s important. Meat dress.

Please call me.

If you don’t respond to my text in ve minutes, I’m coming over. I immediately text him back.

Don’t come over, Trey is here. I’m ne.

I hit send and then type him another message. Are you okay?

He pings me back immediately.

Someone broke into my studio tonight. ey destroyed everything. My hand ies up to my mouth, and I gasp.

He took your confession, Auburn.

My heart is in my throat, and I quickly glance up to make sure Trey isn’t standing at my door. I don’t want him to see my reaction right now, or he’ll want to know who I’m texting. I quickly send Owen another message.

Did you call the police?

His response comes through just as I hear the door to the bathroom open.

And tell them what, Auburn? To come clean up their mess? I read the text twice.

eir mess?

I immediately hit delete on all the messages. I set the phone down and try to appear casual, but Owen’s last message is playing over and over in my head. He thinks Trey did this?

I want to say that Owen is wrong. I want to say that Trey wouldn’t be capable of doing something like what was done to Owen, but I don’t know what or who to believe anymore.

Trey appears in the doorway and I study his eyes, trying to get a clue from them, but he gives me nothing but a wall.

I smile at him. “You’re back early.”

He doesn’t smile back. My heart is trying to climb through the walls of my chest, and not in a good way.

He walks into my room and sits down on my bed. He kicks his shoes off and knocks them onto the oor. “What ever happened to that cat?” he asks. “What’d you say his name was? Sparkles?”

I swallow. Why is he asking about Owen’s cat?

“Ran away,” I say calmly. “Emory was devastated for a week.”

He nods, working his jaw back and forth. He reaches a hand up and grabs my arm. I look down at it just as he pulls me to him. I fall against his chest, stiff as a board. He wraps his arm around me and kisses the top of my head. “I missed you, so I came back early.”

He’s being nice. Too nice. My guard stays up. “Guess what?” he says.

“What?”

His hand moves to my hair and he runs his ngers through it. “I found a house today.”

I pull away from his chest and look up at him, just as he tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “I didn’t realize you were looking for another house.”

He smiles. “I thought I might get something a little bigger. Now that mom has moved back, I gured I could let her have that house, since it was hers to begin with. It’s probably better if we had more privacy, anyway. e house I’m looking at has a fenced-in backyard. It’s on Bishop, near the park. It’s a really good neighborhood.”

I don’t say anything, because it sounds like he means he found us a house today. e thought of that terri es me.

“Mom went with me to look at it. She really liked it. She said AJ would love it there.”

I can’t imagine Lydia saying AJ would love anything that isn’t hers. “She really said that?”

Trey nods, and I nd myself imagining what that would be like. Actually being able to live in the same house with AJ, in a good neighborhood with a backyard. And once again the thought makes its way into my head that it could be worth it. I’ll never love Trey like I loved Adam, and I’ll never feel the connection with him that I have with Owen, but Adam and Owen can’t give me the one thing in my life that I need. Only Trey can do that.

“What are you saying, Trey?”

He smiles down at me, and I realize in this moment that maybe Owen was wrong. If Trey were responsible for destroying Owen’s studio, he wouldn’t be here saying the things he’s saying right now. He would be livid, because he would know that confession was from me.

“I’m saying this isn’t a game to me, Auburn. I love AJ and I need to know that you’re in this with me. at we’re in this together.”

He shifts until he’s on top of me, and then he leans forward and kisses me. We’ve been dating for over two months now and I’ve never let him do anything but kiss me. I’m still not ready to go further than this, but I know he is. And I know his patience has been wearing thin.

He groans and his tongue dives deeper into my mouth. I squeeze my eyes shut and hate that I’m forcing myself to pretend I’m okay with this. But internally, I’m just stalling, giving myself a moment to think about what move I need to make next, because Owen’s texts are still in the back of my mind. Not to mention the fact that Owen may very well be on his way here. Trey’s hands become needier as they grope and pull at me. His mouth moves roughly from mine, and he begins to kiss me all over as one of his

hands works the buttons on my shirt.

I want to tell him to stop, but it’s all happening so fast, I can’t nd a point at which to push him away. His hand is unbuttoning my jeans, and he’s working his ngers inside my underwear when I can’t take a second more of this. I dig my heels into my mattress and push him away as I attempt to scoot up on the bed.

He pulls away for a few seconds and looks at me, but words fail to come out of my mouth. When I say nothing, his mouth is immediately on mine again with even more force. He didn’t get a verbal no, so I guess that means yes to him.

I press against his chest. “Trey, stop.”

He immediately stops kissing me and presses his face into the pillow. He groans, frustrated, and I don’t know what to say next. I just made him angry.

His hand is still in my jeans, and even though I’m not kissing him, he continues to slide his hand further until I have to physically push his hand away. He presses his palm into the bed beside me and lifts up until his face is just inches from mine. His eyes are full of anger, but it’s not the anger that scares me.

It’s the disgust.

“You can fuck my little brother when you’re fteen, but you can’t fuck me as an adult?”

His words hurt. ey hurt so much, I have to close my eyes and turn away from him.

“I didn’t fuck Adam,” I say. I slowly look in his direction again, and I stare him straight in the eyes. “I made love to Adam.”

He lowers his face until his mouth is directly over my ear. e heat from his breath makes my skin crawl. “What was it when Owen was fucking you in his bed? Was that love?”

I suck in a rush of air.

My entire body tenses, and I know if I try to run, he’ll stop me. I also know that if I don’t try to run, he’ll more than likely hurt me.

I’ve never been more scared.

He remains on top of me, his mouth poised next to my ear. He doesn’t speak again, but he doesn’t have to. His hand is making his intentions clear as he works his way inside my jeans again.

For a split second, I wonder if I should let him do this. If I just shut up and allow him to take what he wants, maybe it’ll be enough for him to forgive what happened with Owen. I can’t let this come between me and my son.

But those thoughts only last for a split second, because there is no way in hell I’ll allow AJ to grow up with a spineless mother.

“Get off me.”

He doesn’t. Instead, he lifts his head and looks down at me with a grin so cold, it sends a rush of chills over me. I don’t know who he is right now. I’ve never seen this side of him before. “Trey, please.”

His hand is rough, and I’m squeezing my legs together, but it doesn’t stop him from forcing my thighs apart. I’m pushing him, but my weakness is laughable compared to his strength. His mouth is back on mine and when I try to turn away from him, he bites my lip, forcing his kiss on me.

I can taste the blood.

I begin to sob as soon as he begins unbuttoning his own jeans.

is isn’t happening. “She said stop.”

It’s not my voice, and it isn’t Trey’s, but the words force him to stop. I glance up to nd Emory standing in the doorway, pointing a gun in our direction. Trey slowly turns to face the door. When he sees her, he carefully rolls onto his back with his palms face out.

“You do realize you’re pointing a gun at a police officer,” Trey says calmly. Emory laughs. “You do realize I’m stopping an assault, don’t you?”

He sits up, slowly, and she raises the gun even higher, keeping it trained on him.

“I don’t know what you think is going on here, but if you don’t hand me that gun, you’ll be in a shitload of trouble.”

Emory looks at me but keeps the gun aimed at Trey. “Who do you think will be in trouble, Auburn? e officer who was forcing himself on you or the roommate who shot his dick off?”

Luckily her question was rhetorical, because I’m crying too hard to answer. Trey runs his palm over his mouth and then squeezes his jaw, attempting to gure out how to get out of the mess he’s just put himself in.

Emory focuses her attention back on him. “You’re going to walk out of this apartment and all the way to the end of the hallway. I’ll set your gun and your keys on the hallway oor once you’re out of reach.”

I can feel Trey look at me, but I don’t look at him. I can’t. He runs a gentle hand up my arm. “Auburn, you know I would never hurt you. Tell her she’s confused.” I can feel him reach up to my face, but Emory’s voice stops him.

“Get. e fuck. Out! ” she yells.

Once again, Trey raises his palms in the air. He stands, slowly, and buttons his jeans. He bends to grab his shoes.

“Leave them. Get out,” Emory says rmly.

She slowly backs out of the doorway as he makes his way toward her. I watch the back of his head as he turns toward the front door and Emory follows him.

“All the way to the end of the hall,” she says.

Several more seconds pass before she says, “ row me his shoes, Auburn.”

I reach across the bed and grab his shoes from the oor. I walk them to her and watch as she sets his shoes outside of our front door. She keeps a close eye on Trey at the end of the hallway as she lays the gun beside the shoes. As soon as it’s out of her hands, she slams the door shut and dead bolts it, then fastens the chain lock. I’m now standing in the doorway of my bedroom, watching to make sure he’s gone. She turns to face me, wide- eyed.

“I told you I liked the other guy more.”

I somehow laugh between all my tears. Emory steps forward and hugs me, and as strange as she is, I’m more grateful to her than I’ve ever been to anyone in my life.

“ ank you so much for eavesdropping.”

She laughs. “My pleasure.” She pulls back and looks me in the eye. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

I shake my head and pull my hand up to my lip to see if it’s still bleeding. It is, but before I can turn to the kitchen, Emory is already tearing a paper towel off the holder. She turns on the faucet just as a knock lands against the door.

We both turn and look at the door.

“Auburn.” It’s Trey’s voice. “Auburn, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He’s crying. at, or he’s a really good actor.

“We need to talk about this. Please.”

I know Owen is probably on his way over right now after all of his frantic texts, so I just want to get rid of Trey before they come face-to-face.

at’s the last thing I need tonight. I walk to the door, but I don’t unlock it. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow,” I say through the door. “I need space

tonight, Trey.”

A few seconds pass and he says, “Okay. Tomorrow.”