I stabbed it with a fork, and a piece of lettuce fell victim to its spilled guts. Gutted. That’s how I felt. Unloading on Sandra had been a dangerous thing. An addictive thing, because I wanted to do it again, only I didn’t want to stick to vague answers this time. I wanted to tell someone all the shit life had thrown at me.

Besides Rafe, Evelyn was the closest thing I had to a real friend. Weren’t friends supposed to tell each other their secrets? I wouldn’t know. My secret had been too huge, too horrific, to share with anyone for years.

Until Rafe had tortured it out of me.

“Okay, something’s on your mind. It was weird enough that you called out of the blue, but you’re never this quiet, and that’s saying a lot.” She sipped her iced tea and settled back in the chair. “I heard about what happened in the papers. I wanted to call you. Truth is, I didn’t know what to say. We’d drifted apart, and I just…”

“It’s okay,” I whispered.

“No,” she said, her mouth set in a firm line as she shook her head. “It’s not okay. My friend had a mental breakdown of epic proportions and I couldn’t even bring myself to pick up the goddamn phone. I’m sorry, Alex. I’m here now.”

“I didn’t have a mental breakdown.”

Her brows crinkled in confusion. “What happened then? Everyone thought you were dead.”

A sheen of sweat broke out on my skin, and I felt a trickle sliding down my temple. I opened my mouth, commanded my tongue to work right and spill the words my brother kidnapped and raped me, but I couldn’t. I had many reasons to keep it bottled inside, mainly, the threat my father held over my head. Over Rafe’s head.

I’d been protecting him in some way or another for a nearly a decade, but he wanted nothing to do with me. Hurt infiltrated my chest and choked the life from my heart. How could he walk away so easily after what we’d shared? After what he’d done? Wasn’t he afraid I’d turn him in?

Don’t be stupid. He knows he has you wrapped.

“Alex?”

I jumped, only then noticing the mangled napkin in my hands. I’d managed to shred it while wrestling with my thoughts. Evelyn still waited. Choosing to take the familiar coward’s way out, I was about to make up a story when my cell beeped.

“I should get this. I’ll be right back.” I scooted back from the table with a sigh of relief. My phone continued to chirp as I walked through the busy restaurant, out the front doors, and into the summer heat. The instant I answered the call and heard his breathing, I couldn’t move.

“Don’t hang up.”