I let out a long breath. “This is getting us nowhere. I need to clear my head. I can’t do that with you around.”

I might as well have slapped her. She visibly recoils. But then she pulls her shoulders back. “All right. I’ll just get my things. I can stay with my mother.”

Get her things? “You’re leaving?”

A little wrinkle forms between her brows. “You said you need space. I’m giving it to you. What did you expect me to do?”

I expected her to leave me alone for a while until I calmed down, not move out. I expected her to fight, not walk away. To pick me—us.

“Besides,” she says, walking toward the bedroom door. “There are things that I need to discuss with my sister.”

I see red. Admittedly, Sam has become a trigger for me. “You’re going with her?”

Delilah pauses long enough to catch sight of my expression. “I just found out that my sister was responsible for the worst humiliation of my life. I’ve hated you for years for something you didn’t do. I lied for her and caused you pain. You want space. Yes, Macon, I’m going to talk to my sister.”

It’s a sucker punch to the gut. “So go, then.”

She’s looking through me the way she used to, like I’m nothing other than a painful reminder of things best left in the past. Like I’m the enemy. I hate that look. My temper snaps. “What are you waiting for? Go!”

Delilah’s chin lifts, and that spark I’ve been waiting for lights in her eyes. But I see the pain there too. When she speaks, her voice is stiff. “I never wanted to hurt you. I know I lied, but it was only—”

“One more lie between us?”

Delilah blinks once before answering. “Yeah. I guess it was.”

She leaves then. And that hurts most of all.

Delilah

Everything is crumbling beneath my feet. Sam’s confession has taken a jackhammer to my solid foundation. But the fight with Macon was worse. Inside, I’m shaking.

We both lied. We both let each other down in our own ways.

A lie is still a lie. We were supposed to be pushing past all that, starting anew with everything laid out on the table. Yet I kept Sam’s call a secret. And he planned to keep the knowledge of the prank secret forever if he had his way.

The thought of him and Sam sharing this knowledge of my worst humiliation turns my stomach. I know he feels much the same about me keeping Sam’s call from him.

He’s right. If we can’t fully trust each other, what’s the point?