I don’t react. That won’t happen. We both know it.

A moment later, a familiar man in a tight suit walks in. “Let’s go, Ms. Pearson.”

I stare at the young cop, whose shoulders sag, but his eyes never leave mine.

“I lost a good friend to drug addiction,” he says, and suddenly it all makes sense. He was a friend of Logan’s brother, which explains how they know each other. He’s testing me, to see how well I know him. How much he’s really told me.

“Then, you want the same thing I want.”

“Don’t say a word, Sierra,” the stiff lawyer behind me barks.

“I want to get rid of whoever is dealing on my beach.”

“Me too,” I whisper as I stand and let the white-haired man take my arm and lead me outside to his hired car. I climb into the backseat and stay silent as the man behind the wheel drives us across town to my parents’ condo.

But he misses the turn.

“Where are we going?” I ask, my cheeks flushing with heat. I already know the answer.

“Your parents asked that I deliver you to Newport.” I don’t even remember this emotionless man’s name, but he’s crushing my heart right now. I claw at the door, as if it were even able to open I would barrel out of a flying vehicle just to get back to Logan.

“No!” I shout, but he doesn’t react. I want to rip that phone out of his hands.

Quickly reaching for my phone, I dial up my mom and wait for her to answer. It doesn’t take more than two rings, and she starts speaking before I even have the chance.

“You’ve humiliated our family, Sierra. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but we can never show our faces at Wickett again, and it’s all your fault.”

“You can’t do this to me! Leave me here,” I sob.

“So you can continue dealing drugs, Sierra? You think that’s the life you want?”

I can hear the emotion in her voice. She’s distressed and desperate.

“I wasn’t! I was just—”

“We know about him,” my mother barks. “That junkie you’ve been…going around with.”

She can’t say his name. She can’t even find a word in her vocabulary for our relationship.

“I love him.” Tears are running down my face. When I draw my hand to my mouth, I can still smell him. His cologne, his lips, his sweat. I am infused with him, and I swear to myself, I will find a way back. If I have to hitchhike back to Wicked, I will.

My mother takes a deep breath. “I don’t even know you anymore, Sierra.”

I let out a wrangled sob. “No, Mom. You never did.”

I press the red end button and weep silently into my hands as the driver delivers me to my parents and away from Logan.

Logan

She’s gone. Her parents’ condo is empty. This life of mine finally scared her away. It’s for the best, I keep telling myself. She’s better off far away from Wickett.