“Hold your horses, honey. I know you’re angry, but we have to figure out a better way of dealing with this that doesn’t involve killing a kid.”

“A kid? That’s what you think he is? He’s a man now, Mackenzie, and men are supposed to protect women, not hurt them. He deserves what he gets.”

“And what do you think he should get? A bullet in his brain?”

“If it were up to me, yes. That’s what he deserves. Put predators like him six feet under where they belong. God only knows what he’s done to Willow.”

“Owen! She’s his little sister!”

“And Aria was like a sister. Don’t you see? He’s grown up with Aria all his life, and yet the second he got a chance to . . . God, when I think of him on top of her—”

He screamed like some wounded beast. His eyes were crazy and a huge blue vein stood out on his temple. I instinctively moved away from him.

“Whoa, babe, it’s all right. Had to get that out of my system.” He reached out and squeezed my shoulder—a rare display of tenderness.

“You’re not helping matters, Owen. We need to figure out what to do now. Do we tell Aria? Do we just let it go away? Do we go to the police? I don’t know what to do, or what’s best for Aria.”

“I’ll tell you what’s best. We’ve got to press charges. That boy shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this scot-free.”

“That boy is my best friend’s son. We’ve known Ryan since he was born. This isn’t some stranger we’re talking about. If we press charges, he could end up in jail. His life will be ruined. There goes college and a decent job and a normal life. You don’t bounce back from something like that. Plus everything that happened will be made public, which would be devastating for Aria.”

“Then what are you saying—we do nothing? Because doing nothing is the same as saying it was okay. And one day Aria will remember—one day it’ll all come back to haunt her, and do you know who she’ll be most mad at? Us. Us for knowing and not telling her. Us for turning a blind eye instead of protecting her. Will knowing the truth hurt her? Yes, for now. But she’ll heal, she’ll move on. But us lying to her about it—she’ll never forgive us. You think about that before you go trying to sweep secrets under the rug.”

There were so many secrets hidden there already; was there room to hide even one more?