Tomorrow was our last game of the year. If we won, I would be leaving high school as a state champion. If we lost, then I still won because I had her.

We would off to college together in a few short months and with a little luck, we would never have to come back to Ocean Bay.

Maybe she would never even need to know the truth about that night, or about the liars we were surrounded by and the secrets they kept.

I knew the truth would cause Molly nothing but pain.

Telling her might be the only way to ease my conscience, but it would kill Molly, and I just couldn’t do it.

I couldn’t fucking bear to be the one to destroy her.

After all, how was a guy supposed to tell the girl he loved that the person who was supposed to love her most in the world had betrayed her in the most unthinkable way?

That her whole life had been built on chapters of lies after lies.

I didn’t want to be that guy.

I refused to be.

37 Molly

"Oh my god," Mercy declared, throwing her hands up. "Mom, you are being ridiculous and you need to stop!"

We had been hanging out in her bedroom after school when her mother came barreling in, trying to give her yet another one of her infamous 'please don’t hook up with your stepbrother' talks.

Apparently, it didn’t matter to Cassidy if she had an audience or not.

On the contrary, Mercy's mom seemed to thrive on it.

"I'm not you, okay?" Mercy continued to say, tone laced with sarcasm. "I have no plans on conceiving in the backseat of Rourke's SUV and calling the baby Rover!"

Cassidy gasped and clutched her enormous baby bump. "Mercedes is a lovely name."

Mercy rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh, and a constant reminder of the night my bio-dad, whoever the hell he is, porked my mom in the backseat of his car."

Grabbing a nearby pillow, I pressed it to my face and tried to hold in my laughter. Lord, I knew I shouldn’t laugh, that it was entirely inappropriate, but I couldn’t help it.

"Can't you see how uncomfortable you're making Molly?" Mercy added, pointing at me hunched over on her bed. "God, Mom!"

"Oh, I do apologize, Molly, honey," Cassidy quickly said, looking embarrassed for the first time.

"It's okay," I managed to squeeze out.

"If you want to do some productive parenting, how about you tell that asshole in there to stop throwing his damn football at my wall –" Mercy paused to point to the wall that separated her bedroom from Rourke's, "Because if he keeps it up, you're gonna have a murder on your hands!"

"Mercedes!"

"I'm serious, Mom," she shot back. "I will end him."

"I thought you loved your stepbrother," Cassidy shot back with a huff. "Isn't that why we're all in this mess?"

"Semantics," Mercy bit out, not giving an inch.