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Tears filled her eyes and she stayed quiet The seconds ticked by Reckoning--this was a reckoning

"And then he screairl beat me"

Amy rolled her eyes and I felt a smile spread across rabbed h to leave a teek bruise--and then sputtered that I was a disappointment because I’d let a cunt beat me"

All Amy did was blink

"I’ how foolish it was to just blurt that out The ie of Dad’s words and face was so branded ined le word

"He said that?" she gasped

"Yes Reverend Hinton called the girl I’d fallen in love with a--yes"

"See you next Tuesday," she muttered

"No, he said the whole word," I explained "Because that’s when I turned into so off in ets aith it"

She s and eyes filled with tears

"No one, Arowl out of h a ragged breath, I choked out: "Especially not my father"

Amy

My apartment had been so crowded that the breath of so h it was just ers, his father’s self-abuse to spin a story, thewords about me that were unspeakable--it all made me ache inside for poor Sam and all he’d endured

"Before we talk about anything else, let ht, it wasn’t what you thought I swear, Aainst the way and Liam saw it all--"

"I believe you"

"You do?

I love you The text said I love you Everyone in the group kneas a stripper, and I could iht noanted Sam, too

Except I wanted all of him Not just his body

I love you

"Why didn’t you trust h to tell me?"

A kick to the stomach couldn’t have has as much impact as my words His face screwed up in pain "Because I’m stupid"

I shot him an oh, please look

"No, I really aht with you"

"I don’t need everything to be right" The air crackled with energy, sparks flying between us "I need you to be real"

Placing his pal, he put his hands in front of his lips and closed his eyes Disconcerting, though--he was still wearing that damn cop uniform and it made the whole conversation tilt a bit, surreal and weird

"Ask away"

"The whole truth?"

"Nothing but"

"Get ready for the cross examination of your life"

"Yes, ma’am"

"You’ve been coraduated high school, yes I mean, the Connors and the Rosses have helped me here and there when I needed a place to crash, like for Spring Break, but otherwise" His voice trailed off He looked sick, like so Telling the truth when you’ve been taught to craft lies ht? Backwards and inside out it all was, but that’s reality when you’ve lived with parents whose entire sense of being revolves around convincing their kids that the surface lie matters more than the deep truth

"Sam, why didn’t you call or text me? Or answer my e to figure out what to do Amy, it was like I lived in a constant state of panic, and I didn’t kno to talk to you I had broken hands, no houred you would just reject ot out that I was some maniac who attacked ht My " after all that I didn’t end up with "someone like that" Oh, God

She knew

Except she didn’t know She knew the cover story and ran with it