I slow down before I hit the turn in front of me. I’d love to give her a little gas, see what it feels like to get Bitty’s wheels spinning the way Penny does, but I also know I have enough marks against me that I don’t want to add crashing her truck to the list.

That thought makes last night slam into me again. Not the good parts, either. The parts where she told me a loser who liked to party too much killed her dad. Someone just like me.

And I didn’t tell her. I kissed her, touched her, but I couldn’t make my weak-ass mouth open to tell her the truth. I’m not stupid enough not to realize this isn’t huge. That I’m not doing the wrong thing by lying to her, but also because of everything else: the drinking, the pills, the hospital. Yeah, way too much to even count. All the ways I’ve thought I’ve been doing good since I’ve been here suddenly don’t amount to much.

My fist itches to hit something the way she slammed her fist into the truck’s side.

I remember her hands, and the way it felt like she punched me when I saw the blood dripping down them. It sucks to see your girl hurt, and all I wanted to do was make it better. All of it: me, the pain, and her mom. Damn, that was intense.

And then just now… I told her how huge it was her mom lied to her, but what about me? I’m doing the same thing.

I know I’m screwed when I get back to the cabins because her mom yelled at me to leave her alone this morning, but all I could think about was that Penny would freeze her ass off in that tank top. That she needed the cream for her tat so it heals right. That I didn’t want her to be alone when she was hurt. It sucks to deal with that stuff alone, and I don’t want that for her. Don’t want any of the shit that clouds my life to rain down on her. She’s too good for that. Too good for me. All this time, and I’m just now realizing how screwed up I am.

And when she finds out, she’ll probably try and kick my ass.

I pull the truck into the driveway and park it right in front of their house, wishing like hell I didn’t have to do this, but hoping it will fix the situation. If I tell her the truth, hopefully Penny won’t get in trouble for it later. It’s not enough to forgive my sins, but maybe it can be one thing to be proud of.

My hands shake as I jog up the stairs, but I ignore it and knock on the door. Half of me hopes Gramps opens up so we can work on the car and I can forget about her mom, but then that would make me a coward, and I’m done being afraid of everything.

Again, I knock, louder this time, so she knows I’m not going to let her ignore me. I saw her mom’s car, so I know she’s home. A couple seconds later, the door pulls open. She’s wearing her scrubs for work and a scowl that’s probably half the size of Seldon.

I’m so screwed.

“Umm, hey.” My hands shove into my pockets. I’ve never had to do this kind of thing before. I joined the band so young, most of the girls I’ve dated have been groupies, so it’s not like I had to do the whole meet-the-parent thing. “I’m Bishop… Well, obviously, you know I’m Bishop. I wanted to come by and apologize about this morning. It wasn’t Penny’s fault. We were playing the drums and then she fell asleep during the movie. I should have woken her up, but I didn’t…so yeah, it’s not her fault. It’s mine.”

If anything, the scowl is even deeper now. I wonder if Penny realizes her and her mom are alike in that they can both smell bullshit a mile away. Not that we didn’t just fall asleep, but this woman knows there was more than movie and drums going on last night.

“It won’t happen again.” My words don’t make her stop looking at me like I’m something she stepped in. “It was an accident, but my accident.” Shut the hell up, Riley!

“Are you done?” she asks.

Yep, definitely screwed.

“I know who you are, Bishop.”

My head drops back, and I let out a breath. This is it now. She’s definitely not going to keep this secret. Not that it should be a secret anymore. Secrets mean lies, and Penny hates being lied to.

“I’ve seen your type before.”

The weight on my chest lessens. She doesn’t know. Not about the band and the other stuff.

“You came here with a chip on your shoulder, your family throwing money around and renting out the place. You buy your drums, which I know had to cost a fortune, and sit around banging on them all day without a care in the world, and I was okay with that. Okay that Gramps is fond of you, that you spend half your time here when you obviously think you’re better than the rest of everyone—”

“I don’t,” I cut her off, knowing it’s wrong, but at this point, I don’t care. “I don’t think I’m better than Gramps…Penny…”

She holds up her hand. “Like I said, I was okay with that as long as it didn’t affect my daughter. Now it does. She’s a good girl. She loves her family. She’s smart. Incredible at hockey. She has a huge future ahead of her. She’ll be leaving soon for college, and Penny’s excited about that. I don’t want anything to get in her way. Penny may be friends with boys, but that’s the only way she’s ever seen them. She’s definitely not like that other girl I saw going into your cabin last week.”

Ah, shit. She knows about Maryanne.

“Her attitude this morning was so unlike her. You’re the only thing that’s changed to make her act this way.”

My first instinct is to tell her she doesn’t know her own daughter. Yeah, Penny is all the things she said, and she’s definitely not like Maryanne, but she also doesn’t want to go. She doesn’t want the future they’re trying to shove down her throat, and second, she’s much stronger than her mom gives her credit for.

Shaking my head, I know I’ll regret this later. This woman can kick us out, make Penny stay away from me, but I can’t keep my mouth shut. “I may be all the things you think I am, and in a lot of ways, Penny is as well, but you don’t really know her. Not if you think she’d let someone like me stand in the way of her life. She’s not afraid to step up and take whatever she wants. I don’t know a lot of people who can say that, if anyone.”

With that, I turn and walk away from her. I should probably go pack my stuff, but I don’t. For the first time, I go to Gary’s for something other than a pill or mandatory therapy session.

“Troy, I gotta let you go, baby,” Gary says into the phone as I step inside. And for the first time, I don’t even want to give him crap for talking to Troy so often. I actually kind of get it—especially since this Alaska thing is something they usually do together. And if I wasn’t here, I think I’d want to talk to Penny every day, too.

“Hey.” He rubs a hand over his shaggy hair and sits down on the couch next to me, closing his laptop on the table. He’s in a pair of flannel pajama bottoms, looks like he could use a shave, and I notice a new pair of earrings in his ears.

“Gift from Troy?” I nod at his ears.

“Yep. I doubt that’s what you’re here for, though. You doing okay?”

Yes and no. I’m not exactly sure why I came here. “Yeah, I’m good.” Gary waits, and I realize he’s good at this. He’s probably sat with a lot of people like me who had the weight of the world on their shoulders but couldn’t make themselves talk, to make some of it fall away.

“So…did you hear any yelling outside this morning or did you sleep through it?” This is kind of weird.

“Are you kidding? I sleep through your drumming half the night. I can sleep through anything.”

I scratch my head, keeping my hand as a wall between us. “So, Penny was sneaking out of my cabin this morning, and her mom caught her. I just tried to—”

“No! No, no, no, no. I knew you guys were getting close, and it’s actually kind of romantic, but no! Don’s going to kill me. I can’t believe you boinked the girl at her mom’s house!”

“What?” My hand falls. “First of all, a guy should never say ‘boinked.’ Second, I haven’t slept with her. I mean, I slept with her, but I didn’t have sex with her.”