Her brow shoots up and she leans up a little straighter, looking over to see if Jess and Ashlei are listening. They’re both focused on the TV again, Jess shoveling popcorn into her mouth at a rapid rate. Cassie drops her voice a little lower. “What’s going on?”

“He says he’s fine, but ever since we got back from the cruise, something’s been off. We were supposed to hang out that night after spa day and he bailed on me. Then again the next day. And the next. And I literally haven’t seen him since he kissed me goodbye at the dock.” My stomach drops a little when I say it out loud. In my head and in the texts we’ve sent back and forth, it didn’t sound that bad. He was tired, he had school work, his friend back home had a crisis – it all seemed plausible. But when I say it out loud, I realize the truth I should have already known. He’s avoiding me.

The question is, why?

Cassie’s mouth pulls to the side. “Are you seeing him this week at all?”

“Wednesday. I’m staying over.”

She grins and waggles her eyebrows. “Well, I’m sure he’ll make up for all the time lost.”

I nudge her hard but can’t help but smile. I hope she’s right. I hope I’m overanalyzing it and we’re fine. He seemed like he had completely forgiven me. We had an amazing night together after I confessed everything and our last day of the cruise in Key West was perfect. But maybe being on his own gave him time to think.

Maybe he doesn’t forgive me, after all.

- Yeah, that’s fine. -

I try to focus on the show and enjoying the time with my sisters, but I can’t stop thinking about Kip. I need to hear more from him than an excuse not to hang out with me. That’s all I’ve had for almost a week now and I can’t handle it anymore. I like to think I’m stronger than I was in high school, but my insecurities sneak back up on me when I least expect them. And when they do, they grip me like the jaws of a lion and I can’t shake them loose.

- Kip, are we okay? -

- Of course we are. Why would you ask? -

- Seriously? -

- I know, I’m sorry. I promise, you and I are fine. I’m just dealing with some home stuff right now. -

- Let me help you. Let me come over. We can talk about it. -

- I just need some time to think right now, Skyler. I promise it has nothing to do with you, but I’m not ready to talk to you about it. I’m not ready to talk to anyone about it. –

I sigh, debating the next text. We said that we loved each other that night on the boat, but not again since then. As petty as it sounds, I really need to hear it from him right now. My fingers are shaking slightly when I press the send button and wait.

- Okay, I understand. I love you, Tommy. ;) -

- I love you too, Ella Mae. -

An infectious smile spreads to my cheeks and I bite my bottom lip. It’s crazy that a simple text can make my stomach flip like this, but it’s exactly what I needed. I place my phone on my bedside table and plug it into the charger. Just as I settle back down against the pillows for more Netflix binging, our door swings open.

Erin.

We all sort of stiffen when we see her, but no one says a word. The other girls have still been hanging out with Erin, they haven’t shunned her or anything, but I think it’s easy to pick up on the fact that no one is okay with what she did. It feels like an hour passes before she finally says something.

“Little, can I talk to you?” She asks the question softly, holding her one arm crossed over her front and clinging to the elbow of her other arm. The bags under her eyes have slowly gotten worse over the past few days and I can’t help but ache a little for her, even though I’m pissed enough to punch her in the nose right now.

“About what?”

Erin gives me a pleading look and I sigh, throwing back the covers a little more dramatically than necessary. I follow her out of our room and down the hall to hers, but I don’t move far inside. I stand near the entrance with my arms crossed over my chest, waiting.

“Come sit down.” she gestures to her bed.

“I’ll stand.”

Erin sighs, rolling her eyes a little. “Leave it to you to make this even harder than it already is.”

Before I realize what I’m doing, I make my way swiftly across the room and slap my Big hard across the face. Her head moves with the hit, her hand flying up in shock to cover the place where mine just made contact. Erin nods a little, her eyes watering slightly as she turns back around to face me.

“Fair enough, I deserved that,” she says, still rubbing her cheek. “But I’m not the only one at fault here, Little.”

I let out a mock laugh and turn to leave. Forget this, I didn’t sign up to listen to her tell me how her being a shitty person is my fault.

“Wait!” She chases after me and against my better judgment, I stop by the door again. “Please, let’s just talk about this. I’m not saying it was all your fault, I know it’s mostly mine, but just let me speak. We have to work this out. You can’t be mad at me forever.”

“The hell I can’t,” I say, turning back to face her. My hand still stings from hitting her face. I wish I felt sorry, but I don’t. The anger I was trying so hard to keep under control is raging through me now. I’m Skyler fucking Thorne. I don’t take shit from any guy, yet I’ve taken more than a heap from the girl standing in front of me. I’m done.

“You’re a bitch, Ex. I’m your Little. Your Little. You’re supposed to take care of me, to help me through college, to be my mentor in all things. Instead, you wrapped me up in this twisted game that you knew I was uncomfortable playing and when it was all finally over and we could move on, you gave me one last jab with your knife like the last thing you wanted to see was for me to come out of this whole mess alive. I don’t owe you anything, Erin. Nothing.”

“I know that, okay?!” Erin screams, taking a few steps toward me. The tears in her eyes start to pool feverishly, glossing over her chocolate irises until just one blink sends them cascading down her cheeks. “You think I don’t see that what I’ve done is pathetic and disgusting? I can’t even talk to anyone I know about how I feel because I’m ashamed to admit what I asked you to do. And on the cruise? Yeah, I made one of the worst choices of my entire life, Little. I fucked up.” She chokes a little, succumbing to her tears. “And I am so, so sorry. I’m sorry for what I asked you to do, for the way I’ve treated you, for what I did earlier this week. I’m sorry for all of it. I love you, Little.”

I swallow back the emotion rising in my throat and try to focus on my breathing. I still love my Big, even if she did pull a colossal bitch move, but I still don’t have words to say.

She wipes the tears from her face, soaking the sleeve of her shirt in the process. “But you hurt me too, Little.” She sniffs, looking me straight in the eye now. “You could have stopped this. You could have told me from the beginning that you couldn’t do it, that you didn’t want to. At the auction, I told you before it even started that we didn’t have to do this. You could have stopped it. And when I was getting caught up in Kip and thinking everything was working, you could have warned me that it wasn’t. You could have told me the truth. But instead, you snuck behind my back and pulled him back to you. You played your own little game so that you could come out of this whole thing unscarred.”

“You threatened me with the presidency!”

“And you knew that with or without me, you could get elected! Stop trying to make it sound like you were defenseless in all this, Sky. You didn’t stop it, and you damn sure didn’t do anything to make it right in the end. You would have never told Kip. Yeah, it wasn’t my place to tell him, but he deserved to know. If you two are going to be together, he should be able to choose to be with you knowing the truth.”