saying—that he cut himself.”

Grabbing the gap between the blade and the bottom of the

skate, he slips off his skate, tosses it to the side, and stretches out his toes. “You don’t believe that, do you?”

Part of me does, whenever I think about that night when

Kayden and I had sex and there were all those fresh wounds on his

arms. I didn’t think about it at the time, but they could have been

track marks from self-inflicted injuries. But I don’t believe that he stabbed himself.

“I think it might have been his dad.” Saying it aloud changes

everything, makes it real, true. I’m breathless, not just because of

the idea of Kayden’s father stabbing him, but because Kayden

hasn’t said anything and it aches to think about what his silence

could mean. I know the pain that causes that kind of silence way

too well.

Luke kicks off his other skate, then relaxes back in the bench

and crosses his arms. “You know, I remember when we were kids

and Kayden used to sleep over at my house all the time. I always

thought it was weird because he wanted to stay at my house and

not his. Mine was a fucking shithole and my mother’s fucking

crazy. I didn’t get it, until the first time I stayed over at his house.”

I want to know why he thinks his mother is crazy, but the

tension in his jawline is an indicator not to ask. “What happened?”

He pulls off his gloves, balls them up, and puts them into the

pocket of his jacket. The intensity in his liquid brown eyes carries

the severity of what he’s about to tell me. “I broke a cup. Not on

purpose, but still the fucking cup was broken and that’s all that

mattered. I remember when it happened, Kayden flipped out. We

were like ten and I didn’t get it. It was a fucking cup, right?” He

exhales loudly and I notice that his hands have a slight tremble to

them. “Anyway, Kayden’s panicking and yelling at me to get the

broom from the storage closet. So I go to get it, but it’s not in the storage closet. So I start looking everywhere and finally find it in

the hallway closet. At this point, I can hear all this yelling coming from the kitchen.” He pauses and his throat muscles move as he

swallows hard.

I realize my own hands are shaking and my heart’s

hammering inside my chest. “What happened? When you went

back into the kitchen?”

He stares at the other side of the rink. “Kayden was on the

floor and his father was standing above him, with his knee bent,

like he was getting ready to kick him. Kayden had blood all over

his hands because he was crawling through the shards trying to

pick them all up. He had this huge cut on his face and there was a

piece of the cup in his dad’s hand.” He pauses. “Kayden denied his

father did anything to him, but I can put two and two together.”

I breathe through my nose over and over again, fighting

back the tears. “Did he ever tell you the truth?”

“About that day?” He shakes his head. “But there was one

time I was over there and he got into this huge argument with his

father and his father hit him right in front of me, so after that the cat was kind of out of the bag.”

I wiggle my foot out of the skate, shut my eyes, and let my

lungs expand as cold air fills them. “Do you ever feel guilty for not saying anything?”

He’s quiet for a very long time, and when I open my eyes,

he’s watching me. “All the God damn time,” he says with fire in his

eyes.

There’s a moment when Luke and I are connected by a piece

of thread that’s frayed and thin and very breakable. Then it’s over

and he gets to his feet, collects his skates by the laces, and heads

for the locker that’s holding our shoes. I follow him, grabbing my

skates before rounding the bench. We put on our shoes and walk

to his truck, not speaking and allowing the guilt to seep into our

already chilled bodies. He starts up his old battered truck but

dithers when he’s about to shove the shifter into gear.

“Maybe we should go see him,” he says and pushes the stick

shift forward into drive. He cranks the wheel to the right and turns

up the heater before pressing the gas and pulling out of the

parking spot. “I’ve got only one more class before Christmas break,

but I can blow it off. I already took the final.”

“But they’re not letting anyone see him except for family,” I

remind him as I bend my arm and reach behind me for the seat

belt. “At least that’s what my mom told me yesterday when I called

her. She said that Maci told her he wasn’t allowed visitors except

for her and that he can’t even talk on the phone.”

His gaze cuts to me as he stops the truck at the exit and

looks both ways at the empty street. “You believe her?”

I pull the seat belt down and buckle it, and then my

shoulders lift and slump. “I don’t know. Maci Owens is a lot of

things, but why would she lie about that?”

“To cover up what really happened.” The truck fishtails as he

pulls out onto the main road that’s slippery with snow. It’s late, the sky is gray, and the lampposts lining the street highlight the flakes falling from the sky.

I’m about to tell him yes, let’s drive down the highway and

fly toward Afton. I was planning on heading back in a few days

anyway, but then my phone starts playing “Hate Me,” by Blue

October.

I frown. “It’s my mom.” I take my phone out of my pocket

and stare at the glowing screen. I briefly consider letting it go to

voicemail where she could yammer to it about how messed up she

thinks it is that Kayden beat up Caleb. But giving her an open door

to a one-sided conversation is like Christmas morning for her and I

don’t want to have to listen to her go on and on in hopes of

hearing something important.

I press TALK and put the phone up to my ear. “Hello.”

“Hi, sweetie,” she singsongs and my face instantly sinks.

“How are you?”

“Fine.” I ignore Luke’s questioning stare and watch the road.

“You don’t sound fine,” she replies and then sighs. “Callie,

you’re not going back to being depressed again, are you? Because

I thought college was healing that.”

“I was never depressed,” I respond flatly. “Just quiet.”

She sighs exaggeratedly and I grit my teeth. “Look, honey, I

just wanted to let you know that Caleb’s probably going to be

pressing charges against Kayden for what he did.”

“What!” I exclaim, startling Luke enough that he jumps and

swerves the truck a little and the side of the tire clips the curb,

causing the truck to lurch. He quickly regains control and I lower

my voice and press my finger to my ear to hear better as I huddle

toward the door. “What the fuck do you mean he’s pressing