Page 85 of Burned

I press one hand to my mouth and breathe through my nose.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

A knock comes.

One sharp rap. All business.

Not Lucian.

He would not knock like that. He would either speak through the door like a threat in a tailored shirt or open it because locks are suggestions to him.

“Rin,” Cass says.

My heart breaks. “No.”

“Tell me.”

“I said no.”

“I know. You say lots of things when you’re being stupid,” she says.

A laugh escapes me, wet and ugly.

“Shut up.” I wipe away a tear.

“We don’t say that,” she jokes.

“Cass, don’t laugh right now.”

“We need each other.” Her voice dips. “Now more than ever.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. My chest hurts.

Then Cass says, softer, “That’s why we’re going to sit right here until you tell me.”

The sob that rises in me is so sudden I barely swallow it back.

Finally, she says, “What did Caleb mean?”

Everything inside me folds. The answer is not simple.

“Rin,” she says.

I say, “I need you not to ask.”

“No,” she says, “you don’t get to lock me out of this because you’re scared I’ll break. I’m already broken if you hadn’t noticed.” She nods to the chair.

Caleb broke something in all of us and then left us to crawl around the pieces. But I’ve shielded her from this. It would hurt too much.

“Erin. What happened?” Cass’s hands tighten on the wheels of her chair.

Tears spill before I can stop them.