Chapter 14
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I found it wedged under the couch cushion, right where I’d left it. The locket. Silver, scuffed at the edges, still faintly warm from the sunlight filtering through the window. My fingers closed around it like it was something sacred.
Then the door slammed open behind me.
“Well, well, well,” Jenny said. “Caught you.”
I stood up too fast and nearly knocked the coffee table with my knee.
Jenny leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, an eyebrow cocked so high it could’ve launched into orbit. Her lips curled into a
smile that wasn’t a smile at all.
“Seriously? You?”
I slipped the locket into my pocket and tried not to look guilty. “I was just picking something up. I left it here.”
Jenny took a slow step into the room, her heels clicking against the floor like punctuation marks. Her gaze swept the lounge, pausing on the couch, the blanket still folded from when Richard had brought it in.
Funny. I heard Dad’s been keeping someone up here. I thought it was just a dumb rumor–until I realized no one would tell me who. So I came to see for myself. I didn’t think it’d be you.”
My jaw tensed. “It’s not like that.”
She laughed, quick and sharp. “Right. So you just happened to break in?”
“I didn’t break in,” I said. “Your dad knows I’m here. I’ve been staying for a little while, that’s all. After I broke things off with Adam, I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
Jenny blinked slowly. No shock, no gasp. Just a knowing little shrug.
“Of course you broke up. I mean, I’ve been saying for years–there was never really anything solid between you and Adam. You two didn’t make sense together.”
That stung. She’d said it before, but hearing it now, so casually–like my entire relationship was some predictable mistake–made my stomach twist.
“I called you.” I said quietly. “The night it happened. You didn’t answer”
She gave a little shrug. “I’ve been busy.”
“Right”
Jenny’s eyes narrowed. “So you’ve been staying here ever since? Like, actually living here?”
“Not living just crashing until I find a place.”
Her gaze hardened. “You and my dad aren’t… something, right? I mean, I’m not saying you are. It’s just, weird that you’re here and he didn’t say anything to me!
1 flinched Jenny, seriously? Is that really what you think of me? That I’d sneak around behind your back? That I’d throw myself at your dad the second I moved out? Am I really that desperate to you?”
She crossed her arms tighter. “I don’t know what to think. He doesn’t let people stay here. Especially not… like this.”
I forced myself to stay calm. “Nothing is going to happen. And honestly, if we’re going to talk about complicated relationships, maybe
we should talk about how hard you’ve been trying to make your parents‘ story turn out the way you want it to. Like if you just believe hard enough, they’ll pick up where they left off. But that’s not how people work. That’s not how any of this works.”
Jenny didn’t spra. But she didn’t look convinced either.
“You don’t know anything about my family, she muttered.
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Chapter 14
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“Maybe not. But I know what I see. And I don’t see two people planning to get back together. I see someone trying to move forward, and someone else trying to rewrite the past.”
Her voice cracked. “They still have dinner sometimes. That means something. They still care about each other. You don’t know what
that’s like.”
“I’m not trying to take anything from you. I didn’t even want to be here. You weren’t answering, and I was falling apart. I didn’t know where else to go.”
“You always make everything about you. Like you’re the victim.”
My hands curled into fists. “You say that like I haven’t spent years trying to earn respect while being looked down on for not having a wolf.”
“Don’t start with that martyr crap. You want people to feel sorry for you. You always have.”
“No, Jenny,” I said, my voice trembling now. “I want to be left alone. I want to be treated like I belong. I want to live without needing to prove my worth every second of the day. But somehow, I still keep ending up in rooms like this–being interrogated by people who are supposed to be my friends.”
Jenny stepped back like I’d struck her.
The air between us crackled.
That was when the door creaked open again.
Nathan. Of course.
He paused in the doorway, looking between the two of us like he’d stumbled onto a crime scene.
“Everything alright in here?”
Jenny whirled on him, voice sugary and sharp. “You need to make sure she stays away from my dad. From now on. Got it?”
Nathan blinked. “Uh-”
“She’s been staying here,” Jenny continued. “And I had no idea. Doesn’t that seem a little off to you? Like… why wouldn’t he tell me something like that?”
Nathan looked at me, then at the folded blanket on the couch. He didn’t say anything. But the discomfort on his face said it all. Jenny never exploded like this. And I never fought back. Until now.
“I don’t want her near him,” Jenny snapped. “She’s obviously overstepping.
Jenny-
But before Nathan could finish, a shadow crossed the doorway.
Richard.
The room went still.
He stepped inside, silent and calm, though his eyes flicked between us with practiced sharpness.
Jenny turned the moment she saw him, her voice sharp, edged with accusation. “Dad. I was just telling Nathan–Mom said she’s coming back soon. I don’t know exactly when, but she’s serious. And now I find out you’ve been letting people stay here–people I’m supposed to know better than anyone–without even telling me? What am I supposed to think? You’re hiding things from me now? From your own daughter?”
She glanced–no, glared at me.
“You should really think about who you let stay here?
Howered my gaze, shame crawling up the back of my neck. I didn’t even know what I was doing here anymore. Maybe I’d made a mistake staying this long. Maybe this really was about to blow up everything.
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Chapter 14
Richard didn’t respond right away. He looked at Jenny. Really looked at her.
“And when,” he said coldly, “did you start making decisions for me?”
The silence afterward cracked like lightning.
Jenny’s mouth opened. Closed. She blinked, stunned.
Nathan looked like he wanted to sink into the floor.
I couldn’t move.
Richard turned to me next, but he didn’t say anything. Just looked. And somehow, that said more than any words could.
Jenny tried again. “Dad-”
“Enough.” His voice was low. Final.
She flinched.
For the first time in our entire friendship, Jenny didn’t get the last word.
And for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t sure what that meant for either of us.
Richard finally turned to Nathan. “Escort Amelia back to her desk, please.”
“Yes, sir, Nathan said, stepping forward quickly.
I followed him out of the room, my heart thudding in my ears. I didn’t dare look back at Jenny.
As the door shut behind us, Nathan whispered, “That could’ve gone worse.”
I snorted softly. “Not by much.”
He chuckled, glancing sideways at me. “She’s… intense.”
“She’s Jenny,” I muttered.
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Nathan let out a low breath, shaking his head slightly. “You and Jenny used to be tight. Didn’t think I’d ever see you two actually go at it. And Richard… I’ve never seen him speak to her like that.” He hesitated, then added, a bit more gently, “Felt like something new cracked open in there.”
But something in me was still shaking, because that wasn’t just a fight. That was a fracture.
And fractures don’t always heal clean.
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