The gun goes off. I fall back, and a woman screams.

“Rowan?” I whisper. Despite my pounding headache, I turn to the side and see Jase holding the gun, a look of shock on his face.

Tony lays motionless, his chest barely moving. “You’re fucked now, Simmons,” he laughs. Blood leaks out of the corner of his mouth.

“You pulled the gun on me. You hit Seth with it,” Jase says, but his voice is nothing like I’ve heard before. He actually sounds…scared. “I didn’t mean to, but you were going to shoot—” He swallows and lets the gun fall to the ground.

“Yeah, I was going to, but you can’t prove a thing now,” Tony rasps.

Sirens blare in the distance. The crowd disperses, people running everywhere. Rowan stays, though, her face pale.

“Get my sister out of here,” Jase growls.

But I don’t move. I can’t move. I’ve never seen someone get shot, much less lie there dying.

“Seth,” Jase roars, snapping me out of my trance. “Move your ass and get my sister out of here.”

I look at Rowan; her eyes are wide. She’s fucking terrified. “Oh, God. Jase, you can’t get in trouble for this. You’ll go to jail, and they’ll take me away.” Tears run down her cheeks, completely cutting at my heart.

“Rowan, honey. It’ll be okay,” he says, but we all know he’s lying.

Rowan scrubs her hands over her face. “You two leave. I’ll take the blame.” She holds out a hand. “Give me the gun.”

“Are you insane?” Jase shouts, shoving her hand away with a groan.

Images of Rowan in prison flood me. Her sweet, innocent face swollen with bruises and her eyes turning hard. My imagination runs wild with all the things that could happen to her. There’s no way I can let her do this.

“I’ll tell the cops I did it,” I blurt.

Jase and Rowan both look at me in surprise. Jase shakes his head. “No. You have to take care of my sister. You’re the only guy around here I trust to be with her.”

The sirens grow closer.

“Rowan.” I manage to get to my feet. “Go. Take your brother with you.”

Indecision plays over her beautiful face before it turns hard. “You can’t make me choose between the two of you. I won’t.” She crosses her arms. “You go down; we all go down.”

“Jesus, Rowan. This isn’t a fucking movie.” Jase winces, grabbing his ribs. “Son of a bitch.”

“Cracked a few?”

“Or broke them.” He stands slowly and breathes out. His face turns white. “Fuck, that hurts.”

“Rowan, leave,” I say. “I’ll stay here with Jase.”

She shakes her head. “Nope.”

Before I can argue with her anymore, the cops show up. They take one look at the four of us, mutter the words, “Simmons boy,” and then break out the handcuffs.

Rowan

SIX MONTHS LATER

I’m sitting in the holding cell with Seth. He’s wearing a standard orange jumpsuit. His face is swollen on one side, the skin around his eye on his good side is mottled purple and green, and his lip is busted. Every last injury is due to a paperwork error that had put him in the general population. The stupid guard took great pleasure in telling me how much a pretty boy like Seth caused a ruckus.

Bile rises and I force it down, taking a deep breath. I can’t imagine the horror he’s been through, or how he must feel right now. Only, while his feelings matter to me, the rest…I don’t view him any differently.

He’s still the guy I love. The guy I want to take home with me. The guy I gave my virginity to, and the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with.

“How are you?” I ask and immediately want to smack myself. How do you think he is, Rowan? He’s in prison!

“How do you think I’ve been?” he says, his gaze sharp.

I shrink back a little. “I’m sorry—I didn’t think.” Taking another breath, I try again. “I miss you.” Since he’s been here, my life has gone to crap. And Jase…Jase is here at Western Prison, too—serving time for attempted murder.

God, if I could go back and shoot Tony Johnson myself, I would. The two men I love the most are behind bars because neither of them would listen to me.

Neither of them would let me take the fall.

Guilt overwhelms me, so my gaze lowers and I stare at the table, then the floor…anywhere but at the man sitting across from me. He doesn’t look at me like he used to….In fact, I think he hates me.

A full five minutes of silence pass before I finally speak again. “Why won’t you talk to me?”

“What do you want me to say? Thanks for making me go down for you and your brother?”

“That’s unfair, Seth. Jase has to serve seven years. That’s a hell of a lot longer than nine months,” I snap and then take a breath. This hasn’t been easy on Seth; he’s not like Jase. I have to remember that.

When Seth was sentenced, it was like the boy I knew faded away. He wouldn’t talk to anyone, including me, afterward. He let the guards handcuff him and lead him away, without looking back.

“But he didn’t get the shit beat out of him, did he, the first night and every night for a week until a paperwork mistake was corrected?” Seth blows out an angry breath. I bite the inside of my cheek so hard that blood spills into my mouth. “He doesn’t have to join the fucking Marines and get sent off to war to reduce his jail sentence, does he?”

“You could always get your lawyer to contest it,” I say softly. “Everyone knows Judge Smith gives creative judgments.” But because he’s been on the bench so long and has accumulated so many friends in high places, no one dares to question him.

“Yeah, right, Rowan. Keep dreaming.”

“I’m only trying to—”

He pounds his fist on the table and I jump. “Quit trying to do anything but listen to me. I got a death sentence from some crackpot judge who wanted to make sure I never pulled something like this again. I’ve never been in trouble in my entire life, Rowan. Who’s going to take care of my grandmother now? You?”

Miserable and helpless, I nod as tears spring to my eyes. “Yes. I’ll take care of her. I’m already living with her. Miss Myrtle took me in after…everything,” I say quietly.

“Good.” The fierce look on his face fades a little, and I ache to take him in my arms. I want to make him feel better. I want to assure him that everything will be okay. “Promise me you’ll take care of her,” he says.

I reach out, grab his hand, and squeeze it tight, but it’s entirely one-sided. “I promise. I swear I’ll take care of her, Seth.”

Finally, finally, his hands cover mine as he lifts them to his lips. He breathes in, eyes closing. “Promise me one more thing, sweetheart.”

“Anything.” I mean it. I’ll do anything for him if it means he’ll keep loving me. If it means he’ll stop being this guy I don’t recognize.

His eyes open and my breath catches. They’re like obsidian. Hard and cold. “Don’t ever come see me again.”

A cry escapes my mouth before I can stop it while the rest of me is frozen and hard, like a statue. Only on the inside, I’m crumbling. I’m dying.

“Please don’t be this way,” I whisper brokenly. “Please. I’ve already lost Jase. I can’t lose you, too.”

He rises to his feet. “You already have.”

I watch as he calls for the guard to come get him, as he’s handcuffed once more and led away.

Jumping up, I run after him, but another guard puts out his hand.

“Don’t you fucking touch her,” Seth barks, jerking back and putting himself between the guard and me. Hope springs in my chest. If he didn’t care about me, why would he bother to say that? “Unless you like going to prison for a crime you didn’t commit.”

Stunned, I stare up at him. Seth’s dark eyes search my face, like he’s trying to memorize it. This isn’t the boy I love, but he’s in there. I know it. Finding my nerve once more, I take a step toward him. “Seth, I—”