I hold his steely gaze, my own giving nothing away.

He gives me a dubious look and then pushes the door open wider, standing aside, letting me in. “Evie’s in her room. And you know the rules. Door stays open.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Taylor—I mean, Mick. Hey, Case.” I wave to her as I cut through the living room, heading for Evie’s room.

“Hey, Adam.” She lifts her head from her book, giving me a wave and a smile.

I walk down the short hall toward Evie’s bedroom. Stopping outside her door, I hear the angry sounds of Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter” coming from inside her room.

Definitely not a good sign.

Taking a deep breath, I knock on her door.

“I’m sleeping, Dad!” she yells. But her voice sounds off.

I open the door, letting myself in. She’s turned away from me, facing the wall her bed is set against.

“Hey, babe,” I say softly.

Her body stiffens at the sound of my voice. Her response to me makes me feel ill.

“Can I come in?”

“What are you asking me for? You’re already in my room without my permission.” She sits up and turns the music off. Then, she presses her back to the headboard, her knees bent, arms around them.

I examine her face. Her eyes are red. She’s been crying.

My heart twists painfully in my chest.

I move across the room, sitting beside her. “Evie.”

I reach for her, but she wards me off with her hands.

The rejection stings like a bitch.

“I don’t know what just happened back there, at your house, but I didn’t like it. Max told me a little, that your mom is a bitch—his words, not mine—”

“She is a bitch.”

“I know you’ve told me before that she’s not a good person. But you never talk about your family. All I know is that your mom is Ava Gunner, the movie actress, and your dad owns a movie studio that will be yours one day, but you don’t actually want it. And that’s all I know.

“Then, your mother turns up today, and I have never been more uncomfortable in my whole life. The way she talked to me—and worse, the things she said to you—it was awful, Adam. But what was worse was the way you treated me. You said that”—her eyes fill with tears again, her lip trembling—“I was nothing. A friend. Your friend, for God’s sake. Is what we’ve been doing what friends do? You told her that we’re not really seeing each other.

“So, what was that, Adam? Your way of blowing me off? Or…or are you…are you just ashamed of me because I don’t come from money, like your family?”

Tears openly run down her cheeks, and my chest feels like it’s cracking wide open.

“Fuck no. Jesus, Evie.” I take her face in my hands, not letting her push me away this time, forcing her eyes to meet mine. “I could never be ashamed of you. I love you.”

Her eyes go wide, blinking at me. “You…love me?”

I take a deep breath. “Yeah, I do. Not exactly the way I envisaged telling you, but it’s the truth. I love you. I’m in love with you. And the only people I’m ashamed of are me and my mother. I’m sorry I said those things, but you don’t understand. Ava wrecks everything she touches. She’s poison. And I don’t want you anywhere near her. I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you, Evie. You’re everything to me.”

I press my forehead to hers, my eyes closed, and I just breathe her in.

“You won’t lose me,” she says softly, her hands resting against my arms. “I’m in love with you, too, Adam. And I’m not going anywhere.”

Then, she kisses me.

And nothing has ever felt so good in my whole life as hearing Evie tell me that she loves me.

In this moment, I know that I’ll never recover from her, and I don’t ever want to.

This is it for me. She is it.

“You don’t have class today?” I ask Casey, not taking my eyes off the TV screen where Aria and Ezra are totally heating it up.

It’s my day off, and I’m spending it watching Pretty Little Liars.

I know my life is lame. People usually spend their days off with their friends or boyfriend, not in front of the TV with no other plans than that.

But I don’t have any friends here, except for Angie. And she’s not a close friend, just a work friend. As for a boyfriend—ha!

I’m currently in the middle of getting a divorce from the only man I ever loved…still love. But let’s not get into that right now.

Back to Ezra…

“Yeah, I’m heading out in a few.” Casey sits on the edge of the sofa, totally blocking my view of the TV.

Sighing, I look around her. Holding up the remote, I pause it.

“Where’s Dad?” she asks me.

“The library.”

“Again? Good to know he’s getting use out of the Kindle we got him for his birthday.”

“Ah, cut him some slack. It’s good for him to get out and about. Anyway, I think he has the hots for the librarian.”

“Really?” She lifts an eyebrow.

“Yep. She’s pretty, too. I saw her when I went with him the other day.”

Dad hasn’t shown interest in anyone since Mom died. It’s nice to see him recognizing that the opposite sex does exist again. Maybe I should take a page out of his book.

I reach down and grab my water. After taking a drink, I put it back down.

As I shift back to my spot, I see Casey staring at me. “What?” I say.

“Are you…okay? You just haven’t seemed like yourself lately.”

“I’m fine.”

“It’s only ten a.m., and you’ve already polished off a tub of Chunky Monkey.” She taps the empty carton with her foot.

“I was hungry.”

“And the Cheetos?” She indicates the super-size bag on the coffee table, sitting there waiting for me.

“Brunch.” I grin at her.

“So, you don’t plan on moving at all today?”

“Nope. Now, if you don’t mind”—I nudge her with my leg—“I have some TV to watch, and you have class to get to.”

She doesn’t budge. She’s still staring at me. I know my sister. I know she’s considering saying something to me.

“Come on, Case, just spit it out. If you want to say something to me, let’s get it over with, so I can get back to watching my show.”

She tilts her head to the side, her blonde bangs spilling into her gray eyes. She has Mom’s eyes. Sometimes, she reminds me of Mom so much that it hurts.

But it would hurt an awful lot more not to have Casey here.

If only I could have Mom here, too.

And Adam.

Then, life would be totally perfect.

But perfect and me don’t go together.

“I heard you telling Dad that not long after we moved here, you saw Adam.”

Every muscle in my body tenses.

Casey knows Adam and I were married, and then we weren’t. And that’s all she knows, all she needs to know.

“And?” I can’t help the frown that pulls on my face.

“Well, I’d say that’s a pretty big deal, seeing the man you loved, the guy you married and then left a week later, after all this time. It had to have been at least a little weird.”

“Not really.”

“No? It would have been for me.”

“It’s not a big deal because it’s ancient history.” It’s such a big deal that I could cry right now from just talking about it.

“History can be painful to relive. I know something went down with him, and you’ve never really gotten over it—even though you’d never tell me,” she says pointedly.

“There’s nothing to tell. We were married, and then we weren’t. And I got over it.” I sigh, looking at the wall.

Lying to Casey sucks. I’ve always hated doing it.

But sometimes, you have to protect people from the truth they don’t need to know.

My life is one big, fat lie.

Since the moment I told that first lie ten years ago, I’ve done nothing but lie since. It gets pretty tiring sometimes.