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The door closed again, and I rolled to my back to watch as Mark pulled on his clothes

“He sounds—” I searched for the right word

“Off,” Mark supplied “Yeah, I know” He ca naturally into a deep, satisfying tangle of lips and tongues “I’ll be back in a bit Try to get some more sleep”

He left and I sighed, staring at the ceiling There was no way in hell I’d be able to fall back asleep

Ten minutes later, there was another knock on the door, and I kneho it was just by the sound of the knuckles hitting the wood How many times had I heard that exact cadence? More times than I could count I pulled on my clothes and took a deep breath as I opened the door

“You were shot?”at me in confusion, her face tear streaked “Why the fuck wouldn’t you tell me? I’m your mother”

“Co at Olive as I moved back into the room

My ht behind her As soon as he’d closed the door, I sat on the edge of the bed, ether in my lap

“Things were really bad,” I said, lifting s were really bad,” I said again “And I didn’t want to s worse for you”

“Bumblebee,” my dad said, his voice full of censure “It doesn’t h shit is, you can always tell us anythin’”

“How did I miss it?” my mom said, still completely bewildered “How did I not know?”

“I made sure you didn’t,” I replied I sed hard “It felt—” I searched for the right words “inconsequential, co else”

“That’s bullshit,” my mom said “Jesus, CeeCee How bad was it?”

“It was just a scratch,” I replied, reaching up to run h my t-shirt “I put a couple Band-Aids on it and it was fine”

My dad ran his hands down his face, pressing his fingers into his eye sockets in frustration or disappointment—maybe both “We fucked up,” he said, his voice strained

“I didn’t want you to know,” I reuilty that it was even there—it would’ve been a hundred ti deal about it”

“Why in God’s nauilty?” my mom said in confusion

“Because I thought I’d saved Lily,” I said, the words burning my throat “I didn’t realize I had Rose until ere behind the tree, and by then I couldn’t et to her”