Page 188 of The Forbidden Note

Mom stares me down. “For years, you were screaming about the injustice that happened to Sloane, but do you even have the right to defend her? You’re turning into the very monster that you’re trying to hunt down.”

Those words crash into me, shattering my heart. I swipe away an angry tear and keep my mouth shut.

“Say something,” mom hisses.

I inspect the ground instead.

Mom grabs my arms and shakes me. “Say something, dammit!”

“What can I say? You won’t believe me anyway.”

Her angry breathing rattles in the hallway.

I stare at her, my chest heaving.

“Do you really have feelings for that boy?” mom hisses.

My heart starts thumping in my throat. I inhale a deep breath as I try to form a sharp and resounding ‘no’. But the word gets stuck in my throat, buried under the memory of Zane’s touch as he held my hand at the cliff. His kiss as our broken souls found solace under the stars. I see him climbing over Hall and punching him into the ground. I trace the memory of his deep voice when he promised I belonged to him.

The smart thing to do, theonlything to do is to deny it.

The word ‘no’ is so close to my lips, I can taste it.

But my heart thumps faster.

And I can’t say it.

I wish I could.

I really do.

Tears crop up in my eyes from the effort, from the pain, from the feeling that I’m being torn in a million pieces.

“Gracie, please—”

“I… don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Her eyes widen. “You don’t… know if you have feelings for an eighteen year old?”

My chin hits my chest.

“Do you know the havoc that would wreak if even a whiff of news got out? Redwood Prep Teacher. Sex Scandal. At minimum, you’ll be an outcast. At best, you could go to jail. Do you want your name smeared for all eternity? Do you want your freedom snatched away from you? Because that’s what will happen if you keep fooling around.”

I inhale a deep breath.

Mom huffs. “I can’t look at you. Don’t… don’t talk to me until you sort this out.”

My eyes widen.

Hurt crashes into my chest.

Beyond the pain, I see my chance at talking to mom about Jarod slipping away.

Fists clenched at my side, I struggle to regain control of the conversation, but there’s no other way.

“Wait,” I blurt.

She stops.