Page 62 of Burn Bright

That’s how it’s always felt between us. If I hiked through waist-deep mud in a creek, she’d be chin-deep, so I’d put her on my back.

She’d make these silly animal noises as a kid. Elephant, goat, koala, hyena. I thought they were hilarious. We laughed so much our voices would go hoarse.

We got older and older, and I didn’t want to tug her into college life too early. I didn’t want to ruin the lastgoodshe’d been experiencing. So I added physical and emotional distance between us.

I tell this all to Harriet—because I don’t know how to describe what happened that night without describing Winona. It’s about her.

And it should probably weigh on me sharing private details about a private girl, but I’m sotangledin this mess about Winona that it’s more painful keeping it inside.

Who is Harriet even going to tell? I trust she won’t run to a tabloid. I trust she won’t narc to a stranger. I trust she’ll protect this knowledge because it’d hurt another girl if she didn’t.

I put my worn ballcap on the table behind me. “When I left for college, it’s not like I was leaving Winona all alone. She has three other best friends. They’re the four youngest girls in my family.” I pause to see if she knows.

Recognition glints in her eyes. “Your sister is one?”

“Yeah, we kind of refer to them as the girl squadsince they’re all around the same age. It’s Audrey Cobalt, Winona Meadows, Kinney Hale, and Vada Abbey.”

“Vada…? I think I’ve heard of her, but hate to break it to you, I didn’t do my homework on this one.”

I smile a little. “How very un-Harriet of you.”

“You mean un-Cobalt?”

“Ah, you’re not a Cobalt yet. I haven’t proposed, Friend.”

Her cheeks go bright red.Did I go too far?I skim her features more, but she says, “Okay, you’re fucking with me.”

“Just a little bit.” My smile widens, and honestly, I can’t believe I’m even smiling while in the midst of describing this agonized past. A smile toys at her lips too. “I wouldn’t fuck with you that hard, Harriet.”

She drops her backpack to her feet. “Think I can’t take it?”

“You probably could. I just prefer teasing lightly…gently.”

Harriet studies me like I’ve been studying her. As our eyes brush and caress, blood drives south in my body. I wonder if she’s picturing me in bed—because now I’m picturing her beneath the sheets in my arms.

I clutch the desk on either side of me. Pressing my fingers harder into the wood to keep my cock from throbbing. “So Vada?” I have to clear the arousal out of my throat.

“Who is she?” Harriet asks while shrugging off her oversized leather jacket. She must be hot. I glance at her belly button piercing. Red plaid pants ride low on her hips, and her white crop top is tight against her chest, her tits big for her small frame.

Yeah, my blood is still surging downward. I want to hook my finger in the very thin strap of her panties that justbarelypeek out. Mostly to see if she’d like my hands there.

I shake the thought away.You need to get this out.“Vada is related to the Meadows and Hales through my uncles. Not blood-related to me or any Cobalt.”

“But you grew up together?”

“Yeah,” I nod. “She went on a lot of the same family trips. She races bikes. BMX. Her and Winona are in the same grade, so they’re really close. So when I went to Penn, I thought Winona would be okay, but Vada was…” I roll my eyes at myself, pissed offatmyself. “Vada was bugging mea lotthis year about Winona. Trying to get me to mend the friendship, and I justdidn’t want anything to do with it. For some reason I thought…” My eyes burn as I stare unblinkingly at a dark water stain on the carpet. “I thought when Vada said the asshole was being a dick to Winona again in school, she was trying to emotionally manipulate me to fix things with her. Tug on my heartstrings, you know?”

Harriet hops up on the table, sitting beside me. “Is Vada like that?”

I let out a laugh. “No. That’s the stupid thing. She’snot, but Winona kept saying everything was fine. She’s never lied to me like that before, but I get why she didn’t tell me the truth. I’d put this giant wall between us, and for the first time, I’d stopped helping her over it.” My nose goes runny as emotion builds, and I wipe it with the side of my fist. “So I was a callous dick to Vada. She didn’t understand why I was icing her out, why I was cold-shouldering Winona, and the whole time, I thought everything was fixed. Fine. Done.”

A vicious knot cramps inside my chest, and I can’t let it unravel. I’ve never really figured out how, not when I remember what happened next.

“Vada convinced Winona to finally tell me what was going on,” I say in a tight breath. “Winona came to mebawlingwhile describing how she thought she was drugged.In school.He put something in her water bottle, and she almost passed out in the bathroom.”

Harriet goes still. “Did he…?”

I shake my head hard. “She called Vada in enough time.” I look up at the ceiling. “Her bodyguard wasn’t in the building. The administration at Dalton Academy was terrible and barely listened to our parents complain about the harassment. Even when I was there. This asshole’s grandfather practically paid for the east wing of the prep school. He was old money, and some teachers thought we needed to get thicker skin because we werethe ‘famous’ kids. Like we were exaggerating what was going on.”