Page 96 of Hard Rock Love

32

The terrified expression on Seth’s face might have been funny if I hadn’t known exactly how nervous he truly was.

When Everly called him up and demanded to speak with him in person, Seth had readily agreed. He did, however, have one stipulation. He wanted to meet in public, on neutral ground, presumably so my sister couldn’t murder him and bury his body.

I had suggested we meet at the youth center. The fact that there were kids around would mean Everly couldn’t cuss Seth out too loudly, either. All three of us wanted to get through this confrontation without tears or bloodshed.

Seth and Everly were facing off in the front foyer while Jessie looked on with rapt attention, as if she were ten seconds away from getting herself a bowl of popcorn.

“So how long has this been going on?” Jessie whispered to me under her breath, the same question Everly had asked us, but this time without undercurrents of anger beneath the words. “I had no idea you and Seth were a thing. You’ve been pretty discreet.”

“For good reason,” I muttered.

“…And just when were you planning on telling me?” I heard Everly ask Seth in the middle of her interrogation. “Or were you going to sneak around forever?”

Seth winced. “I was leaving it up to Abby…”

“So you’re willing to let my sister do all the emotional labor in your relationship?” She raised an eyebrow. “The next time some difficult decision comes up, you’re going to wait for her to make all the tough choices?”

“No.” Beads of sweat collected on Seth’s forehead. “I was trying to respect her wishes.”

“And you think making her lie to her sister is respectful?”

“I didn’t make Abby do anything,” Seth protested. “I trusted her to know when was the right time to tell you.”

“And if I’d never walked in on you? How long were you willing to wait?”

“I—”

“Poor Seth,” Jessie whispered to me again. “He’s really getting the third degree.”

I agreed and wanted to intervene, but I knew it wasn’t worth it for me to jump in and try to rescue Seth. Everly was going to make him work for this, one way or another.

“And why did you even start hanging around Abby in the first place?” she asked. “Were you planning on hitting on her all along? Just biding your time?”

“No! She was nice enough to offer to help me so—”

“Help you how?” Everly cut in with a frown.

Seth looked like he’d swallowed his tongue.

“Just… with things,” he said weakly.

“What kind ofthings?”

“Ah—”

Seth looked to me helplessly, a panicked expression on his face.

“What are you hiding?” Everly asked suspiciously, looking between the two of us.

I quickly tried to think of an excuse, but couldn’t come up with anything.

“Are you keeping more things from me?” she asked, beginning to get worked up.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with you,” I said.

“You don’t know anything about music,” she pointed out. “So you couldn’t have been helping him with that.”