“Does Scholarship Kid know that?” I can't help the edge in my voice.
“Yes. We haven’t been together for a few months now.”
“Are you okay with that?” I blurt out, but I can't take it back now.
“Yes,” she says, but her voice wavers. She's quiet for a moment, and I know Honey better than either of us would like to admit. This is like those times when she'd get anxious at one of our parents' dinner parties, when the pressure of being perfect, of playing the part, became too much. The only way to help her through it was to hold her hand under the table, and squeeze twice to let her know that we had this together.
Only, it was all a lie. I never really had it at all.
Honey's broken. I can see it in the way she won't quite meet my eyes, in the white-knuckle grip on her bag strap, in the slight shake of her shoulders.
Zach is too. Not that I care about him, but I care abouther. Despite everything. Despite how badly I fucked us both up.
“Honey, what's going on? Why are you—”
“I have to go.” She checks her watch, panic flashing across her face. “I'm late for my internship.”
“At our fathers’ firm?”
She nods, already stepping around me.
“Why? You’ve never wanted to be a lawyer. What are you doing there?”
She hesitates, refusing to meet my eyes. Then something clicks. “Wait, are you doing this for Tiff? Are you the reason my father dropped his case against her?”
Her face crumples for just a second before she catches herself. “I can't—” She shakes her head. “I can't be late, Jamie.”
“Honey, if there's something I should know about what my father's doing—”
“I really have to go.” Her voice cracks slightly.
“Honey—”
But she's already running, practically sprinting across the quad in her too-formal outfit, leaving me standing there with a shitty sandwich and the sinking feeling that whatever my father's planning, it's worse than I thought.
And Honey—beautiful, broken Honey—is trapped right in the middle of it.
I watch her disappear into her car, and that’s when the concern starts to creep in. I left that firm, I’ve been officially cut off by my father, but Honey…she’s still stuck there. She’s still with the people who have openly manipulated both of us.
I want to help her. Ineedto help her, but is that even possible when I’m trying to figure out everything that’s going on with Tiff and me?
My phone buzzes, pulling me out of my thoughts.
It’s the realtor, checking that I’m still on for our ten o’clock appointment.
Right. Apartment viewing.
Still, as I head to the apartment, I can’t get the broken look on Honey’s face out of my head. I might be going through some shit, but it seems she is too. I guess neither one of us has control over our lives, and it’s really starting to show.
Chapter 15
“You're being ridiculous,” Madison says through the phone, her tone sharp enough to cut through the bullshit excuses I’ve been giving her over the last ten minutes.
I shift Ella’s ballet bag higher on my shoulder and reach for Ella’s hand, making sure to keep my voice low so my daughter doesn’t overhear. “I’m not being ridiculous. I’m being careful.”
“You're being a coward,” Madison corrects. “It's been a week, Tiff. A whole week since you kissed him and you haven't said a single word to the man.”
“If things are going to work, we need boundaries.”