Page 89 of Every Hidden Truth

“Oh Jesus,” he said, and his voice was... I’d never heard him sound like that.

I turned away from the snickering sophomores and looked at Ben. He wasn’t looking at me, though. He was looking at his phone, and his face was white as a sheet.

“What is this?” he asked, his hand trembling. “Silas, what is this?”

Like I was underwater, I moved in slow motion, reaching across the space between us to take his phone from his quaking grasp. His breath hitched, eyes wide and unseeing, like he didn’t even realize the phone was gone.

I didn’t want to look, but my body was moving on its own accord, flipping Ben’s phone so I could see what he’d seen. I stared in confusion, unsure what I was even looking at. Like my brain couldn’t compute what my eyes could so clearly see.

It was me. It wasus. A picture of us. In my room. On mybed. The blinds... oh Jesus, I’d left the blinds open. The blinds had beenopen!

I made a wounded noise, a strangled, choking thing, as I gazed down at a picture of me astride Ben’s lap, his back against my headboard. There was so much skin, and Ben’s fingers weredigging into my hips. Because we were fucking. He was inside me, and we were fucking. And there was a picture!

The goddamn blinds had been open. And he’d been there. He’d been there, and he’d watched us. He’dwatched.

Ben’s phone slipped from my numb fingers, landing on the carpet with a dullthump. Phones were pinging all around us, and everyone was staring. Because the photo wasn’t just on Ben’s phone. It was on everyone’s phone.

Unknown—Eric—had sent the picture to everyone.

“Oh my God,” I whimpered, but my voice sounded muffled and far away. Because I was still underwater.

As my vision blurred, something inside me cracked. This past weekend had been amazing, one of the best moments of my life. But now the memories were tainted, forever contaminated from the repulsive realization that we hadn’t been alone.

Eric fucking Boyt had been there, watching us, taking pictures of us.

And now everyone else would see too. Everyone would play witness to our most private moment. It was an egregious act, an atrocious violation. Sorrow speared through my chest as something incredibly precious was destroyed, as something invaluable was stolen from me—from us.

Everyone would know; everyone would see.

I wanted to scream, the sound clawing its way up my throat, but it stuck behind my clenched teeth. It escaped a pathetic, broken sob.

“Oh my God.”

Someone was talking, but I couldn’t understand them.

I was trapped underwater, and I was drowning. Oh God, I was drowning because I couldn’t breathe when I was underwater.

“Silas.” Warm hands cupped my face. “Silas, please.” Lips pressed to the spot below my ear. “Please, come back. I can’t do this alone. Please, don’t leave me alone.”

The brokenness in his voice cut through the shock and the panic, and I sucked in a lungful of air. I blinked, and the world rushed in. The lights were so bright, and everything was too loud.

But I only had eyes for Ben. Ben who had fallen to the ground with me. Ben who knelt before me with his hands framing my face. Ben whose cheeks were deathly pale and streaked with tears.

Crying. Ben was crying. I’d never seen him cry before, not like this, and it broke whatever remained of my heart.

“Ben?”

“Don’t break on me yet,” he begged. “I can’t do this without you. Please, don’t break on me yet.”

I reached up and squeezed his wrists. “Ben, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

And I was. Because this was my fault. From the moment Ben had walked into that bathroom and chosen to help me, he’d sealed his fate.

Boyt had done this for me and me alone, and Ben was simply collateral damage. Him getting caught in the crossfire was just an added bonus. All of this had been orchestrated for me. Because of me.

“It’s all my fault,” I choked out. “I’m so sorry.”

“Everyone is to report to their first-hour classrooms immediately!” a furious voice boomed through the hall, reminding me that we weren’t alone. “I will give you all five minutes to disappear. Anyone left in this hallway after that will receive instant detention and possible suspension.”

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