Page 67 of Love at Second Down

I scoff, crossing my arms over my chest. “No.”

“Now.”

“This is my life now,” I say, straightening my spine against the chill that has nothing to do with the winter air. “Besides, I’m meeting a friend, and I’m going to be late.”

I clutch my phone tighter, Damon’s text glowing up at me like a lifeline. Three dots of my unfinished reply taunt me from the screen.

“Then your friend can wait.”

“No.” I raise my chin while I stare him down, willing him to do something, to say whatever he came here to say. I’m no longer the same girl, the one who came running the second he called. The one who shrunk under his gaze. The one he always kept under his thumb.

“Avery Elizabeth Astor.” His voice drops an octave, the way it always does when he’s losing patience. “At least hear us out. You’re still a part of this family, whether you want to be or not.”

Not.Most days, I no longer want to be an Astor. Not when it’s cost me everything.

I turn my back to him, adjusting the strap of my backpack and walking away with purpose. My heartbeat thunders in my ears, drowning out whatever he’s saying now. Three steps. Four. Five.If I can just make it to campus, I can dip inside a building and lose him.

“Avery, wait.”

I freeze mid-step. This voice is softer, familiar in a way that makes my chest ache.

The echo of a car door opening and closing behind me is punctuated by the sound of my mother’s heels clicking against the pavement. I wait as the sound grows closer, until I can smell her perfume—Chanel No. 5—wrapping around me like the embrace she hasn’t given me in months.

“Please,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper. “We need to talk, Avery. It’s urgent.”

I turn slowly, facing her for the first time. She looks thinner than the last time I saw her a few months ago. She’s elegant as always in her cashmere coat and pearls, but there are shadows beneath her eyes that makeup can’t quite conceal. I wonder how much of that is because of me, and how much because of my father.

“You couldn’t do this over the phone?” I ask, arching a brow.

“Maybe we could have if you’d answer when we called.”

I swallow, my throat tight. She has a point.

“Listen, there are things we need to explain.” She glances over her shoulder at the SUV where my father waits, his silhouette rigid behind the glass. “Things you don’t know about everything that happened. About why we had to—”

“I know exactly why,” I cut her off, the familiar anger rising in my throat. “You told me, remember?”

“Not everything.” She steps closer, her eyes pleading. “It’s more complicated than we told you.”

I shake my head, already backing away when she reaches a hand out to stop me, her bony fingers curling around my arm. “If you won’t listen to your father for my sake, do it for Katie.” Mystomach clenches at the sound of my little sister’s name. “Your actions affect her, too. Maybe her, most of all.”

It’s a low blow, using my sister to control me. One she knows will work.

“Using Katie to get me to cooperate, Mom? Classic move.”

My mother’s face hardens slightly, but beneath her anger, the worry in her eyes remains. “You may not like it, but what I said is true.”

I swallow over the lump in my throat as my gaze flickers to my phone, Damon’s message still waiting for a response. If I don’t show up, he’ll think I’m blowing him off. Maybe he’ll even assume I’m being dishonest about what I want. The thought of him sitting in his apartment waiting for me, checking his phone, and eventually concluding I’m not coming makes the ache in my chest worse, more than seeing my parents.

“Fine,” I say with a sigh. “Give me a minute,” I tell her, stepping away.

“I’ll be waiting in the car.”

I nod in acknowledgment as I step away and type:Got held up at work. Might be a while, but I’ll try to make it.

My thumb hovers over the Send button for a moment. It’s not entirely a lie, just not the whole truth, and I wonder how he’ll take it.

I press Send before I can overthink it, watching the message disappear with an ominous swoosh. Tucking my phone into my pocket, I trudge toward the SUV, each step heavier than the last.

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