Page 106 of August Lane
You should talk, August thought, but she didn’t say it. She didn’t want to sink that low. “He paid me to teach him how to write a song. I don’t know how he figured out—”
“It doesn’t matter.” Mavis’s face was stone, but tears spilled down her cheeks. “I told her it wasn’t true. That I was the one helpingyou.”
It took August a second to realize what she was implying. “You said what?”
Mavis covered her face and started crying. “It slipped out!”
August yanked Mavis’s hands down so she could see her eyes. “What did you tell Jessica?”
“That it was you. You had the abortion.”
Someone gasped. August turned to find Birdie staring at them, horrified. Jojo stood a few steps behind her, but she wasn’t looking at August. She kept her eyes on her mother.
Birdie yanked open the closet door and started shoving August’s clothes around, like there were more secrets in the coats and jeans pockets. “What am I gonna find?”
“Nothing,” August said. She sat on the bed, watching her grandmother unravel. Jojo hovered in the doorway, arms folded, with an expression August had never seen before. Her mother seemed angry, but also a little scared.
Birdie faced August. “How long has Mavis been lying for you?”
August took her time answering. They’d only heard the end of the conversation, but Mavis had been terrified, seconds from confessing. She wasn’t built for this kind of trouble. The fallout would crush her.
“Just this once,” August said quietly. She glanced at Jojo. “There’s nothing else.”
“I don’t believe you.” Birdie whirled around and yanked more clothes onto the floor. “You’ve been sleeping with that boy. ThatLuke. You killed his baby!”
“It wasn’t a baby,” Jojo said.
Birdie glared at her. “You be quiet.”
“Don’t get mad at her,” August said. “I did this.”
Birdie squeezed her eyes shut. “That man lied to me. Silas said he was looking after you.”
“Silas?” Jojo rounded on August. “What does he have to do with this?”
August recoiled at first, but then straightened her spine. Silas wasn’t Theo. He was family and he loved her. “Silas didn’t do anything wrong. He helped me when I needed it.”
“Helped you get in trouble, sounds like.”
“Well, at least he’shere,” August snapped. Jojo stilled. They had a standoff, until August lowered her eyes and mumbled, “Sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
“Yes, you did.” Jojo looked at Birdie. “You knew about this? That she’s been going to Delta Blue?”
Birdie stared at August, her eyes red and shimmering. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
The truth was right there, ready to come out and heal things. August could tell them she’d never been pregnant and had lied to protect her cousin. But Mavis didn’t cause this. None of it would have happened if August hadn’t said what she did to Luke.
“You would have tried to make me keep it,” August said, which was true. If she’d come home pregnant, Birdie would have emptied August’s bank account, put padlocks on the windows, done whatever she could to save her immortal soul. “No one should be forced to—”
“Leave her alone, Mama,” Jojo interrupted. Her arms were still folded, but now her nails clawed into her biceps, rippling the skin. “You’re making it worse.”
“Don’t tell me how to discipline a ch—” Birdie stopped, startled, as if she’d just realized the wordchilddidn’t apply to August anymore. “I raised her.”
“Butshe’smy mother,” August countered.
“Shetried to kill you! I saved your life!”
Jojo stalked out of the room. August stared at the spot she had abandoned before shoving off the bed and rushing after her. Birdie didn’t move.
