Page 54 of A Sky Full Of Stars

But that’s not what I get.

She takes a deep breath and pats the bed beside her, giving me a chance, and fuck am I grateful. I run a hand down my face before slowly walking over, both of us remaining silent as I sit, the weight of everything crushing me.

Cory was telling the truth. Dad hurt Summer. And now I’ve seen the evidence.

“God, Summer. I didn’t know. I tried to talk to you, the day after, but you wouldn’t see me. Cory said… It doesn’t matter. I should have tried again, tried harder.”But she never told me what she knew.

Regardless, I should have been a better brother.

The tightness in my chest grows until I feel suffocated, but I don’t rub the pain. I deserve it.

Instead of forming my own conclusions about what happened back then, I’d held on to the anger at being dragged into Summer’s mess and blindly trusted my parents. Mydad. I believed him when he told me stories of Summer’s flings, and I believed him when he said she ran away. They fought so much. And she wouldn’t talk to me…and then I saw it. I saw how she was on campus. But was I wrong?

God, what the hell did I do?

“I’m sorry for not seeing you that day,” Summer says softly, her hands clasped in her lap. “I—”

“You havenothingto be sorry about.” I cut her off. “You were sixteen years old. You’re my sister. I should have been there for you. I should have seen the signs. Dad was always good to me. He showered me with attention, but you… I knew he gave you less, much less, maybe even nothing. I should have stepped up. You never talked about it. You were always so strong. I guess, I just thought you didn’t mind.” Fresh tears prick my eyes, and I try to blink them away, but when Summer sniffs, I lose it.

A sharp pain cements itself in my chest and I struggle to get the words out. Nothing will ever make up for the hurt my ignorance caused. “I’m sorry. I…I’ll never forgive myself.”

Tears fall as my mind takes me back to those days and what I could have done to help her.

“You were a kid too, Thomas—”

“I was nineteen.”I wasn’t a kid. I was almost nineteen. Only a few days shy.

“Barely an adult,” Summer says, but God knows why she’s defending me after what I’ve done. “I don’t blame you for anything that happened to me,” she continues. “I just hated that you were gone. That you seemed to believe their story.”

“Fuck! I wish I could go back to that time and doeverythingdifferently. I’m so sorry. I was selfish and hurt, but there are no excuses. Please tell me we can get through this?”

She shrugs before releasing a soft sigh. “We can only try,” she says, smiling through the tears.

She’s smiling.

After everything she’s been through, she’ssmiling. I always knew she was strong, but her strength through all of this is inspiring. To be without her mom, to—

Jesus. Mom.This is going to break her. She believed Dad too. “You have to tell Mom.”

Summer’s shoulders drop, and she sighs, her expression full of anguish. “I think she knows.”

I’m silent on the way to our childhood home, and while I’m shocked by what Summer just told me, I don’t want to believe that Mom knew. I understand why Summer would think that—Mom never called her, never tried to find out her side of the story. Exactly like me. Only I didn’t know.

But I was a dick.

And now, we’re on our way to find out. To confront her while Dad’s not home. While he thinks he’s meeting me for a drink.

The wind blows through my smashed window, curling through our hair, and I’m thankful Summer doesn’t ask about it. I don’t know what I’d say if I had to explain it. Even now, I hate that I have to drive it. I hate everything it represents.

When we pull up and come to a stop behind Dylan’s truck, my eyes widen as Summer jumps out in a panic, not even waiting for me to switch off the ignition.

Shit.The fact that he’s here suggests they’re a lot closer than I first thought. Maybe even a couple.

I park the truck and rush out after Summer, gaining on her quickly, only a few feet behind her when she cries out. “Stop. Get away from him!”

“Fuck.” I register what she’s seeing and pick up my speed. Dad’s still home and he has Dylan pinned to the house. But since I know Dylan is stronger than he is, I can tell he’s not fighting back. He couldn’t be or Dad would be a dead man.

Summer leaps onto the porch to stop him, and I reach them just as Dad’s hand ricochets across her face, momentarily stunning me.He hit her. Again.

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