Page 16 of Dare To Fall

Kellan smiles. “Hello, loverboy.” He kisses Miles’ cheek.

My jaw drops open. “Kellan is the guy you said you liked back in October!”

Kellan laughs. “Busted.”

Miles has the good grace to look guilty. “We kind of hooked up, and things went from there.”

“But you said you didn’t meet him at school.”

“I didn’t meet him at school. The first time I met him was at an introduction to Churchill Bradley thing before we started here.”

I twist to look at Eli. “Then that means you’ve always known about Miles?”

“That he’s gay? Yes,” Eli confirms dryly.

“But we had you fooled. You didn’t know we weren’t really dating.”

“Not me.” Kellan rests his chin on Miles’ shoulder. “I knew he was hiding something.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t say something to me.” I can’t hide the hurt from my tone.

“It’s not like you didn’t have secrets of your own, sneaking off to the cemetery to meet Eli—” Miles retorts.

My eyes widen. “You told him?”

“He thought the guys in the video might be the ones blackmailing you,” Eli explains.

I rise from my seat. “I should go back to my room.”

He frowns. “You don’t need to leave. Stay and finish your food.”

“I want to go back.” I need to process everything they’ve told me.

“I can check to make sure there’s no one watching,” Miles offers. “When you’re ready.”

I look around the room until I find my sneakers and stuff my feet into them. My hoodie is next, and I pull it over my head. I bundle up my dirty sweatpants and make sure I have both phones with me. Hugging them to my chest, I turn to face the three boys.

Kellan and Eli are standing by the door, Miles beside them.

“Don’t forget. Only contact us on your other phone,” Kellan reminds me. “But don’t use it in public, so you can’t take it with you tonight. We don’t want them to know you have another one.”

I nod. “Okay.”

“It’s going to be okay. Just do exactly what they tell you.”

Eli’s gaze is intense. “We will all be watching.”

Why does that sound more like a threat than a comfort?

Miles opens the door and peeks outside. “It’s all clear.”

As I move past him, Eli catches my arm. “Text when you’re back in your room, and lock the door after you.”

Our eyes meet and hold for a heartbeat.

The second he lets me go, I step out after Miles and hurry along the hallway. I don’t look back, although I swear I can feel Eli’s gaze burning into my shoulder blades.

The hallway is empty, but Miles checks the stairwell before leading me up to my floor. He makes me wait when we hear voices, sticking his head around the door to check.

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