Page 458 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

I’m not surprised. I’m not even angry.

“How did they take it?”

“Your mother thought I was lying.”

I let out a rueful huff of a laugh. Jude rubs his fingertips over his eyelids before latching onto me again. “If you tell them about the meth, then I’ll say I lied about the drinking.”

Which is worse? Them knowing that I day drink at school, or that I purposefully drugged Jude to get him kicked off the football team?

Either way, I’m fucked. Either way, Jude wins.

I slump back in my seat, nursing my injured hand against my chest. “And if I own up to both?” I ask, a sad smile on my face. “What will you do then?”

“You’d do that?” he murmurs, shocked and incredulous.

I shrug. “Sure. What have I got to lose?”

Chapter 60

Jude

I don’t know what happened back there in the Impala, but suddenly Harper is no longer my vindictive stepsister. She still looks the same, still has the same silky hair and curvy body and piercing blue eyes...but the fact that she’s willing to fess up for the shit she’s pulled gives me a newfound respect for her.

Which makes me feel bad about taking her inside to confront our parents. Especially if she was telling the truth about what her mother said about her. I wouldn’t put it past Diana to blame her teenage daughter for their misfortune, though. That woman is a conniving bitch.

Dearth Manor is surprisingly quiet when we walk in. Although what did I expect? Cops standing in the hallway, a temporary HQ set up in the dining room, walkie-talkies squawking non-stop?

The downstairs lights are all off except the kitchen. We head for that beacon, Harper a few steps ahead of me. She glances back every now and then, the trepidation on her face palpable.

It’s a big step, Sis. But it’s the right one. The first one on your journey to recovery.

Diana spots us first. She’s busy packing something in plastic containers—I suppose the leftovers from whatever they had for supper. Her eyes are even puffier than before, and it looks like she’s been messing with her hair because her ponytail is skew.

“Harper?” Diana drops what she’s doing and hurries around the kitchen counter.

Harper speeds up too, her arms opening wide to embrace her mother. I slow down, giving them some space, angling toward my father as he turns in his stool.But when I blink, the tearful Sloane family reunion I was expecting transforms into something else entirely.

Diana takes a quick double-step and slaps Harper so hard that her daughter staggers.

“You slut!” Diana screeches.

Something inside me snaps. I’ve never hit a woman—never thought I could—but that doesn’t stop me from lunging at my stepmother.

Father intercepts, jamming his body between me and Diana before I land a blow. I grab him, and he grabs me, and we stand there like we’re waiting for our first dance.

“You disgust me!” Diana says, stepping back and dragging her hand over her mouth like the very sight of Harper is making her sick.

My eyes dart around the kitchen, desperate for an explanation. That’s when I see the nearly empty bottle of wine. The ashtray filled with cigarettes. I didn’t even know Diana smoked, but why would Dad allow her to do it in the house?

Harper lets out a ragged sob, veering away from her mother. She throws her head back, finding me, locking on with brimming eyes, begging for some kind of intervention.

But I’m as shocked as she is. All I manage is a strangled, “What the hell?” aimed at my father.

He releases me but stands tense and ready as if expecting me to go savage again. “I can’t even look at you right now,” he says to Harper before glancing away. “Go to bed, both of you.”

Harper whimpers, wrapping her arms around herself as she takes another step back. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t want to scare you. I just—I just needed some time, so I went to the lake?—”

“You think I give a fuck where you were?” Diana picks up her box of cigarettes and lights herself one, her eyes flickering as she takes a deep drag. “You should have stayed there.”

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