Page 35 of My Sweetest Agony
Drew is gone.
Does it matter why he was fighting with his brother?
Does it matter why Cam wasn’t here for the funeral?
Does it matter why Cam doesn’t want Nancy to know he’s home?
Is any of it my business?
“I’m not an Usher, Marlo. I never?—”
A sob works its way up my throat and cuts off my ability to speak. She closes the distance between us and pulls me into her embrace. Her arms wrap around me, holding me tightly, and she shakes me gently.
“You are an Usher in every way that matters. Nancy told you she will always consider you a daughter and part of her family. That makes Cam your brother-in-law, I guess. And you should want to know something that affects that family.”
I sniffle, swiping away the tears that have started to fall. “You think so?”
She nods, a few strands of her blond hair falling from her ponytail. “Absolutely. What harm could it possibly cause to go talk to him? I feel like you two have just been dancing around each other for weeks and need to confront it head-on.”
Confront it head-on.
It sounds so easy when she says it like that. As if demanding he tell me what happened and asking if he knows why Drew was lying to me will somehow make him spill all the information he seems so intent on keeping close to the chest while we do this dance.
“We kind of have been.”
Marlo squeezes my shoulders, locking her gaze with mine. “So, stop dancing.”
10
IVY
THREE DAYS LATER
Cam’s bike remains parked at the curb.
In exactly the same spot it has been occupying for almost two hours…
Untouched other than by the last fading rays of the summer sun that is gradually disappearing behind the buildings and casting shadows over the city.
A dark, lonely sentinel that reminds me so much of its owner.
There isn’t any sign of him, though.
I scan the surrounding street, examining each and every building, for what feels like the hundredth time since I followed him from my house, but I still can’t figure out where he might have gone after he climbed off that thing.
It’s quiet this time of night.
Not much foot traffic.
Only a few cars driving by.
And no sign of the man who barreled into my life and has somehow twisted me up enough that I have to know what happened between him and Drew and what he’s hiding. Enough that I literally followed him when I turned onto my street and saw him leaving before I could catch him to talk.
Clenching my jaw, I glance down at my phone again to check how long it’s been since I last stared at the screen to see how much time had passed.
Ten minutes.
But the longer I stand here, tucked between these two buildings in the alley, leaning against the brick and peeking around the corner at his bike, the more obvious it becomes that I have lost my mind.
