Chapter 25: Betrayed

I don't hesitate a second. On silent sock feet, I slip downstairs and peek into the living room. Mom and Dad are absorbed in their crime procedural, the sound up loud enough neither notices when I slip into the kitchen and wave Tate inside.

She follows me without a word up to my bedroom, looking lost and forlorn when I close the door and we're alone together in the quiet.

"Kit." Tate's lower lip trembles.

I shake my head, half turn from her. "Just tell me you didn't have anything to do with it and I'll believe you."

Tate doesn't comment about that. "He hates you so much."

"The feeling is growing increasingly mutual." I sit at my computer, gesturing for her to take a place on the edge of my bed. She leans down when her foot hits one of my books, smiling faintly at the cover.

"Grace Grant," she says. "I love her books."