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August will kill me for interfering like that, but we’re already in a stand-off of sorts from the other week at Lily. Me looking out for her can’t damage us further when we’re already so off track, right?
I’m considering grabbing my phone to call my sister when a box falls from the top of the closet, nearly knocking me in the head.
“What the hell?” I curse, scooping up its contents off the floor.
That’s when I start to read the papers it contains.
Bank accounts. Correspondence with an admissions department. And a bunch of instances where August is mentioned.
If there are a few things I know about August, when I had enough time to pay attention to anything regarding her back then, it’s that her mother was awful. She worked her ass off at the restaurant. And that my family was so damn proud when she’d won a full ride scholarship to the university of her dreams.
Except … the evidence in front of me would prove that theory completely wrong. Because thumbing through this paperwork that details transactions and secret conversations about August Percy and her financial aid says that someone else was involved. That someone, namely my sister, is solely responsible for sending August to college. And if I had to guess, Warren’s fingerprints are probably all over this, too.
Maybe August knows. Maybe this paperwork was just kept for bookkeeping’s sake, knowing my brother-in-law. Or maybe … not. Like I said, August is steadfastly stubborn about doing everything on her own.
If I had to take a wild guess, I’d assume she knows nothing about this.
That thought has a nauseous lump dropping down my throat and into my gut. I don’t want this information. I curse Alana for unexpectedly having me be the one to discover it. It was hidden up there for a reason.
She never wanted August to know. And now, I have this information, and it’s not like I can keep it a secret. After that night at the Laura Inn, after going to Lily, I promised I wouldn’t keep knowledge from her. She doesn’t deserve to be in the dark about something like this.
But with all the bad shit already piled on top of her, this might bring her to her knees. I don’t want to deliver a blow, but maybe that’s what she needs.
Why did my sister and Warren feel the need to do this in the first place? It was because August probably refused and refused and refused their help. All her life, she thought she had to do things alone when there were people more than willing to step up. So instead of rustling her cage, they went along with her pigheaded demands.
And instead, went behind her back. It’s time for the people in August’s life to confront her head-on, to make her listen to rational sense.
She’s already pissed and avoiding me as it is, what’s one more thing?
At least all the lies and secrets will finally be out on the table.
19
AUGUST
The smell of chocolate invades my nose as I unlock the door to my temporary house.
A song comes from the kitchen, and the melody is upbeat yet serene, like something you’d hear in a workout studio on a Monday morning to get everyone hyped up.
A scrape of noise follows it, and I realize that Evan is home, even though he should be at the restaurant.
What time is it? I think to myself.
“Hey.” He stands in the doorway, a light blue half-apron tied around his waist.
There is a dusting of flour on his cheek, the ingredient caught in the longer-than-normal stubble there. God, why does he have to be so beautiful? I’ve sworn to keep him off-limits, to not even go there, but living with this gorgeous specimen doesn’t make that easy.
“I have to talk to you about something.”
Then I remember why I can’t let myself want him. He knows too much and has seen me be too vulnerable. To him, I’m not some pretty, peppy girl he can have a good time with. I’m baggage; I’m a chore. Or at least that’s how I look at myself.
And the last thing I want is his pity.
“What’s up?” I have no idea what he’s about to say.
Watching Evan suck in a deep breath through his nose sets my nerves on edge because this seems ominous.
“I told you that day at Lily,” I flinch at the memory of that conversation, “I will never keep things from you. Even if they hurt you, or us. I’m honest, August, and at least you can appreciate that. Which is why I have to show you this.”
