Page 196 of On the Breakaway

Harper touches Wesley’s arm in a silent plea, but Wesley doubles down. “Absolutely not. She needs to explain."

“We’ve just been hooking up,” I start, but stop because that’s a lie. It was never just hooking up, even when we were both pretending it was. “No, well, I thought that’s all it was at first, but it’s different now.”

“Gross. I don’t want to hear about Grayson’s sex life.” Sloane groans, looking to Katie to agree.

Unlike my friends, Katie doesn’t even pretend to be surprised. Her eyes are watching me carefully, a frustrated glare that any protective older sister would have after witnessing the dumpster fire that was my secret relationship going up in flames.

Sloane looks from Katie back to me, and then she does it again. “Wait. Katie, you knew? How did you know?”

Katie shrugs. “He was fighting it, but basically told me when he was in New York.”

My eyes widen, and Wesley’s head snaps back to me.

Yep. She’s too smart not to catch on to the timing of that.

“That long? You’ve been hiding this for that long?”

Well, since the cat is out of the bag, there’s no sense in lying. “Um,” I roll my lips together. “Longer, actually.”

“But why?” Harper asks, her voice filled with hurt.

God. My life is a disaster.

I scrub both hands over my face.

“There wasn’t anything to tell, at first. And then it was more, but I wasn’t sure I wanted it to be more. Not after everything, and–”

“After everything with Damon?” Harper asks.

I nod, chewing on my bottom lip.

“And what exactly happened with Damon?”

Heat crawls up my neck.

“What did Grayson mean when he said ‘after everything he did to you’? What don’t we know?” Wesley sits down next to me while Harper flanks me on the other side. Her voice softens. “We saw the article, Avery. You know that everyone’s seen it.”

I inhale, squeezing my eyes shut.

“Did he do what he did to her, to you?” Harper’s voice is barely audible over my heart roaring in my ears.

I blow out a breath. “No. He never got physical with me like that.”

I contemplate leaving it there; it’s not their business after all. But keeping it all inside is how I ended up here in the first place. Suddenly, anything but the truth feels impossible.

I let out a slow breath. “He was,” I search for the right words, “controlling.”

“Okay...” Harper says carefully.

I rub my palms against my jeans. “It wasn’t physical, but he just…”

I swallow.

Why is this still embarrassing?

“He didn’t like it when I went places without him or wasn’t where I said I’d be.”

Wesley’s face darkens.