I got off the subway just a block away from Kane’s garage, and my breath came easier with every step I took toward his place.

By the time I rounded the building to head toward the back door, I was almost breathing normally and knew I’d made the right decision.

Turning the corner, I felt the muscles in my neck loosen, as I had made a decision. I was going to talk to him, explain why I’d wanted to call things off. He’d understand. We’d talk, and he’d do or say something that would make me feel better, just as he always did.

He’d–

“Who are you?”

A woman’s voice cut me short, and I stopped dead in my tracks, staring at the tall, slim woman standing near Kane’s back door. She stared at me with wariness in her expression and aggression in her stance.

“I…what?”

She looked around, her expression furtive.

I glanced toward Kane’s back door, my uneasiness returning in leaps and bounds. The small square of glass that acted as a window revealed that it was dark inside the garage, only a few lights on to relieve that blackness. Kane wasn’t here. I could tell that right away.

“Are you here to see Kane?” she asked, taking a step toward me.

I backed away immediately, the instinct second nature. “Why?” I asked warily.

“Just…” She licked her lips, her expression altering subtly. “Are you?”

Please don’t be a girlfriend. Immediately after, I felt foolish. Not so much because of how well I knew Kane – I didn’t know him that well, but because of how much I trusted Michelle. And yeah, I trusted Kane, too. They’d both told me he didn’t do relationships.

This couldn’t be his girlfriend.

“Are you here to see Kane?” she persisted, her sharp-featured face taking on a pinched look.

“Yes.” I lifted my chin as I stared at her and she looked away, passing a hand in front of her eyes, a disbelieving look on her face. “Why? What does it matter to you?”

She whipped her head back around to glare at me. A harsh laugh escaped her, and she demanded, “What does it matter to me?”

She stormed closer to me, although when I jerked back, she stilled. “That son of a bitch and his sick little brother raped me. That is why it matters. I came over here to…”

She trailed off, but nothing else she’d said would have penetrated the veil of shock that had dropped down on me.

They raped me.

Ugly, awful memories swam up, trying to drag me down. I fought them back.

“What are you talking about?” I demanded, although the words sounded hollow to my ears.

“You heard me.” The woman wrapped her arms around her middle, looking around with over bright eyes. “He raped me. Him, and his brother.”

I shook my head, backing away.

I was almost to the corner of the building when I crashed into somebody. Reacting on instinct, I spun around and drove the heel of my hand upward, just the way Kane had shown me.

And Kane jerked back.

I caught sight of his startled face in the piss-yellow security light.

“Hey, Raye…calm down. It’s me,” he said.

But that didn’t help.

The woman’s voice echoed in the back of my mind. He raped me…

“Do you know her?” I demanded, half turning and gesturing to the woman standing near the stoop of his back door.

Kane’s mouth tightened, but he glanced from me to the woman standing over near his garage. His mouth got even tighter as he stared at her, then he met my eyes. “Yeah, I know her. We used to…hang out.”

“Hang out?” I laughed, almost hysterical.

The stress of the day, hell, the past few days crashed into me, and I slammed my hands against his chest.

“Is that what you call it?” I demanded. “Hanging out?”

I thought of some of the things they’d called it when I’d been in this kind of situation, and anger, shame, all of it exploded through me. Slamming my hands against his chest again, I repeated myself, “Is that what you call it?”

“Shit, Raye!” He caught my wrists, but I twisted away from him. He didn’t make any attempt to hold me, but I was too angry to notice. “Look, we used to sleep together, is that what you want to know?”

“She says you raped her! You and your brother!”

A dumbstruck look came over Kane’s face.

It niggled at the doubt that had already taken root in me, but I shoved it aside. People had doubted me, too.

“What in the hell are you talking about?” he demanded. Then his gaze slammed into the woman standing behind me. “Calie…what have you been telling her?”

“Nothing but the truth,” the woman said, her voice shaking.

Calie, I thought. Her name was Calie.

“Look,” Kane said, looking away from her to meet my eyes. His were dark and intense. “I used to sleep with her. I broke it off a week or so ago. But I never forced her, okay? My brother doesn’t even know her.”

“That’s not true!” Calie shouted, crossing the distance that separated us to come to a stop next to me. “He’s still in my bed, for fuck’s sake. I had to wait until he was asleep to get the hell out of there.”

I felt sick.

Head spinning, I turned away from them both. Rubbing my face, I tried not to let the trembling in my hands show.

Behind me, Kane said, “You are so full of shit, Calie.”

“No, I’m not!” She sniffed. “He’s sleeping, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get him the hell out of my place before I call the cops.”

“You’re lying,” Kane said, and his voice was remote. Cool. Calm.

“Is this lying?” she demanded.

I spun around just as she shoved a phone into Kane’s face.

Something flickered in his eyes. He snatched the phone out of her hand, shock flickering across his expression as he stared at the phone.

And I knew.

Calie wasn’t lying about Kane’s brother being in her bed.

Fuck. She was telling the truth. I didn’t have to see the picture to know.

I was going to be sick.

I’d let him put his hands on me.

Nausea roiled in my belly, and I turned away, pressing my hand to my mouth. Behind me, I heard Calie speaking, her voice loud and plaintive. The words made no sense, but they didn’t need to. I heard somebody hurting, somebody in pain.

Without thinking, I turned to her and held out a hand. “It’s going to be okay,” I told her. She accepted my hand, her fingers closing around mine, squeezing tight. “I know that sounds hard to believe, but it’s going to be okay.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Kane drawing near. “Shit…Raye, don’t tell me you believe her.”

I shot him a look, eyes narrowed.

He turned away, looking disgusted.