Cassie dragged Logan out of the house as fast as she could, hoping that by the time she got back, her dad would have cooled down.

And hopefully by then she’d know what to say to him. Logan had spilled his guts tonight to her, revealing so much more than she’d ever guessed about his father. She couldn’t exactly betray that trust and tell her dad that ‘sorry my new boyfriend was a jerk, but his own dad kind of sucks.’

Despite the current predicament, her heart leapt when she thought the word “boyfriend.” They hadn’t said anything official, but what else could he be? They were both leaving for New York in a few weeks, talking nonstop about what they’d do together once they were there, and had basically been attached at the lips for weeks on end. And Logan had been right on the verge of telling her how he felt. Her stomach clenched at the thought of three little words she’d never heard from any guy, ever. What would she have said in return? Cassie had never been this happy and excited with Spencer. She hoped Logan realized that.

At this precise moment, however, she was not particularly happy or excited. She was pretty freaking pissed off.

The rain had gotten harder as the night went on, and they were soaked before they even got to the car. She turned the heat on full blast, shivering a little as she started the engine. Logan trembled next to her, from cold or anger she wasn’t sure.

“We didn’t have to leave!”

Anger, then.

The rain was spattering against the windshield as the wipers struggled to keep up.

“Logan, you can’t just say something like that to my dad.” She tried to keep her voice calm. If there was a worse way for her parents to find out about Logan, she couldn’t think of it. And then for him to mouth off like that to her dad… There was no coming back from that. The complete and total opposite of Spencer, her dad would hate Logan forever. She was already being made to choose between him and her family, and it had just gotten a million times harder.

“Of course I can! You know what he did to my mom!”

Cassie’s face grew hot.

“What she says he did.”

The silence that filled the car was deadly and thick. Cassie’s heart fell into her stomach. She hadn’t meant to say that. At least not in that way. She wanted to explain that she was still processing everything Diana had told her earlier, that she had to reconcile the image of her dad as loving father and horrible boss. Couldn’t he see how hard it was to take a stand against her own family, and side with someone who she hadn’t even met?

But as each second ticked by without any other sound but the pounding of rain against the car, it felt too late to take it back.

“Just let me out up here,” Logan finally said, his voice an empty monotone. He gestured to a side street but she drove right past it without even slowing down.

Cassie’s eyes darted to his, but he was facing straight ahead, his arms folded against his chest.

“Don’t be ridiculous, it’s pouring,” she said, trying to keep her voice light and free of any residual anger she may have. But there was no undoing the damage she’d done with just five little words.

“Just let me out.”

“No.”

“Let. Me. Out.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Cassie.” From the corner of her eyes, she could see that he’d finally turned to face her. She dared another glance and his eyes were blazing, the hurt she’d caused him visible even in the darkness. “Stop the car right now.”

She fixed her own glare right back at him.

“I said no.”

Turning away from his angry face, she spotted a flash of neon green coming at her fast.

“Watch out!” Logan cried, as she swerved to avoid the biker.

With a gasp and a curse, she pulled the steering wheel over with a jerk, bumping along the edge of the road in a horribly familiar way. She cursed as branches swiped at the side of the car.

This can’t be happening again.

With a few more bumps, she finally pulled to a stop. She leaned her face against the steering wheel, tears already starting to fall. A sob escaped her, and Logan’s arm circled her shoulders.

“Hey, it’s okay, the guy is fine.” His voice was low and soothing, his anger gone in the face of her distress. “He gave us the finger as he rode away.”

She curled into him awkwardly across the seats, but the weight of his arms caressing her back was a comfort. Already feeling queasy from the rollercoaster of emotions tonight, the last bit of fight left her in an instant.

“I just can’t believe I did it again,” she whispered, almost to herself.

His arms stilled against her back.

“What?” his voice was soft. Cassie gasped and sat up, taking in his wide eyes and open mouth.

“I mean…” She trailed off and took a deep breath.

This was it. She couldn’t lie, not now. It wasn’t how she’d planned on telling him, but had she ever really intended to? There had been countless times over the past few weeks she could have said something and she never had. She didn’t have to think too hard about why. She was terrified that she would lose him. The one thing that was making her happy, the one person who made her feel like she could be something more than what everyone thought she was. The one person who didn’t expect her to be anything but herself.

And now that one person was looking at her as a thousand emotions flashed across his face. Confusion, comprehension and finally…complete and total anguish. She held her breath, waiting for the final hammer to fall.

“My accident…that was you?” Her heart was breaking at his eyes so full of hurt. Hurt that she’d caused.

Tears traced jagged lines down her cheeks and her lips were trembling so much she could barely speak. All she could do was nod.

Pain and astonishment rippled across his face.

Another few beats of agonizing silence passed as he took this in. Her heart was beating harder than the rain hammering on the roof of the car.

“Is that why you were so crazy about getting me to the doctor?”

Hope gushed through her like a waterfall. Was he giving her a chance to explain?

“I wanted to be sure you were okay!” she cried, reaching out to him and taking his hand. “I was driving Spencer and Marissa home that night, I hadn’t even been drinking. And then suddenly you were there and I swerved and—”

He pulled back and she withdrew her hand. The waterfall of hope dried up in an instant, leaving her empty inside, cracking around the edges.

“So you decided to pay me off, to make sure I didn’t think it was you?” His face was twisted in rage.

He had jumped so quickly to the idea, it seemed ridiculous she’d ever been able to pull off the lie in the first place.

“My dad—”

“I don’t want to hear about that asshole right now!”

Anger flared inside of her, despite everything. She didn’t know how she felt about her dad right now but she didn’t like to hear anyone else insulting him.

“He told me to do it,” she tumbled over her words as they burst out as quickly as possible. He needed to hear everything in order to understand. “I dropped off Marissa and came back to check on you. I wanted to help, but you were so upset. When I went back home, my dad was there, and I told him what had happened. He was worried you’d ask for money if you knew it was me. He told me to spend time with you, so that you’d think I was nice and not suspect me.”

“And the Columbia match program? Was that even real?” His eyebrows were drawn together as he slowly realized just how devious and horrible she was.

She shook her head.

“I thought up the Columbia thing, that wasn’t him.” She could have said that was her dad’s idea, too, but there had been enough lies between them. And it wasn’t like he could hate her dad any more than he already did. “I saw your name in the new student group online and so I knew we had at least one thing in common.”

Logan let out a choked laugh as he raked his hands through his hair.

“So there was no match. You just tricked me into fall—into liking you?”

Her heart twisted. He had been so close to telling her less than an hour ago how he felt. She should have known better than to think it could have been possible. He was so good, and so smart, and his family was so normal. Nothing fake or manipulative about any of them. She was stupid to think someone like her could ever have something so real with someone like Logan.

But what she felt for him was most definitely real, and the thought of losing him burned a wide hole inside of her.

“It wasn’t a trick, Logan! I like you. I really like you.” She reached out for him again, but he drew back against the car door. The rain lashed against the window. “I hadn’t even officially chosen Columbia, and now, it’s all I can think about. Going to New York with you and—”

He shook his head, and she stopped talking, her mouth going dry. Fissures started to appear around the edges of her heart.

“How can you expect me to believe that? I don’t know what to believe.” His eyes hardened and narrowed. “You seem to believe your dad, though, and do whatever he says.”

“I don’t want to, I want to change.” The tears had started to fall again and she wiped them away, trying to keep her vision of him clear. She knew this would be the last time she’d see him and wanted to remember every angle of his gorgeous face, even twisted in anger the way it was now. “I felt like I was changing, with you. I could be someone different and New York would be so different and—”

He held up a hand, stopping her again.

“Don’t. Just don’t, Cassie.”

His empty voice filled her with dread.

“Why should I believe anything some rich asshole has to say?”

And with that, he pushed open the door and stepped out into the rain.