“Exactly why I had Church and Ranger watch over you while I snuck into the bathroom this morning to clean up.” He chuckles against my lips, and I grin back at him. “You're not the only one who's worried morning breath might fuck this up.” Micah pauses suddenly and pulls back, grabbing my hand and taking me with him.

He opens the bathroom door and … there's my fucking Dad, standing there and staring at me with one of his eyebrows twitching.

“Chuck. Carson.” The two words are ground out between his teeth as I blink back at him in shock. What are the chances, people? No, for real, like what are the chances he'd appear outside the bathroom at this exact moment?! The author of my life must hate me. “Would you like to explain to me what the two of you were doing in the restroom together?”

I was going to seduce Micah, but then I got all nervous, and he wants to confess something to me, so …

“Brushing our teeth?” I blurt, but it's almost a question and not particularly convincing. I am so going to get it. Between the fake engagement, the dead body, me pressed naked against Church, and now this? How long until I turn eighteen again? Christ on a cracker.

“And you needed to do that together because …?” Dad continues, trailing off and then pausing as Mr. Murphy approaches on his left side and leans in to whisper something. Dad's face tightens up and he nods, looking me and Micah over with an expression of bewilderment. “I'm quickly running low on patience with you, Chuck.”

I purse my lips, but keep my hand clamped around Micah's as Dad takes off down the hall and Mr. Murphy scuttles after. He looks terrified to be in my vicinity, so when he passes, I flip him off and take delight in the fact that he cringes. “No way he's one of the killers,” I murmur, but still, I can't figure out his motivation. Church is right: that's our problem. We have a lot of clues but without a motive, it's impossible to put them together.

I could never blame myself for not knowing sooner, what we were dealing with was so much more than I ever could've imagined.

“Come on,” Micah says, leading me back to my room and through it, out the opposite door that leads to the front courtyard. I grab my sandals on the way, and we stroll down the curving paths near the koi pond. The air is crisp and clean, and the scene around us is so peaceful, it's hard to remember that I saw people wearing fox masks in the woods just yesterday. “After I tell you this story, you might hate me for it.”

“Impossible,” I say, exhaling and glancing over at him. I'm starting to learn that just because people make mistakes, it doesn't make them disposable. Even if the mistakes are big. If there's love there, and you care enough about another person, you work through it and you both become better people. I don't mean keeping toxic or abusive people in your life, but … Micah is human. Whatever he did to Tobias, he's a good person now, and that's what matters. Our past isn't an anchor that keeps us tied to a shipwreck beneath the sea; it's the sail that we can collect wind in so that we can soar.

“You know that during freshman year, Tobias and I went to a private academy in Santa Cruz, right?” I raise my eyebrows as Micah stops and turns toward me, the wind teasing the loose strands of his red-orange hair around his face. We've paused on the decking that overlooks the koi pond. Micah steps forward and crosses his arms on the railing, leaning over and looking across the property.

“Actually, I didn't,” I say, coming up to stand beside him and leaning my butt against the railing. He smiles, but the expression is tight, and I get the idea that this memory hurts him as much as it does Tobias.

“Well, we did. And while we were there, we met a girl named Amber Muse.” He smiles a bit more, but it's a sad expression that doesn't quite reach his eyes. “She lived with her mom in a shitty trailer on her grandfather's property.” He pauses and looks my way with a small quirk teasing the edge of his mouth. “Anyway, Tobias and I were both really into her, but, uh …” He trails off again and sighs, leaning forward and putting his forehead against his forearms. “As usual, she preferred Tobias over me.”

One of my brows goes up, and I lean down, trying to get at eye level with Micah McCarthy.

“What do you mean, as usual?” I ask, and then one of the koi fish slaps its tail on the surface of the water and splashes the tops of my feet, making me squeal. Micah grins and chuckles as he lifts his head up.

“It's been like this forever,” he says, shrugging his shoulders like he doesn't care. I can tell that he does. “Our parents, our friends, girls. What do you do when there are two twins? You pick one. Tobias has always been the nicer of the two of us, the more relatable.” He lifts a brow and then glances my way. “Even you were attracted to him first.”

I open my mouth to argue but then snap it shut. Micah's right. Tobias has a gentler demeanor, but I have to admit, there's something about Micah's sharp edges that I like. I don't prefer his twin over him. Hell, I don't prefer any of the Adamson Student Council boys over the others, and I have a feeling that by the end of the year, that could be a problem.

“Anyway, Tobias and Amber started dating, and I admit, I was jealous. I …” He sighs and stands up the rest of the way, putting his palms on the railing and looking past the koi pond toward the gate. There's a cop car without its sirens on, followed by a plain black SUV, and they're both pulling onto the property.

Micah and I exchange a look, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what they're doing here.

“You were jealous,” I repeat, looking him over and seeing this vulnerable side to him that I never expected. “And then what?” Micah's green eyes slide over to the uniformed police officers and detectives climbing out of their cars before flicking back to me.

“Amber's mom went into rehab,” he says, and my heart clenches, thinking of my own mother and her struggles with addiction and rehab. “And neither of us could stand the thought of her living alone in that crappy trailer by herself. We invited her to live with us—our parents barely cared since they're never around.” Micah gives a self-deprecating sort of smile, and I feel like I can see his layers peeling away to reveal the real McCarthy boy underneath. “That room, the one with the ocean view and the balcony, we moved out of it and gave it to her.”

Micah pushes away from the railing as the petals come loose from one of the trees. I lift my hand up and catch some, like pink snow on the surface of my palm. The petals are soft and delicate; I think they're cherry blossoms.

“She lived there for three months before …” Micah stops and bites at his lower lip for a moment, reaching out to pluck a petal from my hair. “Tobias was gone one night, at some MMA thing that I bowed out of. I told him I was sick, but I lied; I just didn’t want to see him with Amber. I had no idea she was staying home that night, too.”

“So, you were alone with her?” I clarify, and he nods, reaching up to run his hand down his face.

“I stole some of my dad’s stupid craft beers, and lit some candles, and we just hung out and talked all night. Just before Tobias got home, we …” Micah shrugs his shoulders again, and I feel the dark snake of jealousy rear its ugly head inside of me. “That was my first time,” he admits, biting his lower lip and looking me over like he's waiting to see a particular emotion. I must surprise him a bit because his brows go up. “Anyway, we kept our affair ongoing for a while. Almost two months. One day, Tobias walked in on us and everything fell apart.”