I’ve known my best friend my whole life. Growing up next door to each other made us inseparable. But the best part of being neighbors with my best friend, comes in one delicious package.

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Tall, lean, muscles for days. Curly black hair and sea green eyes. My best friend’s older brother.

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He thought of me as another sister. Called me squirt. Indulged my crush on him. He was perfect. Then it all came crashing down one night.

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I followed him from his house one night after high school and saw something I shouldn’t have. Running scared, I left town without a backwards glance. Cut off my best friend. Refused to see my parents in my hometown.

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But now I have no choice.

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Dad is sick and Mom needs my help. I don’t want to return to the place of my nightmares, but I need to.

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Somehow, I need to avoid the neighbors.

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That is easier said than done though. He could always find me when no one else could. Now he wants answers. So does my best friend. But I can’t forget what I saw. Can’t forgive them from keeping their secret from me.

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I had no idea what coming home was going to start. The danger I unknowingly stepped into. Now something even more terrifying is haunting me. Hunting me.

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And that secret, the truth about that night all those years ago, may be my only chance at getting out of this mess intact.

 

Both with my heart and my life.