I don’t even have to slide my key into the lock before Mum throws the door open.

“Where have you been?” she says frantically. “You haven’t been answering any of my calls, any of my texts. Nothing!”

I step inside but she doesn’t move to let me pass.

“Explain,” she continues. “Right here, right now. I don’t care if I’m late for my interview.”

That’s when I notice she’s dressed smartly. A clean, crisp white blouse tucked into a pencil skirt. She’s curled her hair so that it tumbles down her shoulders in waves. It’s strange; she looks about ten years younger.

I raise an eyebrow. “Interview? For a new job?”

She frowns. “Don’t change the subject, Chands. Explain.”

So there on the doorstep, I tell her everything. I tell her about the party, I tell her about Amias and the morning after. I hesitate at the part about my discovery on Amias. Do I tell her what I know?

If I do, she’ll end things between us.

“Right, I’m off,” she says, clutching her bag closer to her side.

I think of his sweet face, his kind eyes. And I think that that boy can’t be the monster he says he is.

***

With Mum gone and over an hour until I have to get ready for tennis, I sit down on my bed and think.

I consider the situation. If anyone had told me that Amias was involved in that sort of dirty work, I wouldn’t believe them.

He has no choice. I think. He hates it – you can tell. And having Gabe constantly watching him like a hawk doesn’t make things any better.

He was willing to lose me. He took me into consideration. He respected me.

So if you want to leave right now, I’m not stopping you. I don’t own you, and I respect you. So the door is wide open.

And I stayed with him. When I did, it filled me with the most amazing feeling, something that spreads right from the tips of my hair to my toes.

If I’m with him, I realise, I might be able to help him out of this mess. If I do, it will only show we stand the test of time.

But we’re swimming in dangerous waters, and there’s a big chance Gabe or the police could pull us under and we’d never see the light of day.

It may be dangerous waters but he’s not swimming in there alone.