"Archer, it's not what you think," Jack says, reaching out toward Archer. But it's exactly what he thinks. Archer's lip curls and he pushes Jack so hard that he stumbles back a few steps. The surprise on Archer's face is gone, and the fury has taken over.

"Shut the fuck up," Archer spits. "You have three seconds to get the fuck away from my sister and out of our fucking house. One."

I stand up, walking toward my brother even though I know it's impossible to get through to him when he gets like this. At the sudden movement, I feel a sharp pain and feel something warm trickle down my leg, but I don't stop.

I need to say something to him, that it isn't what it looks like or that we didn't mean to keep this from him. But I'd be lying. I cover my mouth with my hands. All I can make out is "Archer, I'm sorry."

He doesn't even look at me, and that hurts more than anything he could've said. "Two."

Jack tries again, the desperation heavy in his voice. "If you're going to be mad at anyone, don't be mad at Scarlett. This is all on me."

"I told you to get out," Archer yells. "You've been lying to me, and right now, I want nothing more than to rip your fucking throat out. So get the hell out. Three."

At that exact moment, the door opens again. Dad walks in and my heart drops. I mouth to Archer 'please don't say anything' but he can't even look at me. Dad looks between us, but Archer has fallen silent.

When Archer gets mad, he yells. He curses too much. But when that anger progresses until he's filled with the type of red-hot emotion that burns from the inside out and exists beyond coherent thought or action, Archer gets dead silent.

"Didn't I tell you to apologize to your sister?" Dad asks, leaning against the doorway, taking in Archer's demeanor. "Why are you all wound up again? We could hear you yelling from downstairs."

Archer doesn't answer at first and just looks down at the floor while avoiding eye contact with Dad. When he does open his mouth I hold my breath. "It's nothing," he mutters.

Dad narrows his eyes confusedly, starting to wonder if there's more to the story. But he sees the expression on all our faces and either decides to leave it alone or save this talk for later. "Alright, let's play some family football. We'll eat dinner afterward."

Usually, Archer would be stoked for backyard Thanksgiving football. But he maintains his silence. Dad looks at Archer, at his face still twisted with anger, and puts his hand on his shoulder. "Arch, look at me," he says, and Archer reluctantly complies. Dad examines his son closely then asks, "Really, is something wrong? You can tell me whatever it is."

Jack and I watch with our hearts in our stomachs. Archer just shakes his head, and Dad examines him for a few more seconds before turning and finally leaving us alone.

When he closes the door behind him, I try to grab Archer's arm to keep him from leaving without saying a word to us. But he yanks his arm out of my grip with unnecessary force and leaves. Just before he slams the door behind him, he says something to us in a voice barely above a whisper but dripping with venom.

"You two are dead to me."

Something in me cracks right down the middle. "Archer, please," I plead quietly, pathetically. But he's already gone.

When he leaves, Jack places a comforting hand on my shaking shoulder. "He doesn't mean any of it. He's just angry right now."

My mouth can't seem to form words at the moment, but I don't let myself cry. I hold back the burning feeling in my throat and push away the memory of Archer's face—the look of utter, painful betrayal.

I link my fingers with Jack's for a single second before leaving, letting my hand fall from his. I rush through the hallway and down the stairs, paying no mind to pain spreading down my leg.

Outside, Archer is leaning against the house, an eerily-calm look on his face. The only sign of his true feelings is the rigid state of his arms that are crossed over his chest. He doesn't look at me when I step onto the patio. Jack appears a few seconds later, and he doesn't lift his head for him either.

Mom is laughing with her friends, sipping a glass of wine. It's weird standing among everyone else as they talk and laugh, oblivious to the way my heart was crushed just a few minutes earlier.

"Alright," Dad says loudly, holding a worn-out football in his hands. "Let's get this started. Who's playing?"

Dani's sitting on the sidelines with Kato. She seems sleepy, leaning her head back against the lawn chair and gazing up at the sky. Mom tells them to look after Sienna while the rest of us play.

"Levi, you wanna sit this one out with us?" Kato asks, playing in his Nintendo Switch. "Tackle football is for people who can't enjoy more complex sports. It's a waste of intellect."

"Kato, lose the superiority complex," Uncle Tommy says, catching the football from Dad and throwing it back. He looks at Levi. "Levi, feel free to play. Just know that we take games like this pretty seriously."

"I think I'll be able to handle it," Levi says casually. "A few broken bones sound like a good time to me."

Kato clicks his tongue disapprovingly, turning his attention back to his video game. "Whatever, dude. Just saying, tackle football is a hundred times more barbaric than tennis. And a thousand times more pointless."

Even through the mental fog I'm in, the peculiarity of Kato's words catch my ear. What does tennis have to do with anything? I turn to Levi. "You play tennis?" I ask him.

"I don't play tennis," he replies, suddenly interested in a random bush, avoiding eye contact.

Kato raises an eyebrow. "Dude, what are talking about? You said you played, like, your entire life. Dani heard it too, right Dani?"

He looks to my sister for backup, but she's spaced out still, staring at something above the trees. Kato notices her weird behavior and urges her to take another drink from her glass of water. Instead of taking gigantic gulps like she did earlier, she takes small, slow sips.

So many things are happening at once and I just need to sit down and think. I'm vaguely aware of the cut on my leg still stinging sharply, but the pain is nowhere close to the strain I feel on the inside.

"Can we just start the game?" Jack's voice slices through the tense atmosphere. "Levi, can you handle it or not?"

Levi comes back to earth, staring coldly at Jack. "I'll be alright, thanks." Then he smiles at me, and I suddenly remember that Levi is another factor in this fucked-up equation.

He seals the comment with a wink, and Jack has murder swirling in those eyes of his. "Fine. Game on," Jack grits out.

I'm really not in the right state of mind to play an intense game of backyard football, but I don't want to ruin Thanksgiving even more by moping in the corner. Even though I can barely concentrate on what Dad is saying or what team I'm on.

I put on a family-friendly smile to maintain the remaining sense of normalcy, putting my best foot forward. Even if it takes pushing down the ache in my chest and the dizzying feeling of the world spinning too fast around me. The shooting pains in my leg intensify, even as I stand perfectly still.

I'm on a team with Dad, Aunt Violet, Aunt Sadie, and Jack. I want to collapse onto the grass when I realize that both Levi and Archer are on the other team, and this game gives them a completely acceptable reason to injure Jack. It seems like every second that passes, the winds around me grow harder and more powerful, building toward a perfect storm that is bound to rain hell on us eventually.

We start the game before I can protest. Mom kicks the ball off. "You still got it, Riv," Aunt Pey yells as it flies to the other team.

Violet catches it and yells triumphantly as she runs up our backyard. Then out of nowhere, Uncle Tommy runs into her and brings them both flattened against the grass. She starts cursing vehemently beneath him, and he presses a kiss to her temple as she struggles to heave him off of herself.

"Sorry, sweetheart," I hear him say. "Couldn't resist the chance to get on top of you." Aunt Violet pushes her husband off her. Somewhere behind me, Kato asks someone to stab both his eardrums.

"Pack it up, Tom. This is a serious game," Dad scolds. Uncle Tommy waves him off and manages to wrestle Aunt Violet into a hug and a kiss.

With Dad's help, Aunt Sadie scores a touchdown. "Good job, babe," Aunt Peyton yells.

"Shut the hell up, Pey. You're not even on our team," Aunt Violet yells. Ignoring her, Aunt Peyton hugs her wife and gives her an congratulatory kiss. Sienna pops out of nowhere to push her moms apart, sticking out her tongue.

The game goes on, and I can tell Levi and Jack are concerned about me, because neither of them are participating much either. Archer is barely even trying. It's become a game of football between my parents and their friends, with the four of us at a stalemate. Waiting for something.

I know Archer like the back of my hand, and he doesn't ever let his anger go. Since the game started, he's been staring at me and Jack with his lips pressed into a cruel line. It's about to happen. I can feel it.

At first, his silence almost makes you think that he's getting over his anger. But really, his silence means he's stewing in his fury, letting it grow and darken and twist around on itself until he can't hold it in any longer. When he gets to that point, there's no telling how long or intense his irrational, usually violent episode will be.

Dad's usually the one to notice and calm him down before he gets to that point, but he's busy with the game, joking with Uncle Tommy. Mom and her friends are laughing, having the fun that we all should be having. But there's so much tension crackling through the air that I can hardly breathe correctly.

Then Uncle Tommy accidentally punts the ball too hard, and we all watch as it flies and falls deep in the forest behind our backyard. Dad groans and tells him to go get it. Mom tells Dad to go with him, and Dad reluctantly agrees.

Dad and Uncle Tommy disappear into the trees, racing each other to see who can find the ball first. Mom and Aunt Pey go inside to refill their glasses of wine and let out the wine they've already had.

Jack takes the opportunity to check if I'm alright. He follows me as I walk over to sit down. "Scar, your leg. It's bleeding."

He takes a few more steps toward me, holding out his hand for mine, and I look toward Archer. I see it in his eyes a split second before it happens.

Archer's a moving flash of fury as he advances on Jack, who's too focused on me to realize the threat. He slams Jack onto the grass, then his fists are a terrifying blur on Jack's face. I yell something that I can't remember, and run toward them. But a pair of arms hold me back, overpowering me.

"Scarlett, don't," the voice behind me urges. Some repressed part of me knows that it's for my own safety, but I can't just watch.

I hear myself yelling. Telling them to stop. Begging whoever is holding me to let me go even though I know I can't do anything to stop them.

"You motherfucker," Archer yells into Jack's face between punches. "You've been sneaking behind my back with my fucking sister. I'll kill you."

I'm crying, watching Archer sink deeper and deeper into his madness, not letting up on Jack as he pummels him punch after punch. Then Jack gets a hold of Archer's wrists and holds him off, and it becomes a battle of physical strength. Archer's emotional state debilitates him, and Jack is able to get the upper hand, warding off any more hits as Archer keeps spitting profanities and insults into his face.

Blood is already running down Jack's face onto his lip, and everything is going to shit.

"Archer," Jack says firmly. "Just calm down for a second. Think this through. It just happened."

Wrong words. Archer's lip peels back into a brutish snarl above him, and he digs deep for a way to hurt his best friend without his fists. Something to weaken him. "It just happened, huh? You just happened to fuck my sister?" Archer spits. "Just another one of your little conquests, right? You've always liked a good challenge."

"It wasn't like that," Jack insists. Then, with tiredness laced in his saddened voice, he adds, "It isn't like that."

"She's my sister. I trusted you around her," Archer yells, and I watch helplessly as his hands break free of Jack's grip and move to tighten around his throat. They're both struggling, faces tightened with exertion. "And you're gonna use her and spit her out, just like you always do."

For a long second, I begin to think to Archer might really kill Jack. But egged on by his accusations, Jack is able to slowly pry away from Archer and push him off. Archer lands on his back on the ground next to Jack, but Jack is already standing up. He stares down at Archer for a few seconds, waiting to him to say something, but Archer just stays on his back, laughing.

"You think you're so fucking special, don't you, Jackie?" He spits out the nickname like a profanity, and I see Jack wince. Jack turns and locks eyes with me, pulling away from his best friend walking toward me.

Then I realize who's holding me simply from the look on Jack's face as he approaches. I rip myself from Levi's arms, but Jack's eyes are already dead set.

The storm reaches its peak, and Archer laughs even louder, still on the ground. "Tell me, have you been too stupid to realize she's been fucking Levi behind your back? Or just too pathetic to do anything about it?"

I cover my mouth with my hands as every lie I've told comes crashing down around me. The nights I've spent with Jack that Archer thought I was spending with Levi. He still thinks I . . .

I turn my head to Levi, hoping he didn't hear what Archer said, but the dark, confused look in his eyes tell me that he definitely did.

I watch as the pieces fall together in his mind. His eyes are sharp and cold as shards of shattered ice.

Jack has the same animalistic, void look in his eyes as he looks at me. "You've been doing what with Levi?" He asks, a thick layer of fury doing a poor job of covering the heartbreak in his voice.

"Jack, Archer doesn't know what he saying. I've never—"

But Jack is already on Levi, slamming his fists into him. Dani screams somewhere behind me. Unlike Archer, Jack doesn't say anything as he rains his brutal assault.

But Levi's angry as well. Angry at the sudden clarity he's gained. Angry at me. And there's someone on top of him, looking like he's trying to kill him. Someone that he's hated since the moment they met. Levi lands a punch right across Jack's face, and we all hear the gruesome sound of bloody skin connecting with a tight fist. But Jack doesn't let up, raining even greater hell on Levi. The single punch doesn't seem to faze him as he deals them back to Levi in multiples.

I can't help it. I can't stand the bloody scene in front of me, the violent blur of their limbs. I run toward the bloody scene, yelling anything that might make them stop.

But another pair of arms close around me before I reach them, and I watch helplessly as Dad appears out of nowhere and pulls Jack off Levi. Everyone's yelling, and Uncle Tommy has his arms around Levi, holding him back from getting at Jack.

Jack's struggling against my Dad, trying to do the same. I realize that it's my Mom's arms that are keeping me back now, and she's trying to press my head against her to keep me from seeing this disaster. That's when I realize that there are tears running down my face and they're soaking into my Mom's shirt. I'm sobbing into her, but I can't take my eyes off of the scene.

Levi and Jack. Bloody with newly forming bruises covering their faces. Then there's Archer, still on the ground, staring up at the sky with a blank expression on his face.

I break free from my mom, and walk over to Archer, but he still isn't looking at me. He only reacts when my Mom comes to kneel next to him, cradling his hand in her face and asking him if he feels alright.

He won't even look at me.

If the fights were happening at lightning speed, the minutes afterward trickle by, and I feel like I'm moving underwater as I take in the aftermath.

"You don't deserve her," Archer says out of the blue, his head turned toward where Jack is standing. His voice is cleared of the madness, and that makes his words all the more wounding. This isn't the anger speaking. This is just Archer, and his words cut like knives. "You're nothing but a liar."

Just before Jack turns to go inside, with a hand cradling his bruised cheek, his gaze lands on me. His expression can only be described as pure agony.

"I know," he says, and then he's gone, walking inside.

Levi's not far behind, holding his face as well. Like Jack, blood seeps through his fingers from the wounds inflicted. I look right at him, but he keeps his gaze straightforward, deliberately away from me.

I'm about to follow them when I hear a voice calling my name.

"Scarlett," Kato says. I turn my head to where they're sitting on the bench. I cry out when I see Dani hunched over on the grass, throwing up violently.

"Dad," she groans, falling over when the vomiting ceases. Her eyes are pressed tightly shut, and she cradles her stomach. "It hurts."

"Dani, Dani," I repeat, rushing over and kneeling beside her, taking her hands in mine. "Is it a migraine? What do you need me to do?"

"Dad," she whimpers again and finally catches Dad's attention. He rushes over and sits next to her, holding her close to him. She drops her head onto his chest, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes as she curls in on herself even more, sobbing now. Dad talks to her, asking her what she's feeling and what happened, but Dani's in too much pain to answer.

I don't know exactly what's happening, but I know it's not a migraine. This is worse than any headache she's ever had before.

It almost looks like . . .

No.

Her sobs grow louder. "I didn't do it," she cries. "Dad, I promise, I swear I didn't do it."

"It's okay," he says, holding her up tightly. His voice is filled with panic, but he's trying to calm his voice for her. "I believe you, I believe you."

"What's happening?" I cry, falling to my knees beside them. "Dad, what's happening?"

Then Dad turns to me. "Go inside," he tells me.

"But Dad—"

"Scarlett, please," he pleads with me, focusing back on Dani. I watch as he pulls out his phone and starts dialing.

"I didn't do it, Dad. I didn't do it," Dani repeats over and over before leaning to the side and throwing up again. I want to stay. I need to stay. But Dad gives me a look, and I stand on shaky legs and go inside, terrified of what I'll find.

Jack and Levi are sitting on opposite sides of the kitchen, having their injuries checked out by Aunt Sadie. Both of their faces are bruised terribly, smeared with blood.

They both stare at me for a second before looking away. Quite frankly, I don't want to look at myself either.

Jack looks at me with forbidden longing and concern, and I don't miss the heartbreak blurring his expression. When I look at Levi, he's a statue. The firm lines of his face betray nothing. He stares at something on the wall — his clenching jaw being the only sign of emotion. His brown eyes have never looked so cold.

But I can't even think about them right now, not when Dani is outside sobbing and falling apart. My mind is both overflowing and empty, malfunctioning with everything going on around me.

I stumble to the couch and stare at the wall, letting the tears fall down my face. The world moves around me, but I feel stuck in place.

When I snap out of my daze, it's dark outside and the house feels empty. Quiet. It's only when I look around, moving for the first time in what must've been hours, that I see Mom sitting next to me. She gives me a weak smile. There's a plate of food in front of me that she must've placed there, but it looks like it's been sitting there a while.

There's also a fresh piece of gauze wrapped around my leg, free of the blood that I'd shed from my cut earlier. Someone must've taken the time to rewrap it, and I didn't even notice. I didn't even thank whoever it was.

"How do you feel?" She asks gently, scooting closer to me.

"Where is he?" I ask, and I don't think either of us knows who I'm talking about.

My mom takes my hand in hers before answering, and I brace myself for the worst. "Archer is with your Dad. They took Dani to the hospital a few hours ago."

I can't take it. My vision starts blurring again, and my mom draws me into a hug, pressing my face into her shoulder. As I cry, she runs her hand through my hair to soothe me. "I should have known," I say between cries. "I should have seen the signs in her. She was acting weird all day, and I just let it happen."

I was too preoccupied with my own problems to notice my own sister coming undone in front of me. If I would have just taken my eyes off of Jack, Levi, and Archer for just a few seconds . . .

"No, it's not your fault," Mom says. "Your dad and I didn't even notice. None of us expected it."

She continues to stroke my hair as I let my tears out. Finally, I say, "Where's Jack and Levi?"

"Levi took a greyhound bus back to UNC."

She doesn't say anything about how Jack and I kept our relationship from her, she just answers. "And Jack decided to stay at his house for the rest of break. He packed his things and left."

I pull myself away from her and look into her eyes. "I'm sorry you found out about us this way," I say.

Expecting her to scold me for making such a mess of everything, I'm taken back when she smiles. "I've known Jack since he and Archer were three years old. And I've known you since you were born," she says. It dawns on me that Dani wasn't the only one to solve the puzzle, although I should have known that I wouldn't be able to get anything past my own mother. "It wasn't much of a mystery."

"When did you figure it out?" I ask.

"Do you remember when Jack found out he and Archer both got offers to play for UNC?" she asks. "They were yelling and running all over the place together. Then Jack jumped into the pool with all his clothes on."

A few more tears escape my eyes as I think about their friendship. "I know I shouldn't have done this to Archer. He's never going to talk to me ag—"

"Honey, that's not what I'm getting at. I'm saying that Jack was over the moon that day," she says, squeezing my hand. "But he looked a hundred times happier when he walked through our front door last week and saw you. His entire face lit up."

My chest lightens, and I can practically see the expression that she's talking about. I realize that's because it's the same expression he makes every single time he sees me.

"Did Dad know too?"

She nods her head. "He did, but I don't think he wanted to believe that this kid he's known for over a decade would make a move on his daughter," she explains. "Even more, I don't think he wanted to believe that two guys were fighting over you. It's a lot for a dad to digest, I guess."

I laugh, even though the urge to cry still pervades me. "So you figured that part out too?"

"Levi was even more obvious than Jack," she says. "If I didn't know about Jack, Levi could've fooled me into thinking you two were in a relationship."

I scoff. "Archer was definitely fooled," I say dryly. "But that's mostly because of me. I was the one who lied straight to his face."

Mom doesn't have anything to say that'll make me feel better for that. I rest my head on her shoulder. "Why didn't you say something? Given me advice? Yelled at me? You just let me turn everything to shit."

Thankfully, she doesn't scold me for my curse. "You were confused enough. You were already dealing with the three boys, I didn't want you to have to worry about explaining yourself to me," she explains. "You didn't need me to tell you what to you. And I thought you'd eventually figure it out on your own."

"But I didn't," I say. "I just ended up hurting all three of them, so you thought wrong."

I know I'm unfairly taking my anger out on her, but I don't know what else to do. Being angry is all I can do. I'm tired of crying.

"No I didn't," she says calmly. "I thought you'd figure it out on your own, and I still do."

"That makes one of us," I say quietly, dropping my head onto her shoulder again. "I don't know how to fix any of this. I don't even know what I want."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

Her hand comes up to cradle my cheek, bringing my head up so I'm looking at her. "When I was dating your dad, things sometimes felt too complicated to think through clearly. It was only when I looked past the details that I was able to see figure out what I really wanted from my situation. And, in the end, all I wanted was to be with him. Nothing else mattered."

"Things aren't as complicated as we sometimes make them out to be," she adds. "Think about what you know, none of the twisted details, and go from there."

I think for a second. "Jack likes me. I know that." He likes me so much that he risked his longest friendship for me. "He wants to be with me."

"That's a start," she says encouragingly. "What else?"

The next one is harder purely because I've spent so long trying to ignore its truth. "Levi likes me too. I don't know why, but he does."

It feels both relieving and painful to admit, but Mom urges me to go on, helping me brush through the knots of my thoughts. "And I betrayed Archer."

"As mad as Archer is, I can promise you that he will forgive you in time," she says. "You two have one of the strongest bonds I've ever seen, and I don't think this will change that."

At the moment, with Archer's anger seated so freshly in my memory, it's nearly impossible to believe her. But I don't know how I could ever live with myself if she's wrong. The thought of Archer never forgiving me almost pulls me back into my daze.

"So now what?" I ask. "What do I do now?"

"You ask yourself what you want. Plain and simple."

My thoughts start racing again. I want to go to Jack's house and forget this whole week ever happened. I want to find out where Levi is and make sure he doesn't hate me. I want to talk to Archer and apologize for ruining his strongest friendship. I want all of rewind time to when the three of them weren't bruised and bloody because of me. I want everything and nothing at the same time.

I sit up, and the tears cease. The answer is a lot simpler than it seemed a few seconds ago.

"I want to see Dani."

♔

just want to take a moment to tell y'all that you guys are the BEST READERS EVER! this book has so many amazing comments and votes on every chapter, and that's all thanks to you guys. we love all your comments, reactions, and support, and we are insanely grateful for each and every one of you :)

voting

jack

levi

thought corner

1. Do you think Archer and Jack reacted fittingly in this chapter?

2. Did Archer mean the things he said? Will he ever forgive/accept Jack and Scarlett?

3. What will Scarlett do now? How will her relationships with Levi and Jack change?

4. Dani?

♔