Lake watched me with sad eyes and then shook her head, defeated. She turned to grasp the door handle to leave but turned back at the last minute. “You didn’t lose him,” she shot back forcefully. “You let him go.”

Once she was gone, I shut the door and slid down the wooden length until I sat on the wooden floor. I never realized how long four years truly was until I saw up close how much Lake had changed. I couldn’t say if it were for better or worse, but womanhood definitely agreed with her. Maybe I was the only one holding on to my emotions from high school, but that didn’t make them any less painful.

I angrily wiped away the tears streaking down my face and composed myself. In just a few days, I could go home. Now that they knew of the threat, I would be able to leave will a full conscious. I had considered killing Keiran but now knew it wasn’t something I could ever do. Despite my feelings toward him, some people cared for him and would mourn or suffer from the loss of him, including Kennedy. Including my best friend. The first person I loved who didn’t share my blood.

I finally found the courage to leave the bathroom, and when I opened the door, I found someone waiting.

“Standing outside the door while someone uses the bathroom is a tad creepy.”

“You weren’t using the bathroom. I heard you crying.”

“Yeah, sometimes I do that when I really have to pee.”

“Willow.”

Keiran’s warning was simple but held a lot of weight. “I suppose you’re here to tell me what a bad person I am, too. Let me just save you the breath. I agreed to kill you for the sake of my family and so they wouldn’t kill me on the spot and slaughter them anyway. If I would have gone through with it to protect them is something we’ll never know, but I can say I don’t want you dead. I don’t like you, but Lake thinks she’s happy with you, and I haven’t been a model friend since I left so my opinion doesn’t really matter. I thought for someone who’s killed without reason, you’d understand my plight.”

“You thought wrong.”

“Because you’re a saint?”

“Because I’ve never killed without reason.” The underlying threat was as clear as if he had shouted it.

“I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t come back here with some vendetta against you.”

“Then why did you come back?”

“I wanted to see my mother.”

“You hate your mother.”

“What do you know about how I feel about my mother?”

“Because I know what it looks like.” He pushed off the wall and took away some of the same distance I had kept between us. “It’s written in your eyes when you talk about her.”

“I never talk about her.”

“Exactly. It’s why you never learned how to hide the truth.”

“What do you want?”

“My gut is telling me to kill you, but I don’t know if it’s instincts or the slave driving me to the conclusion.”

“So what happens now?”

“I warn you.”

“I thought you didn’t kill without reason.”

“I don’t… so tread carefully, Willow.”

He left me standing alone, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t shook.

“He’ll do it.” Dash’s voice pulled me out of my funk. “He’s serious. You know that.”

“I’m not afraid of him,” I lied.

“That’s the problem. You should be.”

“Just because you are—”

Dash shook his head and looked away. “I’m not afraid of him.”

“Then why do you follow him?”

He barked a laugh. “Is that what you think? I’m Keiran’s friend because he needs me. Maybe more than I need him. But what I am afraid of is losing our friendship.”

“Why?”

“Because if he hurt you, I’d kill him.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “You wouldn’t do that.” I denied it, but the look in his eyes suggested it was true.

He shrugged. “He would do the same for Lake.”

“Would he?”

“In a heartbeat.”

I rested my head against the bathroom door to ease the spinning. “Then your friendship is no friendship.”

“I’ve been friends with Keiran for a long time. In the beginning, I tolerated, overlooked and made excuses for everything he’d do until I realized why he needed me and why I felt I had to be friends with someone so troubled. He needed a moral compass. A conscience. Someone to tell him to ease back. I couldn’t stop him, but I figured out he listens… sometimes.”