Chapter 1
The rain turned the road into a blanket of nothingness.
Paige’s hands shook on the wheel. Three weeks with a license and she still hated driving at night. The motorcycle ahead of her had no lights. She saw it too late. Her foot found the gas instead of the brake.
The impact cracked through the storm. Metal screamed. The bike skidded sideways in a spray of water and sparks. Its rider tumbled hard across the asphalt and lay still.
Paige’s heart slammed against her ribs. She shoved the door open and stumbled into the rain, shoes slipping on the wet road.
“Oh god—hey! Are you okay?!”
The figure pushed up on one arm. Short dark hair plastered to a sharp jaw. Athletic shoulders under a soaked black jacket. Blood already seeping through one sleeve.
Riley Keane.
Paige’s panic doubled. Captain of the soccer team. The girl everyone watched in the halls. The last person she ever wanted to hit with her car.
“Riley—” Her voice cracked. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see—your lights weren’t on—I—”
Riley’s head snapped up. Rain ran down her face. Her hazel eyes locked on Paige, furious and bright with pain.
“You,” she said, voice low and rough.
“I can help. Please. Let me help.” Paige dropped to her knees beside her, already pulling off the soft pink top she had in the passenger seat. It was the only thing she had. “Your arm—it’s bleeding. I can wrap it. We need to get you out of the rain.”
Riley stared at her for a long second, jaw tight, then gave a single sharp nod.
Paige’s hands trembled as she wound the fabric around the scraped arm. The pink darkened almost instantly with blood. Guilt sat heavy and cold in her chest.
Together they wrestled the twisted motorcycle into the back of Paige’s car. It barely fit. The metal groaned from the pressure. Paige kept glancing at Riley, who refused to make a sound even when the movement clearly hurt.
Once they were both inside, doors shut against the storm and the silence turned thick.
Paige started the engine and pulled back onto the road. Riley’s glare never left her.
Every second of it made the quiet worse. Riley was hurt, soaked, holding herself together by pure stubborn will. Paige swallowed the sharp reply that wanted to rise and kept her eyes forward.
“Can you look out the window?” she asked, quieter than she meant to.
“No, Paige.” Riley’s voice came out aggressive, angry, a biting edge that almost made Paige flinch. “I think I earned the right to glare at you as much as I want.”
She lifted the wrapped arm an inch, as if the bloodstained fabric proved her point.
Paige glanced once at the ruined bike in the rearview mirror. Another sharp pang of guilt hit her. It looked expensive. The repair would be worse.
But in all honesty Paige didn’t believe it was completely her mistake… Riley’s headlights were off but she bit back a comment to make peace with the she-devil sitting next to her.
‘Why did it have to be Riley who I hit?’ Paige couldn’t help but curse in her head as she turned to take a look at her.
“Keep your eyes on the freaking road,” Riley growled.
Immediately she spun forward, hands tightening on the wheel. “Sorry.”
Riley sank lower into the seat, shifting carefully, trying to find any position that didn’t pull at the cut. The rain outside only made the silence heavier. No jokes. No small talk.
They drove on. Riley’s stare stayed fixed on her. The paranoia of those eyes made Paige’s skin tremble. She was almost scared to speak, unsure how angry Riley still was—or how much angrier she could get.
Finally the question forced its way out of her.
“Where are we going?”
This time Riley wasn’t looking at her. She was watching the rain beat against the glass, the tempo picking up as the car sped along.
“Auto body shop first,” she said. The edge in her voice had dulled into something more resigned. “Then the hospital.”
Paige nodded. Traffic thickened ahead—cars packed tight, taillights bleeding red through the water. She switched on the wipers. The black blades dragged across the glass, thinning the rain just enough to see.
“Can I use your phone for directions?” Riley asked. “Mine isn’t working.”
Paige reached into the cup holder without a second thought and passed it over. Riley took it, stared at the lock screen a beat too long, then asked, “Password?”
“My birthday.”
Riley’s expression stayed carefully blank, as if the date meant nothing. But something flickered behind her eyes, a quick recognition that she buried at once by looking away.
“Which is…?”
Paige was a little taken aback from the question. She couldn’t believe that she forgot her birthday. If nothing else they had been classmates for three years that should have at least amounted to something.
“July tenth.” She muttered bitterly, promising herself that she would change the password immediately after this whole charade.
Riley typed it in without another word. The screen unlocked. She went quiet, scrolling with a focus that felt too deliberate.
Paige waited for the navigation voice or for Riley to bark commands at her but it never came.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, glancing over feeling slightly nervous.
Riley didn’t answer.
Unable to control herself Paige finally looked over. Her breath caught. Riley wasn’t looking at maps. She was reading something else entirely—old messages, a name, a private history Paige had never meant anyone to see. She had long before buried it so why was Riley reading that?
A soft gasp left her. Her hand shot out on instinct to knock the phone toward the floor.
“Why are you reading that?”