ANMELDENCrew's Pov
Who the hell does Summer Winters think she is?I pace my room, fists clenched, replaying that moment in the parking lot when she looked at me with those defiant eyes and said no. Like she has any right to refuse me. Like she has any power in this situation.She's nobody. A scholarship girl who only exists at Blackwood because of charity. And she thinks she can reject my offer?I grab a pillow from my bed and throw it across the room. It hitsSummer’s PovI found Ruby the moment we got back to the main hall.She was standing near the drinks table looking like someone who had been collecting information while I was gone and was ready to present her findings.“Why do you look like you saw a ghost?” she said. “You were supposed to come back glowing.”I looked at her.“I need to tell you something,” I said. “And I need you to not react loudly.”“When do I ever react loudly?”“Ruby.”“Tell me.”I leaned slightly closer. “We heard Richard and my mother having sex.”Ruby stared at me.“Say that again.”“You heard me.”“When you say sex you mean like, actually, the full – ““The full everything, Ruby. We were in the next room. I heard things that I cannot unhear for the rest of my natural life.”Ruby pressed both hands over her mouth.Then she started shaking.I realized after a second that she was laughing. Silently, completely, with her whole body.“This is not funny,” I said.She could not respond.“Ruby, this is genuinely trau
Summer’s PovI stood there in the dim side room, the muffled thump of the party still pulsing through the walls, and stared at the two of them like they’d lost their minds.“But the party is on the other side. What are you guys doing here? Why did you guys send for me?”Grey stepped forward first. His eyes were dark, hungry, fixed on me like the rest of the house had ceased to exist.“Let’s just say we want a private moment with our girl.”I arched a brow, a small “Hmm” slipping out, half challenge, half curiosity. Tyler moved in beside him, her smile slow and wicked.“Yeah. We want a private moment with our girl.”Grey’s voice dropped lower, rougher. “At home we don’t get the freedom to do what we want with you. And it pains my heart so fucking much.”Then he was on me.No warning. No soft build-up. His mouth crashed against mine, claiming, devouring. One hand fisted in the back of my hair while the other grabbed a handful of my ass and yanked me flush against him. I felt the hard li
Summer’s PovI did not know what the surprise was and I was not going to risk being underdressed for it.I stood in front of my mirror in one of the best dresses I owned and did my hair properly and took my time because something about the way Richard had said dressed to kill suggested this was not a casual evening.I finished, looked at myself once, and texted Tyler.Done.His reply came in under a minute. On my way.I smiled at my phone.Tyler as the official public boyfriend was something I had not known I needed until I had it. He showed up exactly how you would want someone to show up. Held doors, remembered things, made my mother feel like her daughter had made an excellent decision. He was so naturally good at it that sometimes I forgot it was supposed to be a performance and then remembered it was not really a performance at all.The door opened without a knock.I turned around.Crew and Gray. Together. Walking in like they lived here, which they did, but still.“Do you two al
Summer’s POVI screamed.Not a small sound. A full, genuine, completely undignified scream that came out of me before I could stop it and echoed off the driveway and probably reached the neighbors.“Shit.”“Language,” Richard said, but he was smiling.“This is not real,” I said. “This is not happening right now. This is not real.”“It is very real,” my mother said.I walked around the car.Then I walked around it again.It was black. A deep, clean black that caught the light in a way that made it look like it was moving even while it was standing still. Everything about it was exactly right. The lines of it, the size, the way it sat on the driveway like it belonged there. I had been describing this car to myself since I was old enough to know what wanting something felt like. Back when wanting something felt like a joke because I had no realistic path to ever having it.Now it was in front of me on a platter.I made another sound that was somewhere between a scream and a laugh and wal
Summer’s POVIt had been weeks since we submitted our college applications, and nobody was talking about it out loud, but I knew everyone was thinking about it constantly.The unspoken worry was simple.What if one of us didn’t get in?Richard had made it clear that money wasn’t going to be an obstacle for anyone in this house, but that wasn’t the point. We had all worked for this. We wanted to earn it, and the waiting was doing things to all of us.****Tyler had been introduced to Victoria as my boyfriend approximately three weeks ago.Her reaction had been something none of us had fully anticipated.She had looked at Tyler, then at me, then back at Tyler and said with complete certainty, “I knew it. I always knew it. You two were always going to end up here.”Then she had cried a little, which was embarrassing for everyone.Tyler had handled it with the specific grace of someone who was genuinely beloved by mothers everywhere and knew it.Crew and Gray didn’t let it go for a full w
Crew’s POVI stared at my father like I was waiting for a translation.He didn’t say anything else. He just looked at Gray, and Gray looked back at him. Something passed between them that felt like the specific language of a parent and a child who had been sitting with something heavy for a long time.Gray stood slowly.“Father.” His voice was quiet. “I did not think it was the right time. But if you think it is, then I think so too.”I turned to look at my brother.My expression must have been open because I genuinely had no idea what was happening.“What is going on?” I asked.Gray looked at the floor for a moment before lifting his head and looking directly at me.“I have a condition,” he said. “It affects my memory. Not all the time, not constantly, but it comes in episodes. There are moments where things go blank. Where I lose track of where I am or what I was doing. And as time goes on, those moments are getting worse.”He paused.“One day I may start forgetting things that are







