Jake stops. Turns. The fire in his eyes hits me like a punch. Hot and sharp, hungry enough to swallow me whole. I’m still naked on the floor, arms wrapped around my legs, knees pulled tight to my chest. Every inch of my skin hums, flushed and trembling. Not from cold. From him. He looks at me like nothing else exists. And it ruins me. Because he’s not mine. He’s Susan’s. My sister’s. I shouldn’t even be thinking about it....

Jake sits at the table in his loose black shorts and a white T-shirt. He stares at the pancakes, not looking up. Susan’s next to him, leaving me alone across from them with the last ready plate. “So, how was your day, Jake?” Susan asks, forking a pancake. “Fine,” Jake says, flat. “Yours?” Susan spreads strawberry jam on her pancake, her voice lifting as she talks about her shift at the hospital. She describes the chaos in...

The city is just like I imagined. Loud, messy, and way too hot. But this apartment? A total furnace. No breeze, no break from the heat pressing in from every side. I'm flopped on the couch, flipping through one of Susan's magazines, pretending I care about summer fashion. Every page is packed with perfectly lit, photoshopped women. Waists the size of my wrist. Huge boobs. Legs that go on forever. Super relatable. I glance...

I knew the second I walked in—she didn't want me there. My sister never could hide her feelings, especially the nasty ones. But I wasn't here for her. I was here to escape our dead-end town after finishing high school. Tomorrow was about college visits. Tonight? Just surviving in the same space as her and her boyfriend. I noticed the tension between them right away. It didn't take a genius to figure out things were off, a...