Jax's P.O.V.
As the day drags on, the weight of everything presses down on me, but it’s not until I’m walking to the parking lot after the final bell that the world tilts on its axis.
Standing by their cars, arms crossed and gaze cold, is my dad—and next to him is her mom.
Their expressions are unreadable, but the tension in the air is suffocating.
My stomach drops as Sam steps out from behind her mom, her face pale and eyes wide with something that looks an awful lot like panic.
Whatever this is, it’s not good, and I can feel it in my gut: everything we thought we’d gained today is about to be ripped away.
The drive is suffocating, a tense silence filling the car like smoke. My dad’s hands grip the steering wheel tighter than necessary, his knuckles white. I sit rigid in the pas
