Ethan sat in his truck outside his house, engine off, staring at the steering wheel.
His mom had gone inside already. She kept telling him it would be okay, but he could see she was shaken too. Everyone was shaken.
He touched the bruise on his jaw. It still hurt. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the mess in his head.
He kept replaying the scene at Mia’s house.
The way her dad looked at him — disappointed, but not screaming. The way Mia’s mom hugged her after the negative test. The way Jake looked like he wanted to kill him.
And Mia… she looked so small sitting on that couch. Scared. Relieved. But also lost.
Ethan leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.
He never meant for any of this to happen.
When Mia was little, she really was just “Squirt” — Jake’
