CHAPTER FIFTY ONE: Scum
NOVA POV
The ride home was dead. Dead air, dead silence, like somebody had sucked all the sound out of the car and replaced it with this thick weight that sat on my chest.
Maybe it felt this way because I was riding alone this time, no Lena laughing in my ear, no Katie yelling over the music, no stupid off-key singing from the back seat. Just me. Just the driver. And Grant’s ghost still clinging to my skin.
The funny thing is, I kept thinking about the ride that brought me here just a few hours ago. That ride felt like freedom. Like I could forget who I was for a second and pretend to be someone new, someone reckless.
Right now felt like the opposite. Because I wasn’t free anymore. Grant made sure of that.
His voice was still stuck in my head, sharp, deep an
