The second the elevator dinged, I panicked.

I shoved Ryder—hard.

He stumbled back, caught off guard. “What the hell—”

“Dick!” I whisper-yelled, my voice sharp, my face burning.

And of course, right on cue the elevator opened and my mother stood there phone in hand as she looked at me in surprise.

“Evie.”

My mother’s voice carried through the space, full of warning. “Language. Why are you speaking to your step brother like that?.”

I squeezed my eyes shut for half a second, inhaling sharply.

When I turned around, she was stepping off the elevator, phone pressed to her ear, her brows slightly raised.

I barely caught the way her...