"Everything okay?"

"Yeah."

"You mad about voting Hope in?"

"Fuck no."

Murphy chuckles. "I think prez was convinced you were gonna down vote her."

I tune out for most of their conversation. Eventually Z and I are the only ones left.

"What's bugging you, man?" he asks without his usual smirk.

"Nothing. I'd justnothing." I'm annoyed for a whole bunch of reasons. I wasn't lying to Trinity about wanting to make my own announcement. But she's right. We're not ready. It's not about the fucking cast, or her room, or what anyone thinks.

She still hasn't confided in me about her past. I haven't pushed her yet, because I want her to tell me on her own. Because she trusts me.

Z thumps me on the back once before heading out.

Trin catches my eye when I pass the gym. She's burning up the treadmill. God damn she's cute. Yeah, I use cute to describe Trinity a lot. But I don't have a better word. Fuckin' adorable? Knock-out beautiful. Dick-twitching hot. Yup. She's all of those things too. I gotta stop being so damn hard on her. She's trying, that's all that matters.

She raises her hand to wave and I tell her to take her time. Girl's been waiting on me long enough. She deserves to have at least a minute to herself.

I'm barely in the door, before she comes in. All flushed and sweaty, she wipes our earlier argument clear from my head. Her red cheeks and chest remind me of other things.

"Hey," she says softly.

"Hey."

She disappears into the bathroom but doesn't bother shutting the door, so I stare at her ass while she bends over to wash her face.

She comes out rubbing a towel up and down her arms.

"Babe, don't you got any of those sport bra top things to work out in?" I blurt out. Not that the fitted T-shirts and tight pants don't turn my crank.

She raises an eyebrow. "Don't you see enough tits and ass running around this clubhouse?" she asks, walking closer. Almost within reach of my grabby hands.

"Yeah, but the only tits and ass I wanna see are yours."

She snorts at me. "Please."

Snagging her around the waist, I pull her to me. "Don't act like I'm spewing bullshit at you."

"Aren't you?"

Squeezing her chin between my thumb and forefinger, I turn her to face me. "Why do I gotta keep explaining this to you? You're the most beautiful woman in my fuckin' universe."

"Wrath-"

"Don't fuckin' 'Wrath' me."

"It's hard okay? No one's ever said that to me before."

How is that even possible? "That's hard to believe."

Her head drops, gaze lowering to the floor. "I used to get teased a lot. Called Lizzie." Her hand brushes over her side. "You know, for lizard skin? My mother spent years telling me how ugly and unappealing I was because of my scars. That I'd be lucky if any man ever took an interest in me. And here you are, physical perfection"

What the ever-loving fuck? "Babe, your mom sounds like a fuckin' bitch. She was probably jealous of you."

She shakes her head.

"Come on. Known plenty of fuckin' women who get jealous when their daughters grow up pretty and all they're doin' is gettin' old. See them at the gym all the time, callin' their daughters fat and shit. Didn't you ever watch Snow White?"

That makes her laugh. I love the way she laughs. Love it when I'm the one to make her laugh.

"What is it with you and Disney movies?"

What an odd question. "What are you talking about?"

"You're always calling Hope, Cinderella."

The stupid colors from that movie flash in my head. An image. Some sort of memory. Crushing guilt.

Without thinking, my mouth opens. "That's all my sister would watch. Princess movies."

Trinity reels back. "I didn't know you have a sister."

Fuck, my chest burns. I haven't thought about Faith in a while now, and that fact brings on a wave of guilt. "Had. She died."

Her mouth drops. She settles her hand on my chest. "Oh my God. How come you've never-"

"Happened so long ago."

She slides out of my hold, sitting next to me on the bed. "Older or younger?"

"Younger."

"What happened?"

I sit up and drag my fingers over the fuzz on my scalp. Last fuckin' thing I want to remember right now. The gentle touch of Trinity's hand on my arm shakes the words out of me. "I fucked up."

"What? How did you fuck up?"

I can't look at her. "I was supposed to watch her. We always played outside. Safer that way. My job to look out for her."

Her hand moves to my face. "You were only a kid."

"Doesn't matter. I was her big brother. Supposed to protect her."

Trinity's still watching me and I can't believe I'm going to admit this to her. Rock knows. Told him shortly after we met when he wanted to know why I was living on the street. Maybe by sharing it with her, she'll finally open up to me.

"Remember those stupid, plastic Big Wheels?"

"Yeah, sure."

"We were riding them outside. Up and down the sidewalk. I didn't realize she rode out into the street. I should have been paying closer attention. A car came. They always drove too fast in our neighborhood." My eyes squeeze shut. "The sound was fucking horrible." I can still hear my sister's scream, the crush of plastic, the squeal of tires. My mother shrieking. Feel the impact of my father's fists. The yank on my arm, burning pain.

"Wyatt?" Trinity's voice pulls me out of the memory. Her touch pushes it back into the past.

"What was her name?"

"Faith," I croak out.

Her hand automatically runs over my side. "Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark," she whispers. Her eyes meet mine. "I always wondered, but never-"

"You had it memorized?"

She shrugs. "It's pretty." Her fingers tickle over where I have the bird tattooed above the inked words she just quoted. "How old was she?"

"Five. I was eight."

Her lips form a small O of surprise and she inhales sharply. "Wyatt, you were a kid. Your parents had no right to-"

"She trusted me."

"Of course she did."

"She was the sweetest kid. My friends who had little brothers or sisters hated them. Never understood why. Loved Faith from the second they brought her home and handed her off to me."

"I can understand that. I always wanted a sister to do stuff with."

Of course most of my time was spent protecting Faith from my father's drunken rampages. "Hated when I started school and I had to leave her behind."

"Jesus, Wyatt. All these years, I had no idea-"

My twists into a frown. "That I was such a whiny bitch?"

"No." Trinity's a perceptive girl. I suppose she had to be to survive the life she did. She knows there's more to the story. Her hand squeezes my arm again. "What else?"

"What do you mean? There's nothing else."

"Bullshit."

I turn so I can glare at her, but she doesn't back down. "What do you want to hear? That my father turned gettin' drunk into a full-time job and took his anger out on me? That my mother couldn't stand to look at me after I killed her little girl and did jack shit to stop him? That at thirteen my mother took off for good and then things got real interesting at home? Or that at fifteen I decided I'd had enough and living on the streets was a better option?"

The shock on her face is too much. I have to get up and get out of the bedroom.

"Where are you going?" she sounds close to tears, and I can't fucking stand it.

"Outside. I need to be outside."

"Okay."

I don't realize she followed me, until she reaches out and holds the back door open. The idea of navigating over the uneven ground annoys me, so I drop down onto the top step, stretching my leg out in front of me.

Trin perches next to me but doesn't say anything.

After a few minutes of silence, she places her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so pushy."

I can't stand the thought of her feeling a second of guilt. "It's okay."

"What did she look like?" she whispers after a few seconds of silence.

If I close my eyes I can almost picture my sister clearly. "She was so pretty. Big frickin' blue doll eyes. Had this long blonde hair down to her butt." I shake my head. "I was the only one she'd sit still for to brush her hair. Our mother always threatened to shave Faith's head, so I'd make sure it got done."

"Geez. Wow, Wyatt."

Yeah, I'm a giant sappy, puss, I know.

"Do you have any pictures of her?"

"One. Up in my room. I'll show it to you some day."

She nods and squeezes my hand. "I'd like that."

I cover her hand with mine and pull her closer. "I'm sure later I'll feel better about talking about it. Right now I just feel-"

"Exposed?"

"Yes."

"I understand."

And I know that she does.

I'm still sort of raw from all the darkness I revealed to Trinity. She seems to sense it and keeps her distance.

Well, as much as she can when we're sharing her room.

Rock had yet another blow up with Hope. Right after we voted her in. Poor bastard. This time I can't say it's entirely his fault.

He takes off first thing in the morning to work that out. Z and I sort of shake our heads.

"How did he think this was going to turn out different?" he jokes. "He's in for a lifetime of ball-busting." He chuckles in a gleeful way that makes me laugh too. Yesterday we gave Rock our thoughtful advice. Today we heckled him until he got fed up and left.

My fist lands on his bicep. "You're such a dick."

Trin rushes by with a basket of laundry. That situation needs to end real soon. Girl's still behind on her book covers. That's what she should be focusing on. Not laundry. Z stares after her and I swear to fuck if he makes one comment about her ass, he's dead.