Chasing Ivy (Oak Hill 1)

“Mia. Stop!” I yelled, but she didn’t comply. Her grip only hardened on my arm.

I was honestly scared and at a loss for words. My stomach twisted, thinking something terrible had happened.

She pulled me down the rest of the street in the one direction that I hadn’t gone yet. I avoided it at all costs.

Its name came into view on the bright green street sign and I planted my feet firmly on the ground.

“Mia, no,” I tried to say, but she dragged me even further, ignoring me.

My feet were aching in my black work heels, but I knew I couldn’t take them off because she would probably just pull me along even harder.

Once we rounded the corner of my old street, I felt my insides turn to mush. Everything I’d eaten that day threatened to come up and although it was far from hot outside, I was full-on sweating.

My heart rapidly beat in my chest because I knew we were headed to my old house, the one that burned down and probably had some other stupid house in its place.

I avoided it like the fucking bubonic plague. I couldn’t stomach seeing another house standing upright, growing happy children with parents who weren’t gone.

My eyes clenched as soon as Mia stopped walking.

Her distraught voice had me peeling them open in an instant. “Look. Just look.”

I slowly rose my head, preparing to swallow bile, and what I saw was so much harder to actually take in than what I’d expected.

Greif struck me so hard that my hand involuntarily went to my stomach. It clenched and turned in such a vicious way that I felt like an actual knife was cutting into me. Goosebumps broke out along my arms.

What stood on my street, in the same place that my home once stood… was a house that looked identical to mine.

Even down to the white siding and navy blue shutters. Almost everything was the same, except for the vehicle in the driveway.

That’s when my heart and tears fell simultaneously.

A blue GMC Sierra with a logo on the side reading, “Lanning Construction” was parked in the concrete driveaway.

A muffled cry came out of my mouth and Mia was instantly there, wrapping her arms around my body.

I had to get away. I had to get away before Dawson saw me standing here like a complete lunatic, losing her mind.

Every single scar on my heart was suddenly aching. Memories flew at me from every angle and not only did that hurt, so did the fact that Dawson was there at the house.

Does he live there?

What the hell is this? Some twisted version of The Notebook? Was he about to walk out of the house with a handful of letters? Professing his love for me?

Doubtful.

I somehow managed to get myself together and grabbed my sister’s hand and dragged her back all the way to my house.

Once we reached the security of the porch, we sat down on the steps in silence.

I was trying to sort through my thoughts, but the only thing I could focus on was the how. How had my house been rebuilt? Did Dawson do it? Did Lanning Construction do it? And when? And why?

So many questions.

“So, I take it you didn’t know?” Mia asked, finally breaking the silence.

A choppy laugh fell out of my mouth. “Trust me, if I knew… you would have known.”

“Who the hell built our house exactly the same? That’s kinda creepy.”