What?
“Noah’s my best friend.”
“I was also your best friend.”
“Excuse me,” I say, voice low and measured. “That’s completely different.”
“His things were in your bedroom—” He turns away sharply, growling to himself. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter.”
I watch, open mouthed, as he storms back to the car, slamming the door shut behind him.
Yes, it does matter. There’s never been anything but friendship with Noah—he’s like a brother to me. I push to my feet and get in the car.
“Sorry,” Teddy mutters as he starts the engine.
“It’s different because I fell in love with you,” I say bluntly. Teddy keeps his eyes on the road, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth.
“Noah and I both struggled with nightmares for years. When I moved in with him and Jake, I’d cry out in my sleep, and I’d wake up to find him in my bed. He isn’t big on affection, but he didn’t like being alone when he slept, and I think he wanted to be close to me when I was going through that. We still share a bed most nights; it’s not sexual at all. A little co-dependent, maybe …”
Teddy releases his lip, glancing at me, looking abashed. “I didn’t mean to be …” He sighs and rubs his face. “I have nightmares too, ever since that night—they come and go. Sometimes I can go a few months with none, and then I’ll have a whole week of no sleep where I’m scared to close my eyes.”
Guilt eats away at me. “Sorry,” I whisper, looking out the window.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. It was Shane.”
“If I hadn’t been determined to get to know you, then Shane never would have hurt you. It’s my fault that I stayed with you for so long.”
“It doesn’t matter whether you chose to stay with me or not. I would have kept chasing you because it’s whatIwanted too, Bay. No one forced me to fall in love with you.”
Tears sting my eyes, and I wipe them on my sleeve.
“Are you still in contact with him?” Teddy asks.
“No. The night I ran away, he—he hurt me even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. I went home to get some money I’d hidden in my room, and Dean found me.” I keep staring out the window, finding it easier to say all of this without having to look at him. “He tied me to my bed and raped me.”
The car swerves violently, and I grip the door handle. My head whips around to look at Teddy, his mouth hangs open ashe watches the road, knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel tightly. “Fuck,” he says, catching his breath.
“Don’t do that again.” I demand as I rub my chest.
I watch him swallow and glance over at me. “Go on.”
“Shane came into my room not long after. He said that I dumped you, then willingly fucked Dean for a-attention.”
I barely notice the car stopping as Teddy pulls over. The tears are flowing freely down my cheeks, and my vision is too blurry to focus on anything. “He said it’s a good thing I dumped you, because you wouldn’t want to know what I’d just done. Then he tied me to the bed and injected me with something that put me to sleep.” My chest heaves at the memory of it all. How scared I was. How desperately I needed Teddy. “I woke up and my back was messed up again. I managed to get out, and tried to find you, but you’d already gone.”
The sound of his door opening makes me jump. Then he throws my door wide and leans over, unclipping my seatbelt, pulling me out of the car. He holds me tight as I break against him, hands fisting his jumper as he kisses my head.
“None of that was your fault, Bay. Your brother is sick, and your stepfather … you didn’t deserve any of that, and I’m so fucking sorry I didn’t realise what was going on.”
“I told them no, but they didn’t listen,” I sob with my face buried against Teddy’s neck.
“I know. Fuck, I know, Bay, but you’re safe here. They can’t get you, and I’m not going anywhere. I won't let you go again, I swear.”
Time slips by as we lean against the car wrapped in each other's arms. I pull away from him, sniffing. “It’s getting late. I just want to get back to yours.”
Once back on the road, I keep drifting in and out of sleep. I’m not sure how Teddy is staying awake, but the next time I lookout the window, I can see we’re approaching the Skye Bridge. My phone vibrates, and I see a message from Noah.
Noah
