Page 17 of A Million To Fall

I stop at the bathroom sink, gripping the edge for support. “What about his homies?”

“It’s just us, baby,” she whispers.

I miss this soft version of her. But if this is what it takes to bring her back—a near-death beating—then forget it.

I lift my head and catch my reflection in the mirror.

Jesus. I look like something out of a movie—lumpy and bruised, dried blood crusted around my mouth and nose. There are hand-shaped bruises blooming up my arms.

My mom whimpers behind me. “Baby…”

“What happened, Mom?” I mumble, unable to open my mouth without eliciting a sharp pain.

She doesn’t answer right away. When I glance at her reflection, I notice her pupils.

They’re blown.

I bet she took something. While I was unconscious. With Cassie and Bronx home.

“Eddie beat you,” she finally whispers.

“No shit,” I mutter. “I mean after.”

She draws a shaky breath. “Eddie told Mikey and Joe to carry you to bed,” she says. “You wouldn’t wake up. Even hours later. I begged him to let me call an ambulance, but he didn’t allow it.”

My fingers tighten around the sink. I want to ask why she didn’t stop him. Why she didn’t call 911 anyway. Why she keeps letting him back in. But what’s worse than the pain and the anger is the fear twisting in my gut.

I remember what Eddie said before I blacked out.

“What did they do to you?” I ask, voice harder than I intended.

She blinks fast. “Boston, don’t… please.”

I turn to face her.

“Mom,” I say, softer now. “Why do you let him come around? Why do you let him do this?”

Her eyes are wide, but she doesn’t answer.

I sigh, defeated, and turn back to the sink to start washing the blood off my face.

ten

Skye

So, Lily was right.

I’m taken.

Still wild to say.

When Archer took me home Friday night, he kissed me in his truck, soft at first, then deeper, his hand warm at the back of my neck.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time,” he murmured, his forehead resting against mine. “You’re mine now, you know.”

I only managed to giggle before he suggested I change my social media status to “in a relationship with Archer Longfellow,” promising he’d change his status, too.

And he did. I checked first thing Saturday morning, smiling into my pillow despite myself. A part of me felt a little overrun. But that feeling only lasted until my phone alerted me to a text message.