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ALLIE
When we pulled up to the house and saw Harlan’s car in the driveway, my mouth dried up. I rubbed my sweaty palms together and scolded myself for reacting this way. The way that Harlan treated me was nothing compared to how he treated Jace. He had nearly killed him. I needed to be strong for Jace.
But I was scared.
Scared for Jace. Scared for Mom. Scared for myself.
Jace placed a hand on my knee and squeezed. “It’ll be okay.”
“Don’t lie to me,” I said to him.
Lights glared through the front windows and onto the snow in the front yard. This was not and would never be okay. We needed to both be strong for Mom because God only knew why that woman was still with him. If he had no problem with hitting me, I doubted he had a problem with hitting her.
“I’ll protect us.” Jace opened the glove box of the stolen SUV. “Don’t worry.”
“A gun?” I whispered, eyes wide in fear.
There was a gun covered in blood, sitting in the glove box.
I glanced between him and the gun and swallowed hard, placing a hand on his shoulder. “What did you do when you were gone?”
Jace tore his gaze away from me, clutched onto the steering wheel with one hand and the gun in his other. “I killed the man who had burned my mother’s body. He trapped me in one of my dad’s cabins. I thought he was going to kill me.” Tears welled up in Jace’s eyes, but he pushed them away, as if he didn’t want me to see him so weak.
But we were in this together.
I brushed my fingers across his cheek and frowned. “You did what you had to do.”
“I killed someone, Allie,” Jace whispered. “I don’t want to be like my father.”
“You’re not like your father. You killed him because you thought he would kill you. Not out of jealousy. Not out of rage. Not to feel better about yourself. To survive. You will never be like your father despite how afraid of becoming like him you are.”
After a few moments of tense and saddening silence, Jace cleared his throat and straightened his back. “Whatever you say to your mother,” Jace started, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He glanced at the front door and cursed to himself. “Don’t tell her to leave him. My mom wanted to leave him since I was eight, way earlier than when she cheated on him.” Jace swallowed hard. “I listened to him threaten to kill her if she did.” Jace bit his lip, as if he was biting back emotions along with it. “I just didn’t think he would actually go through with it.”
I swallowed hard and shook my head. This was going to be so much harder to get out of without a scratch. We were in deeper damn shit than I had originally thought. Jace had tried so hard to get us to leave years ago, so we wouldn’t be stuck like this forever.
As we walked to the door, my stomach tightened. I hated this place so much, even more now. We walked into the room, Jace guiding me with his hand on my lower back to the living room, where Mom and Harlan spoke in hushed tones.
When we entered, everyone went silent. Mom gazed at Jace with wide eyes, yet she didn’t say two words to him to ask if he was okay even though he looked like pure and utter shit. Instead, she grasped Harlan’s hand and squeezed tightly. “You kids are home. Jace, what—”
“I got into a fight,” Jace said, not even sparing a glance at his father, who sat deathly calm in his grand living room chair.
He was so still that it fucking frightened me to no end.
“Mom …” I bravely walked into the room and toward them. I grabbed her hand and tugged her away from Harlan. “I need to talk to you about Imani. I need your advice. She’s stressing me out.”
Harlan easily let me pull her aside, yet he kept his gaze on her like a damn hawk. Jace stood by the door, lips fixed in a scowl. I pulled my gaze away from both of them and looked at my mother, who I really hadn’t spoken to in years.
“Mom,” I whispered, gazing into her dull eyes. The brightness had faded when she lost Dad. “Mom, are you okay? Where were you last night and all of today? You didn’t answer any of my calls.”
She gave me a tense fake smile. “Oh, sweetheart, I was just out with the girls.”
“You couldn’t return my calls, couldn’t send me a text?”
She peeled my hand away from hers and leaned an inch closer. “This is not a good time, Allie. Please, drop this now. We can talk sometime later,” she said with a smile.
She pushed some hair from my face, yet I saw the way her eyes wavered.
Nothing was okay.
“Now, tell Imani to come over anytime she wants,” Mom said louder. “Whenever her parents are fighting, she’s always welcome here.” She looked over her shoulder at Harlan. “Isn’t that right, Harlan?”
Harlan gave a curt and tense nod, and Mom walked away from me and back to him. Before I could pull her away, Harlan wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into him, daring me to try to tug her away again.
Jace snatched up my hand and guided me toward his room. “You’re staying with me tonight.” He pushed me into the room and shut the door behind him. “I’m not letting you out of my fucking sight.”
“Jace,” I whispered, looking back at the door, “I’m scared.”
Nerves ran up and down my spine. I didn’t know if it was a good idea to stay here tonight because I didn’t trust Harlan. I fucking loathed that man after what he had done, but Mom was here. And by the sound of it, she wasn’t leaving him anytime soon. I didn’t want her to be here alone.
