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His smile widens. “No wonder Creigh chose you when he never had interest in anyone before.”
Fire erupts in my belly, but it’s the good type, the type that warms me from the inside out.
I flip my hair back and can’t help but grin. “I’m special like that.”
“Arrogant, too. I see why you’re friends with her.”
“Who’s her?”
“Never mind.”
He’s about to leave, but I step in his way. “Can I ask you something?”
“I only take questions on Sundays. Like the church.”
“Today is Sunday.”
“Lucky you,” he says with that permanent smirk and I pause, thinking maybe I’m missing something, but then I promptly let it go.
I inch closer to him. “Do you know when Creigh got his spider tattoo?”
This is my attempt to frame the time he realized he was still haunted by his childhood memories, despite having a family. No matter how much he denies it, I know what happened in his childhood has an effect on him one way or another. I didn’t get the chance to ask him due to all the fucking that he must’ve used to shut me up, but I can fish for information from Eli.
“In secondary school. High school to you Americans. It’s a memento to the younger version of him.”
“You…knew.”
“That he’s adopted? Of course. Everyone knows.”
Oh.How come no one told me? Maybe it’s a close-circle thing and I don’t belong there. Although I’m slightly hurt, I decide to focus on a much more pressing issue.
“Do you also know of his…past?”
“There’s nothing I can tell you about it aside from what he divulged.”
“I just want to know if he became the way he is due to that.”
“The way he is?”
“I’m sure you know he’s a…sadist.”
He grins. “Proud of him.”
Of course he is. Now, I’m starting to understand why Ava calls him He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.
Eli is an anomaly.
But maybe he’s the type of brother Creighton needed while growing up with that sort of baggage.
“So?” I press. “Is he that way because of his past?”
“Maybe. Probably.”
It dawns on me then. Creighton once said that he eats too much because he was starving at a point in his life. And he probably sleeps whenever possible because of how he felt when suffocated by the gas.
When he was dizzy and crawled and crawled.
Goosebumps erupt on my skin with creepy speed, like when he was telling me the story last night.
