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Theodore watches me as I cross the room, his eyes never straying from my face. I drop down onto the couch, tucking my feet under myself and wrapping a blanket over my legs.
“You knew,” I tell Theodore, my face blank. He nods, not bothering to offer any explanations. When we got out of the shower, I told him what Gregory had said about my mother selling me to him, and the moment I looked at his face, I knew the truth. He’s always known. “This whole time.”
He nods. “I did.”
“You should have told me.”
His head cocks to the side, his eyes burning my face as his stare penetrates me. “Would you have told me, if it was the other way around?”
That’s the crux, isn’t it?
Would I have told him, if I had known?
Knowing the threat my mother put over his head?
He was fourteen at the time he was told that his best friend would be sold at the age of eleven if he said a word—not just to me, but to anyone. I’d like to say I would have told him, but truthfully, I don’t think I would have.
“So, what now?” I ask, biting my lip. “We just wait to see if my dad really pulls through? I just have to sit here and hope Gregory doesn’t come back and take what he believes is owed to him?”
Theodore stands then, stalking over to me. The grey joggers he changed into hang loose on his hip, his bare chest rippling under the dim lamp that lights the room. He drops down next to me, pulling me into him until I’m straddling his thighs. “For now, we go to bed. And we deal with all this tomorrow.”
“I’m pissed at you,” I grumble, fisting his shirt.
“Be pissed at me all you want, baby,” he tells me, slipping two fingers under my jaw and drawing my face up to his. “But you’re stuck with me. You and me. Endgame, remember?”
“Yeah.” I grab his other hand, linking his pinkie finger through mine. We used to do this all the time as kids. Whenever we made a promise, we swore it on our pinkies. “Endgame.”
FORTY-TWO
“How’sFallondoing?”Gageasks when I drop down beside him in the cafeteria. It’s been a few days since I found her with Gregory lying on top of her, and I can honestly say she’s not doing well. Finding out that your mum plans to sell you isn’t exactly a good time for anyone.
“I dunno, man.” Shrugging, I tip my bottle of water, swallowing half the contents before continuing, “She’s lost in her own world. Won’t come out of her room ’cause she thinks he’s going to come back and take her. She’s pissed at me, rightfully so. Pissed at her parents for existing. She’s lost, and I don’t know how to fucking bring her back.”
“Any news on Caroline yet?” Kyle pipes up, asking the same question he has every day since I told them that Fallon’s dad would finally do the right thing and contact the police to get her behind bars for illegally selling her kid.
“Nope,” I answer dryly. “She’s fucked off, ran away to God knows where. Probably hiding out with that fucking cunt. I really wish I’d just ended his pitiful existence Saturday night.”
Gage scoffs beside me, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, and you could end up in a jail cell beside her mum. Brilliant plan.”
Shaking my head, I grab my sandwich, peeling the plastic off and ignoring them as they chat shit beside me. Between Fallon worrying about Gregory and her mother, and trying to help her keep up to date with coursework that she’s falling behind on while she hides out in her dorm, shit is fucking tiresome.
Not her.
Never her.
This whole fucking mess is grinding my gears.
There is fuck all I can do to help but be there with her. And even then, she kicked me out her dorm the last few nights to hang with her friends. I get that she’s still mad at me, and I deserve some of that anger, but it doesn’t mean I’m cool with her keeping me out of shit.
I push off the table, walking away without a word and toss my half-eaten food in the bin. The walk to the gym does little to tamper my growing frustrations. The only thing I need right now is to throw my fists at something.
Over the next few hours, I beat the shit out of a bag at the gym, imagining Gregory’s face. Knowing that he’s still out there, recuperating and hiding, makes me angrier than I’ve been before. Knowing what he planned to do to my girl.
The bag topples, dropping onto the floor with a loud thud when I take my foot to it. My hands land on my thighs, my stomach folding as I catch my breath.
“You good, kid?” I turn to face Bennett, his arms crossed over his chest as he leans against the door frame. He cocks his head to the side, watching me with concern etched across his features.
“Fuck no.”
