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“I’m just going to check in with my mom.” It’s an excuse to put some needed distance between us so that I can catch my breath. I hate hiding things from him.
“You won’t go running to him either.” Alec grips my elbow tight enough to leave bruises.
“You can’t stop me.” I yank my arm free of his grip. How can he possibly think I’ll ever agree to what he wants?
“He won’t forgive you.” He chuckles. “You know it. I know it.”
“You don’t know that.” My heart cracks. He’s most likely right. Why would Rogue forgive me for hiding my connection to Alec? But Alec has already caused them so much harm. Being honest and upfront with Rogue is the right thing to do.
“Fine. Go ahead. Tell him,” Alec says. “And I’ll tell the world about how your bestie broke a kid’s spine.”
“What? No. That’s not…”
“Possible? It is.”
“That can’t be right.” I stumble backwards as I clutch at my chest. “Adira wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Yes, but we’re not talking about Adira. We’re talking about Liam.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. I’d know if something like that had happened. I would know.”
“Would you?” He sneers. “He was my friend once. Before you. I was there.”
“You’re lying. I would remember.”
“You were, what, ten? Eleven? Hiding under your bed from the boogey man.” He steps in close, his voice low in my ear. The only boogey man I had to fear was him. “It’s not surprising you don’t know, but I saw the whole thing. We told everyone it was an accident, but it wasn’t. He pushed him. You can Google it.”
I had Googled it after Alec left. Three high schoolers had trespassed on school property and climbed onto a roof. One of them had fallen.
I was young when it happened… there’s a possibility I heard about it but didn’t realize what it meant. There’s also a possibility that my Uncle and Aunt had something to do with keeping it quiet. Liam did grow withdrawn for a while around that point though… quiet, sad. By the time I was old enough to figure… well, I’d assumed it was because he was battling with his identity. Then Adira emerged like a beautiful butterfly from his chrysalis and that time was pushed back. Into the past. Where it belonged. Where it still belongs.
It was an accident according to the police, but the guy who fell—Christian Dakota—is a paraplegic. He had so much going for him—a baseball scholarship lined up—and it was all taken away in a second. I don’t trust Alec for a second, but if there’s any chance he’s not lying… How do I even begin to bring up something like this to Adira? How do I ask him his side of the story without him realizing that something is off? If I’m going to get Alec to ‘fess up about what he did to Ro and why he won’t leave the Maddoxes alone, I have to keep my bestie in the dark. At least for now. There’s no way that Adira would let Alec slide on this.
There’s no scenario where I tell Rogue and he doesn’t go after Alec and Adira doesn’t get caught in the crossfire.
Which is why I have to take Alec down first. It’s why I have to pretend, at least for now, that I’m at his beck and call. He’ll trip up. He has to.
I take a breath and push it out in the hopes it will calm my racing heart while I pick up my phone. I have to have patience, but that doesn’t mean I have to put my entire life on hold. It wouldn’t be smart to when it comes to Nicole anyway.
The longer I ignore her the worse she’ll be when we come face-to-face. My mind is already made up. I’m quitting school and putting real distance between me and them as soon as possible. She can disown me. She can take everything my dad built. I want an ocean of space between me and Alec, as soon as I work out how to get out of this situation. I’m done with them both. I don’t owe them my life and I’m sick of letting them steal it from me.
When I light up the device I see a bunch of missed calls and messages. I put it on silent when Nicole wouldn’t stop calling. My lack of response didn’t stop her. I spin the texts that she’s left, only reading one in its entirety. They’ll all be the same. I’m ungrateful. A troublemaker. A waste of her time. My father would be disappointed.
That bit about my dad is the part that gets to me. It makes my lungs squeeze. I miss him so much. But he chose her side over mine more times than I can count. Always with the ideal that we would somehow find a way to get along. Was he that blind to who my mother truly is? Did he have any clue about Alec and his need to hurt people?
“Your dad would be fucking proud of you,” Rogue says near my ear.
I scream as I almost jump out of my skin. Clutch my phone to my racing heart.
“Sorry, baby. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“That’s okay. I was just a little too focused.”
He nods at my phone. “If your dad had had any clue what your mom and brother were like he wouldn’t have put up with it.” He kisses the top of my head. “We’re going to have to get takeout. Clearly I don’t stay here often enough because everything is expired.”
“Oh, that’s—”
“Going to change,” he says as I follow him into the kitchen where he has takeout menus spread across the counter. “Rebel’s home now. He’s got Summer. Riot has his shit together. At least for now. They don’t need me to be on all the time.”
