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“These are all residential rooms where the girls stay while they’re on tour.” We walk side by side, her absorbing every detail and me looking at her. It’s crazy that the little pigtailed girl I knew has grown into a woman. Obviously, I knew she would, but in my head, time stopped for her the day I left.
“Which one did you put my mom in?”
I stop short. “About that. . .”
Her face falls. “She went back, didn’t she?”
“Yeah. She said to tell you she’d be okay.”
She shakes her head and laughs humorlessly. “I tried. I really did.”
“Tried what?”
“To save her, but over and over again, she chooses him, and for what?” Her pale face reddens, and her jaw ticks.
“I’m sorry.”
She whirls around, walking back to her room. “I gotta go back.”
“What?”
“This was a bad idea. I should’ve stuck to the plan, earned the money we needed, and driven her far away.”
I catch up to her. “No.”
“No, what?” She fumbles with her keycard.
“You aren’t going back there.”
“You say that like you have any authority over what I do.”
I rip the card from her hand, hiding it behind my back. “I don’t know what happened while I was gone, but like it or not, I’m in your life, and you’re not going back there.”
“You don’t understand.” She makes a grab for the card, but she’s no match for me.
“You’re right, I don’t. Why don’t you explain it to me?”
She practically growls at me in anger. “I don’t have to tell you shit, Colin. Let me in the room so I can get my stuff.”
“And do what? Carry six heavy bags the ten miles back to Ray’s shitty house?”
Her eyes widen, realizing her mom took her car. “Someone here can drive me, or I’ll call a ride share.”
“Swear to Christ. If I have to lock you in that room, I’ll do it to save you from yourself. It was her stupid-ass decision to go back; you’re not going to make the same mistake.” I widen my stance and cock my head.
“That’s as good as giving her a death sentence. You know that, right?”
“Better her than you.”
She sucks in a shuddering breath. “She’s all I have.”
“You’re better alone than latched onto her.” It’s a painful truth, one she needs to hear. But when she angrily wipes away a tear that’s fallen down her cheek, I can’t help but feel bad saying it. Every time I’m around her, I make her cry. I get a feeling she doesn’t do it often, and when she does, she doesn’t do it in front of others. “Besides, you’re not alone anymore. You have me, and I come with about twenty others who’ll lay down their life for you.”
She looks up at me with glassy eyes. “The last time I trusted you, you left in the middle of the night, so forgive me if I don’t jump up and down with excitement.”
“Listen, let me deal with Ray. I’ll make sure your mom is safe, okay?”
“If anything happens to her—”
