AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Life hasn't been easy. College, working, and maintaining Colin's happiness has aged me fast,” she says with a light scoff.
“You never even had the chance to be a kid. You became an adult overnight,” I state.
Her shoulders shrug lightly, peering down at our intertwined hands. “Yeah, I've fought for our future, but it was only when I felt we were in a good place that I let my overall goal slip. I acted like that irresponsible kid who never had the chance to be selfish, and it almost ruined us.”
I have a feeling I know what's coming next, and I focus on calming the storm brewing within me, keeping it at bay as I continue listening.
“Everything was amazing, Lake,” she says, shaking her head at the memory as my thumb runs over the back of her hand. “He really acted like he cared about us.”
The tension in my shoulders is back already.
“Eric came into our lives and things felt like they were supposed to. We were a little unit, the three of us. He understood my situation and played right into it because he really loved me.”
“What did he do, Dylan?” I say through gritted teeth, remembering the words that fucker muttered in the dirt.
“He did really love me, but not all of me. All of me included Colin, and he hated that side. Pretended it didn’t exist. Negated the idea of him entirely.” She shakes her head in disgust, remembering. “To keep it simple, he infiltrated our bond. He found his way in and made it his mission to separate us. He gained Colin's trust, and I allowed it, thinking it was genuine. I watched as he put in the effort to befriend him and work towards being able to spend time with him without me around. He said it was good for them and their relationship.”
I hate where this is going.
She bites down on her bottom lip. “You have to know how hard of a decision that was for me. To ever really trust someone who wasn't already versed in his disability to spend time alone with him. But Eric pushed it. He wanted to be that person for us. He begged for it, and ultimately, he forced the issue. It was all a part of his sick and twisted plan.”
My nostrils flare as I peer over at Colin's door. I've known him for all of a day and already own this strange form of protection over both of them. To see anyone take advantage of these two after what they've been through—well, let's just say Eric is lucky I'm only hearing of this now. Teeth would have been scattered all around the Special Olympics. Limbs too.
“Eric took him to a facility while I was at work,” she says, her brows knitting together and her eyes narrowing in on the floor again.
“What?” I snarl.
“I went to work and Eric convinced Colin to go with him to this psychiatric hospital. Tricked him into signing himself in, committing himself to a place without knowing he'd be left there. Alone.”
I could send a fist through the tiny window of this second-floor apartment. My grip tightens on her hands unintentionally. I try to remain calm and listen to her words, but the only thing flashing through my mind is how I need to find him and mutilate him.
“Colin was a mess when I finally got him out. It was the first time he didn't trust me. He was terrified of Eric. Thought I wanted this. Wanted him gone. Wouldn't sleep for weeks, thinking he'd show up and take him away again even though I promised he was out of our lives for good.”
I’m holding my breath while listening, trying to keep it together.
“I do not know what happened to Colin while he was there, but when I picked him up, they had him tied down to a gurney. He was physically depleted. I can only imagine the fight he fought until he gave up, and that right there fucking destroyed me. It was our horrifying past reliving itself before my eyes—him being locked in his room, panicking alone in all the wrong ways. It wrecked me.”
I will find him. I will torture and kill this man for what he did to Dylan and Colin. He took the world they fought so hard to protect and fucking ripped it apart for his own selfish reasons. Because he couldn't stand to be second in their world.
“Dylan,” I swallow, my eyes wincing. “My God.” I rake a hand through my hair, feeling so much of her pain in her words. “I'm so sorry he did that to Colin. To you.”
She's silent for a second, just gazing off into the corner of the room. “It brought everything back again. All the pain of our childhood, our separation, everything. Eric tried to convince me I was crazy for trying to care for Colin myself, saying how I'd be better off without him. That he was baggage I couldn’t handle. That I could never be worthy of being someone's girlfriend or wife because I'd never give anyone enough attention, enough of me. That I was somehow stained because of him. Ruined.”
He ruins her.Eric’s words haunt me.
“He was wrong,” I say immediately, feeling heat rising in my neck.
Her gaze slowly peels away from the corner until she’s looking at me. There's a bit of self-deprecation I see behind the layers of tough skin she's grown. There's still a tiny part of her that feels the weight of not being good enough, even after all she’s accomplished. And that sick fuck planted it there.
“He was dead fucking wrong, Dylan,” I say it again.
“I know.” She swallows. “Colin's not bag—”
“No,” I interrupt. “No, you are worthy of so much more. Because of Colin. Because of what you do for him. Your selflessness, your sacrifice.”
Her lips part as she studies my eyes. I reach up to touch the hair hanging near her temple, pushing it back behind her ear to cup her face. She stiffens at first, then relaxes a little as her cheek melts to my palm, my heart thumping wildly through my chest at the contact.
“You deserve to have someone who realizes how amazing you are for your endless love and protection of him, not downgrade you because of that.”
