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My mouth falls open.
His cheeks flush. ‘You’re my friend.’ His chest rises and falls heavily. ‘Archer and I grew up together. I’ve seen what he’s like with girls. He has them around for a few months, but they always go home with bruises and cuts, and they always make up stories about falling down stairs and walking into shit.’
‘Why don’t you go tell him to be a better man instead of lecturing me on how to be more careful?’
He’s quiet for a moment before he says, ‘There was a girl, once. Someone he was seeing back in Southampton—’
‘Camden?’
Surprise sparks in his eyes.
I snort. ‘I know all about her. I know how she cheated on him and he beat up his friend because of it.’
‘Is that what he told you?’ Chase looks incredulous. ‘Frankie, Camden broke up with Archer; not the other way round. He stalked her to the point she filed a restraining order against him. Why do you think he moved school?’ He bends down so he’s at eye-level with me and presses his palms together pleadingly. ‘I don’t want to pick you off the floor each time he hits you, or see you covered in bruises. Archer won’t change, but you can get away. Another two months and he’ll leave school.’
But Archerischanging. I’ve seen it in the way he stood in the rain on my porch and the way he squeezed my hand and the way he looked at me before I got out of his car. I doubt Chase even knows about Archer’s mum and his dad. There’s more to Archer than what Chase glimpses on the surface, but I don’t tell him that. I don’t have to prove myself to him.
And even before, when Archer struck me—hewas the one who carried me outside and stopped the bleeding.Hestood up for me against those men.Hewas the one who walked me home.
Maybe Chase is just jealous because he wants to sleep with me. Maybe Archer did lie to me about Camden, but I'm sure he’ll tell me the truth when he’s ready.
He wouldn’t hurt me like that, and if he did, I’d leave.
But that small voice whispers into my mind,You should have left the moment you started to make excuses for his behaviour.
Chapter Fifteen
Everything Hurts
Kai:Tell me something
Me:quakkas throw their babies at predators to save themselves
Kai:You know I could literally write a book on all the random animal facts you’ve supplied me with
Me:As long as you give me credit;)
Kai:I’m sure I can find the same facts on the internet
Me:what if I’ve told you things that have yet to be discovered?? What if only I know these facts?
Kai:so you’re telling me you’ve gone scuba-diving to evaluate whether sharks are more scared of us than we are of them? I thought you couldn’t swim??
Me:I can swim. I’m just terrified of the ocean
Me:What did you want me to tell you, anyhow???
I suddenly become aware I’m bouncing my leg; I stop and glance across the table.
Demi gasps at something Cassie shows her on her phone. It’s probably a dick pic. Even before Kai text, I’d been staring through the café window front, not really seeing anything as my mind wandered over Chase’s words Saturday night.
It’s been three days, and I haven’t spoken to him.
He hasn’t been at lunch, either, and when I questioned Archer on it, he told me he was at football practice.
Despite my spiralling thoughts, I’d managed to eavesdrop on Cassie and Demi’s morbid conversation: boys. It’s always about boys, and it was the same conversation they had over lunch today at school. Cassie’s on a dating app now and she’s matched with this dude called Brad (instant red flag), and she wants Demi’s advice on whether she ought to go on a date with him or not.
Why is she asking Demi? She should be asking me. I’m the one Cassie turns to when she finds herself in these dilemmas.
