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Cal’s brows draw down. “What?”
“Hey,” Wes shouts, and he pounds on the door. “Are you two done in there?”
I give myself another few seconds to take in the absolute shock on Cal’s face. As the realization sinks in, his mouth opens, but he’s speechless.
“That’s why you three started tormenting me, isn’t it? You thought I chose Kammes and was fucking him behind your backs.”
“Yeah.” Cal’s voice is strained, like he just got punched in the gut.
I hope that’sexactlywhat this feels like.
“Guys?” Kellan calls. “Is Athelia okay?”
I’m not. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever be after this. But in this moment, I’ve taken a morsel of my power back, and that at least feels good.
“Athelia,” Cal says unsteadily. “That means…”
“That you hurt me over and over and over again,” I say, “fornothing.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Cal
Never in my life have I wanted to beg for forgiveness. But for Athelia, I’d drop to my knees this very second and say whatever she wanted me to.Dowhatever she wanted.
I try to swallow down the lump in my throat as she glares up at me. Her eyes are full of tears, but she refuses to let them spill over.
“He forced you,” I manage.
“For years.”
The half-breakfast I ate before Wes texted us to come over here sours in my stomach.For years. Ever since freshman year, I bet.
“They need to know.” It’s not my place to tell her that, but I have to say it anyway. We all took equal parts in bullying her.
“You don’t get to order me around,” she says.
“I know. But Athelia—”
She holds up her hand, and I stop speaking immediately. All I want is to take her into my arms and make all her pain my own. She doesn’t deserve this. I was saying that before, but now it’s a thousand times more true.
“Go into my room and make sure they’re far from the bathroom door and my bed.”
I nod, rushing toward the door and feeling much like a dog running away with its tail tucked between its legs. Before I unlock it, I turn back. “Athelia, I’m so sorry.”
Pure hatred flashes in her eyes. “Good.”
When I open the door, Wes immediately tries to barge in. I shove him back.
“Just wait over there.” I nod toward the door that leads into the hallway. “It’s clear, Athelia.”
Only then does she peek her head out. When she sees that she’ll be far out of Kellan and Wes’s reach, she moves toward her bed and crawls onto it. Her expression is pained as she does so, but she doesn’t ask for help as she covers herself in blankets.
None of us speak. She’s currently sifting through her bed, trying to find something.
“Where the fuck is she?” Athelia grumbles.
There’s a stuffed black cat that’s on the floor. Slowly, I approach the bed and pick it up. Athelia eyes me cautiously until I straighten and hand it to her. She takes it and clutches it to her chest, and I wonder if she has some childhood attachment to it.
