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I whirl around, ready to fight back, my head too light on my shoulders. “What?”
“Joel… Don’t go.” Her face is pale, and yet I’m too angry to care.
“I can’t fucking stay.”
“Please. Losing Evie hurt, and now you?”
I swallow all the bitter, ragey words coming up my throat like vomit. “Mom, you didn’t lose Evie, okay? Me leaving now doesn’t mean you’ve lost me, either. Call her.”
I turn again to go, swallowing blood, my head about to explode with pain.
“Wait…”
“Mom.” I don’t turn around, because I don’t feel so good, and fuck it, I need to get outta here. “I have to.”
“Your dad…” she whispers. “He will relent. Give him time. He loves you and Evie.”
“He sure has a funny way of showing it.” As do you, but I don’t say that. She’s trying. I can see she is. “Mom, just…” My voice cracks and I grit my teeth. “Just call Evie. And let me know if Dad has a change of heart.”
If he has a heart.
But I don’t say that either, and instead focus on leaving, one foot in front of the other, as the fuel that brought me here, the burning hope that kept me going until now, flickers out.
At least the darkness doesn’t lie. It shows the truth.
***
When I step out of the building, I’m stumbling like a blind man. Lost in my thoughts and with the pain in my head, I don’t see them until I almost crash into them.
“Whoa, slow down,” Jet mutters, grabbing my arm and steadying me. “J.”
I jerk away for the seconds it takes me to recognize his voice, his face, his touch. By then, another, shorter person has snagged my other hand and is tugging on it.
“How did it go?” Candy asks, looking up at me, her eyes wide.
I choke on the words. Can’t speak. I guess the reality of what happened hasn’t hit me yet, or not as hard as my dad’s fist.
Christ. My knees go weak as the memory returns, and Jet curses, hauling me back up.
“J. What the fuck happened in there?”
“Give him a minute, Jet,” Candy whispers.
I blink. Two more people are moving toward us, their forms familiar but out of place.
My sister. And her boyfriend, Micah. I blink again, not sure I’m seeing right.
“Hey, Joey.” She shoots me a quick smile, but worry shines through her eyes. “How did it go?”
“Evie? What are you guys doing here? What’s everyone doing here?”
“We’re not everyone,” Candy says, squeezing my hand. “We’re the people who love you.”
“We were worried about this meeting,” my sister adds. “Are you…? Is that…?” She leans in, frowning. “A bruise?”
“What the fuck?” Jet hisses, turning me toward the light of a street lamp. “He hit you?” Pure rage fills his voice, rolling under the surface of his smooth tone like liquid fire. “Hell.”
“Let me see.” Candy closes in on me. “Ow, crap. That has to hurt. Who did this?”
