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Forty-Five
Diego
I got in my car,holding my wrist tightly to my chest. It was only a couple minutes to drive home, but each bump of the road sent pain slicing through my arm. It was no match for the lump growing in my throat, the dread settling in my stomach.
I’d seen the way April had looked at me. Felt the fight leave her dad’s body. This wasn’t something you got over. It was something that ended everything.
I pulled up the house, the light still on over the kitchen window. My sister’s car was in the driveway. I leaned my head back against the seat, fighting hot tears.
Everything about this night had gone so wrong.
I’d told April this relationship could be different. And I’d hoped she would move forward. With me. It turned out every fear was true. I could feel her slipping away before she even said a word.
I saw a face appear in the window, my sister, waving me in.
But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So I called my mom.
“Bueno,” she said, sounding slightly confused.
My voice cracked. “Necesito ir al doctor.”I need to go to the doctor.
“¿Estás bien?”Are you okay?
My throat constricted. “No.” Not even close.
Forty-Six
April
Mom sleptin my bed with me. Or rather, she slept. I lay awake, my eyes aching from the sting of tears. My mind just kept replaying the scene over and over again. How Diego had stepped in front of me, trying to defend me, not knowing he was only escalating the situation.
Then to see my dad, the strongest person I’d ever known, held down by the guy I was falling for... a fresh wave of hot tears began, soothing my irritated eyes and burning everything else.
Mom had only used that sedative four times in the last three years, and I brought someone into our home who made her use it the fifth.
It wasn’t Diego’s fault, not really. It was mine.
There were a million ways tonight could have ended differently. Maybe I could have warned Diego about some of Dad’s triggers. Insisted he leave the house. Never brought him home in the first place.
But that only would have helped tonight.
I’d forgotten who I was. Shunned my responsibilities and pretended I could be a regular girl, when reality was so much different. I knew everything in life had an end, and yet I’d let myself hope for something that would last.
I could hear my phone vibrating with notifications from Diego, from Sadie. But I let them go. I couldn’t bear to fool myself anymore that those relationships could last.
So I did what I did best. I left. I left without going anywhere at all.
Forty-Seven
Diego
I waited outside the school,my arm in a cast and a sling.
I wished I could disappear. Stay home so I wouldn’t face questions about my arm from guys on the football team who were counting on me. But I had to see April. I waved off a few teammates with short answers. But then Xander approached, his hair as messy as the papers he was shoving into his backpack.
“Diego—what happened?” He stopped a foot away, scanning my arm.
I shook my head, my jaw clenched. “Don’t want to talk about it.”
