Chapter 19
Nineteen
Enoch
I sucked in a deep breath of air as I stretched out my limbs quickly recoiling when I remembered that Shiloh was sleeping beside me. I sat up, my heart racing with the sudden movement, and stared at the empty bed.
What the hell?
I swung my legs over the edge and checked my phone.
It was just after seven and I could vaguely make out my mom’s voice downstairs.
I grabbed a hoodie from my dresser and as I was pulling it on, I noticed that Shiloh’s pile of clean clothes was missing from on top of my dresser.
Her phone was gone from the nightstand as well.
Maybe she’s in the shower?
The bathroom was empty, so I bounded downstairs hoping she was with my mom. Scanning the rooms as I passed them was making my heart rate increase with nerves. I stood in the kitchen doorway completely confused and slowly waved to Ruthie who was pointing at me from her highchair.
“Oh, hey, honey. Did we wake you?” my mom asked, gaining Sebastian and Eden’s attention.
I cleared my throat, stepping into the room, checking one more time like Shiloh was going to magically appear.
“Did you see Shiloh leave?” I asked, cracking my knuckles.
“No,” my mom shook her head, surprise clear in her features. “Are you sure she’s not in the bathroom?”
“She’s not. And her stuff is gone.”
“Wait, Shiloh was staying here?” Sebastian asked in shock.
I nodded and sunk into the nearest empty chair, blowing out a breath of frustration. Why would she just leave like that without saying goodbye? I didn’t even know she was leaving today.
“Maybe her brother came and picked her up?” Sebastian suggested with a shrug as he raised his mug of coffee to his lips.
My breath caught in my throat, and I stared at him, frozen like a deer in the headlights.
Fuck. That’s why she left. This is awkward and it’s not even my brother I’ve got to lie about.
“Sure,” I croaked, clearing my throat and looking away before someone questioned my weird behavior.
Eden suddenly leaned over, resting her hand on my knee. I stopped bouncing my leg instantly, not realizing I was even doing it.
“You okay?” she asked softly, letting my mom and Sebastian continue to converse without us.
“Yeah, fine.” I flicked my gaze back to Sebastian and decided I couldn’t sit there any longer.
My tongue was itching to tell Sebastian the truth, and I knew I had no right to do that.
Shiloh would punch me in the throat and probably never speak to me again.
But I was a shit liar and was even shittier at keeping secrets.
My fingers tingled with anxiety and guilt even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.
My sister gave me a quizzical look as I abruptly pushed her hand away and stood from the table, leaving the room before anyone could say anything.
I ran upstairs and flung myself onto my bed face first. The door slammed shut behind me and I let out a groan into my bedding.
I kicked my legs against the mattress like a kid but abruptly stopped when there was a familiar knocking pattern against my door.
“Go away, Eden,” I called out.
“I’m coming in.”
I grumbled and rolled onto my back, taking my pillow with me, clutching it against my chest. I glanced in her direction as she perched herself against my dresser, her arms crossed.
“What’s your deal? You guys get into a fight or something?” She kicked my foot that was hanging off the edge of the bed when I didn’t reply, and I rolled my eyes.
“No, Eden. We didn’t get into a fight,” I muttered tightly, trying not to take my emotions out on her.
“Okay, you obviously don’t wanna talk about it.” She rolled her eyes as if I was acting like a child, getting to the point she actually came here for. “Mom wants to know if you’re gonna come back down and eat or not.”
“Not hungry,” I said as I rolled back over, aware that I was acting immature and dramatic.
I sent a text to my new favorite phone number.
And then another, asking Shiloh if she was okay, and why she left without saying goodbye.
I spent another few moments trying to rationalize going to Shiloh’s house to check on her in person when she didn’t immediately reply before giving up and dragging my ass out of bed.
I grabbed my gym bag from my closet and pulled on the first thing I found in my dresser.
I texted Jae I was coming to the gym where he had a morning shift before hurrying out the door, shouting to whoever cared that I’d be back in time for the party.
I tried focusing on my music as I drove to the gym, but I ended up playing different scenarios in my mind of what Shiloh must be going through dealing with the loss of her brother.
Not to mention all the other unknown shit she dealt with that led to those cigarette burns.
And I was beginning to question whether she was in a car accident at all, or if she’d actually taken a beating. That thought alone made me nauseous.
When I got inside, I made a beeline straight towards Jae to avoid talking to anyone else I knew.
I dropped myself to the ground beside him and let out a groan.
His stare in my peripheral vision caused me to release a calming breath and nod hello.
I turned and grabbed my jump rope from my bag and started to warm up my body.
Jae was standing above me after we went through several sets on some weight machines. I caught him staring at me curiously as I adjusted my grip, the grit of the barbell biting into my calluses.
“So, don’t get me wrong, I was more than happy to hear you were coming to work out, but…what exactly did you need me for other than to spot?”
I let out my breath as I pushed the bar away from my tensed chest and back to its resting place. I rolled off the bench, wiping it off as Jae replaced some weights on the bar to prepare for his set.
“No reason,” I shrugged, avoiding his gaze.
He hummed in obvious disbelief and caught my eyes as I looked down to watch him do his set.
“And I take it there’s no reason as to why you’re in a mood?” he asked, slightly strained as he breathed through the exercise.
I rolled my eyes and sighed, giving in to the urge to vent.
“I just couldn’t stand being in the house anymore,” I shrugged.
“So, Shiloh went home I take it?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “This morning…or last night. I’m not sure. She didn’t say goodbye. I woke up and she was gone.”
Jae dropped his arms, rolling his wrists as he took a rest, and the smile twitching on his lips told me that he was about to say something stupid.
“Smash and dash?” his brow quirked and I flipped him off.
“No, you dip. Knock it off. She just…had to go or something.”
“So, what’s wrong with your house?” He paused as he proceeded to start his next set. “I thought Ruthie was coming over today.”
“Yeah, my sister and Sebastian were there when I left, but I couldn’t deal with that.”
Jae’s face screwed up, and he repeated to me, “That? What’s that? I thought you guys got along fine.”
“For frick’s sake,” I muttered to myself. “We do get along. I just don’t want to be around him.”
“Why? Wait, did something happen? I swear I’ll go beat Sebastian’s ass right now. Did he cheat on your sister? Did he hit her? Ruthie?” His eyes went wide with trepidation as he sat upright, his reps completely forgotten as he spiraled
“No, no. It’s nothing to do with him or Ruthie or my sister,” I said, holding up my hands to get him to calm down before he got any other dark ideas in his head.
“Okay, well, then, why don’t you want to be around him?”
I averted my gaze to the relatively empty gym, trying to come up with some sort of half-truth I could tell to not completely spill the beans. Jae tugged the hem of my shorts to regain my attention.
“So?”
“Let’s…” I paused, running a frustrated hand through my hair. “Let’s just say I know something that he doesn’t.”
“Oh,” Jae said flatly. “Who told your big mouth about the surprise party?”
“What?” I blanched. “What the heck are you talking about?”
Jae’s eyes bugged momentarily before he cleared his throat and stood up, turning away from me as he cleaned the bench off.
“N-nothing. Forget it,” he said firmly. “What do you know that he doesn’t?”
Great, another secret I would have to hide.
“I can’t tell you,” I muttered, following Jae over to the mats where we took a seat.
“What?” he whined. “Why not?”
“Because it’s not my place.”
“That’s not fair, you can’t just leave me hanging like that!”
He turned to give me a pouty face, his eyes glossing over as he held his stare. I shoved his shoulder and started doing some crunches to further avoid the topic. Unfortunately, Jae was very persistent and wouldn’t let the matter drop.
“How about I guess, and you can just tell me if I’m getting warmer?” he suggested with a mischievous grin.
“No.”
He sighed in defeat, moments later perking back up. “Did you walk in on him and your sister doing the nasty or something?” he asked with a yuck expression.
I gave him a pointed glare, and he laid down beside me to join me in the exercise.
“Please, can you just tell me? We tell each other everything! I swear I won’t tell anyone. Not even Shiloh.”
I cleared my throat uncomfortably at the mention of her name and tried to act normally. “Jae, I told you. It’s not my place to share. This doesn’t even have anything really to do with him.”
“What? Then why does it matter if you know or not, if it has nothing to do with him. That doesn’t make any sense, bro,” Jae shook his head at me.
“I mean, it’s not about him. But if he had knowledge of this…event, then it would affect him. He was fr—” Frick. I closed my mouth before I finished my sentence.
“He was what?” Jae asked coyly, like he could prod the rest out of me. “Go on. He was fr-...he was fr-... fresh…fr-ied…fr-eaking…fr-eezing…fr-eckles…fr-osting…”
“Jae seriously, I’m not gonna tell you, so please. I don’t want to accidentally tell you and then feel guilty as hell for sharing something that I was told in confidence.” I stopped to look at him seriously and he seemed to be oblivious because his eyes went wide with another theory.
“Okay, so you were told about an event that happened that would affect Sebastian because he was fr-...” Jae gasped and rolled onto his side to look directly at me. “Friends. He was friends with…wait…who told you about this event?”
His eyes narrowed and as the silence grew between us. Then he started listing names, studying my reactions as if he could spot when he mentioned the right one.
“Eden, Esther…your mom. Your dad! Ruthie, Sebastian’s mom, my dad…Oh shit!” he suddenly froze, and I furrowed my brows at him, resting my hands on my abs that were burning from the crunches.
“Wait a second. Wait a mother freaking second. This person is a friend of Sebastian’s. Who do we know that is friends with Sebastian?”
Oh fuck. Fuck me.
“Shiloh,” he nodded smugly. A smiling curving on his thin lips as I swallowed harshly.
“Hah! It’s about Shiloh. Oh, hell yeah! Does she have a crush on him or something? I mean…that would explain why you’re in such a sulky mood. Man—”
I pushed him, making him roll over and quickly climbed to my feet, grabbing my bag and heading to the locker room. Damn him and his inability to listen.
“That’s it isn’t it?” he asked, appearing by my side as I unzipped my duffle and pulled out my toiletries bag.
“No,” I spat. “At least, I don’t think any of that is true.”
I guess she could have had a crush on him. A sour feeling burned in my stomach at the thought of them together and I rolled my eyes to myself for being jealous over something that probably never even happened. He’s not a pervert, Nox. She was like a baby compared to him when they were neighbors.
“Okay, then what the hell, Enoch?”
I spun on my heel, my face flushed with irritation as I stared into his eyes.
“I’m not telling you. I’m not going to break Shiloh’s trust just so you don’t feel left out like a six-year-old on the playground.”
Hurt flashed across his face, and I regretted my harsh words immediately.
“Okay, Jesus,” he sighed, pushing past me and heading back out front.
I slammed my fist against the locker.
I was acting like a dick, and once we’d cooled off, I’d apologize to Jae, but I wasn’t ready to yet when he had knowingly pushed me to the edge. I decided against taking a shower and closed up my bag in a rush to leave before any other drama played out.
This was just one secret, one of many I knew Shiloh was holding in. I was surprised they didn’t seep out of her skin like beads of sweat. If I wanted to help her carry the weight of them, I needed to get myself together before they drove a wedge between Jae and me.