Chapter 25
E
The bathroom door was six feet away, and he was out of the bed before he finished gasping awake. Six feet was all he needed.
“Levi, don’t!”
Levi was through the door as Asher got an elbow under himself on the bed. He slammed it shut and locked it, not even bothering to turn the lights on.
“LEVI —” The first fist hit the door before he’d turned around. “LEVI OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR —”
There wasn’t much in here, and it looked worse than before. The tile had yellowed, though it was hard to tell with the light filtering through the fog at the window. There was a cracked mirror, crooked, like it was added to the wall above the sink like an afterthought.
The door shook in its frame as something heavy hit the other side. The lock held. Levi had a window of however many seconds that was worth.
He picked up the soap dish from the edge of the sink and swung it into the mirror. It took two strikes until the glass gave and came out of the frame in three big pieces and a shower of smaller ones. Levi caught the largest piece as it fell, and the edge of it opened his palm.
“LEVI — PLEASE — PLEASE BABY PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR — PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!”
Asher’s voice had gone from don’t to please in the time it had taken to cross the bathroom. The pleading did not reach Levi.
You want me to hear you? You should have heard me first.
The door was shaking harder — from Asher’s shoulder now, probably, the frame starting to splinter around the strike plate. Maybe ten more seconds. He didn’t need ten seconds.
He sat down on the bathroom floor with his back against the tub.
This is how you learn. I’m going to keep doing this until you understand what I’m asking for or until there’s nothing of me left for you to keep.
“LEVI —”
He put the glass against the side of his throat and drew it across.
The cut was clean and the blood came immediately — warm, a rush down his neck and his chest — and the shard dropped into his lap as he leaned his head back against the edge of the tub because his neck no longer wanted to hold it up.
The banging on the door was getting through in pieces.
Levi felt tired. I love you. And you are going to understand.
The door’s strike plate gave. The wood splintered one last time before the door wrenched open, but he was getting sleepy, so he closed his eyes.
“Levi — no no no no no —”
Asher’s palm was warm. Levi felt the warmth and felt Asher’s thumb against his cheekbone and that was the last thing he felt.