Chapter 22 #2
He cranks the music back up, shifts into Drive, and peels from the lot.
Drumming my fingers on my thighs, I stare straight ahead, lost in my own thoughts, trying to make sense of it all. Make sense of Vale…
And this nagging feeling I can’t shake that I’m missing something.
Something beyond the darkness filling those holes in my memories, the ones I pretend aren’t there.
“You’re sick, you know.”
“Did I say you can fucking touch me?”
“You’ve never been good.”
It’s not until we approach a familiar intersection, that I snap to attention, the heavy fog threatening to drag me down releasing me, and I break the silence with a loudly gasped, “WAIT!”
Luckily no one is behind us when he panic-brakes at a green light, brakes squealing.
“Wha—”
I gesture wildly, struggling to untangle my tongue. “Turn!”
Luckily, I don’t have to clarify which direction I want him to go. He releases an exasperated sigh. “Seriously? You swore it’d be just that one—”
“Just do it!”
Growling and muttering under his breath, he flips the blinker and does as I say.
Heart pounding, I whip off the sunglasses, folding and clutching them in my lap, my puffy red eyes forgotten. My knee bobs as I track the distance without really seeing anything, counting each block we pass until finally the gold ornate sign reading Royal Oaks appears.
Without any further prompting from me, Eden cuts the wheel, taking us into the affluent neighborhood where Vale lives.
His house—correction: his mansion—is as far from the main road as you can get, separated on either side from his neighbors by stretches of dense forest. And across the street is a utility building, or whatever they’re called, one that is just big enough to hide this car from view.
Something I may or may not know after we staked his house one afternoon.
(Don’t give me that look! Recon, remember?)
Once Eden’s parked, I waste no time unbuckling, throwing the door open, and scrambling out into the brush.
Annndddd promptly moon Eden in the process.
“Fuck,” I mutter, reaching down, yanking the pants back up. Cheeks blazing, I turn my head with a cringey smile. I can’t make out Eden’s face from here, so I just wave an apology in the general direction of the windshield.
I hastily tuck my shirt and add another roll of the pants for good measure. I won’t be winning any Best Dressed superlatives with this fit, but desperate times and all.
Shuffling over to the small brick building, I hug the corner, and poke my head out just enough to peek across the street.
At the sight of the open garage, my heart sinks. His new daddy’s fancy SUV is there, but the spot next to it is vacant, telling me Vale’s not back yet.
Recalling the way we left things, I can’t help but feel like I’m the reason he hasn’t yet made it home. Unless he had other plans…
Uneasiness chips away at the little peace I’d managed to rebuild since tugging on Vale’s sweatpants. Swallowing tightly, I strain my ears for sounds of an approaching car.
Any second now…
Eventually, those seconds spent holding my breath turn to minutes struggling to remember how to breathe.
I don’t even notice the sound of a car door opening and closing, not until a hesitant hand glances off my shoulder, and a softly murmured, “Aston?” manages to poke through my daze that I realize Eden’s come after me.
Whipping around, I roughly wipe the back of my hand under my nose and force a couple swallows, eyes blinking rapidly at the blurred ground.
“Are you…are you crying?”
“I’m fine!” I squeak…much too loudly.
Eden shushes me, dragging me by the elbow back to the car. He opens the door for me and everything, all but shoving me inside. Having killed the engine when he parked, we’re left in complete silence for a long moment after he joins me before he finally speaks.
“What happened?” This time, when he asks, he sounds almost like he….cares. Almost like he’s…worried.
Sniffing, I grab my sunglasses from where they fell near my feet, and shove them back on my face. I run my hands through my hair, wincing when my fingers get stuck in the knots.
Yikes…
Probably should’ve looked in a mirror at some point before fleeing the locker room. Until this moment, I forgot just how much Vale was yanking and tugging on the strands.
My throat burns.
Where is he?
Why isn’t he home?
Where did he go?
“Should I call Mom?” Eden asks quietly.
I’m shaking my head before he even finishes asking the question.
Fuck me, was it really just this morning his dad asked if he should turn the car around in that same nervous tone?
What a fucking day, and to think it’s only Monday…
After a long moment, Eden sighs and starts the car back up.
The drive home is silent, filled only by the intermittent click-click-click of the blinker, and the low grumbling hum of the engine.
It’s not until we turn down our street that I finally find my voice, words spilling out unbidden. “You can’t tell Tillie.” I don’t have to specify what I’m talking about.
A loaded beat passes. “I know. I promised you I wouldn’t.”
Right…
The night of the Bell Game. Driving home from the Furnaces.
Eden might not know all the gritty details, but I did have to clarify one thing to him—that Vale wasn’t my real brother.
Poor guy seemed to be real concerned with that little detail.
I also had to make Eden swear he’d keep Vale’s and my connection to himself.
I may or may not have used a certain secret of his against him…
Did resorting to blackmail earn me any favors in the friendship department? No. But again…desperate times and all. Story of my life.
Speaking of desperation…
“She’ll send me back,” I blurt, the inside of the car seeming so much smaller suddenly. My loud, harsh pants are all I can hear for a long moment.
And then the engine cuts out. The car dings, the overhead lights coming on.
I blink, looking around the dimly lit driveway. Somewhere between leaving Vale’s neighborhood and reaching ours, the street lamps kicked on.
“She’s not going to send you back,” Eden says tiredly.
“She will,” I insist, nodding strongly. “If I fuck this up, I’m gone.”
A long, heavy moment passes. “Aston…”
I whip around to face him. “Yeah?”
His troubled gaze darts all around my face, and I’m grateful for the sunglasses hiding my eyes.
I’m fine. Everything’s fine. Everything’s—
“Nothing,” he mutters after a long moment, ducking his head, hiding behind a curtain tangled hair. “Just…” He flicks his fingers toward me. “I’m here if you want to… talk or whatever.”
My chest expands. “Really? You mean that?” My voice cracks embarrassingly, but there’s no containing my wide, watery grin.
With a scowl, he peeks up at me, eyeing me with a wary look.
Which makes me grin even wider.
Wide enough to make him wrinkle his nose and rear back.
Tone it down!
Don’t fuck this up!
Finally, reluctantly, he gives a stilted nod. And before either of us even realize what’s happening, I’m throwing myself at him.
Only…there’s a seatbelt strapped across my chest. One I forgot about.
Grumbling, I quickly unbuckle it, ignoring the way Eden cowers and scrambles back as I all but crawl across the glove compartment and smother him with love.
And for a moment, I forget all about what happened in the locker room.
All about Vale and his unknown whereabouts.
All about the pants falling down, baring my ass to anyone who might be walking past the passenger side.
I forget all about wood paneled walls and creaky doors and stupid rock songs from the ’60s… and figures towering over me, so much bigger and stronger than I could ever hope to fend off.
And I forget that I can lose all of this…everything…myself…at the drop of a hat.
Eden mumbles something into my shoulder I can’t make out, which only encourages me to squeeze him tighter. Tight enough to make him wince and wiggle aggressively to get some distance.
Once he succeeds, squished up against the driver’s door, he scowls up at me, eyes narrowed into a glare. “I’m gonna regret this, aren’t I?”
I nod. “Probably.”
And boy, ain’t that the truth.