Chapter 16
THEO
After an hour of driving in silence, I pull over and park outside a lilac-coloured two-up two-down. We get out of the car and I follow Bailey to his front door. My body’s vibrating with anticipation. I know as soon as I cross the threshold, there’s no turning back.
Steadying myself on the door frame, I watch as Bailey walks through the open plan space to the kitchen, dumping his keys onto the counter. He keeps his back to me, oblivious to my mental tug of war. I slowly step inside and shut the front door behind me.
“You can’t remember that night,” I say, voice too loud, cracking through the silence.
He turns to me and shakes his head. “I remember some of the night, but part of it’s just … gone. Like a-a blackout.”
“What do you remember?”
“That we broke up … I regretted everything I said and wanted to talk to you. But by the time I got back to your house, your dad said you’d already left.”
My dad? He never told me. I rub a hand down my face. “Do you know where Shane was?”
“He … he was with me for some of it.” His brow creases, and he pulls his jumper sleeves over his hands. “Why?”
“After the blackout?”
“What do you mean?” he asks, voice wavering slightly, putting the cuff of his sleeve into his mouth.
I close the distance between us, and pull his hand away. “Did you see Shane after you blacked out?”
“N-no, I ran away.”
Okay … okay, fuck. I believe him. He was always a terrible liar, avoiding eye contact like the plague.
But I’m staring right into those blue irises, laced with gold, and he’s holding my gaze.
He looks scared, like he wants me to reassure him that it’s not as bad as he’s thinking.
I’m going to have to tell him that it’s so much worse.
I have so many questions for him, but first I need to swallow down my fear and tear that wound right open again.
I need to tell him what happened to me, exactly the way I remember it.