Before she could raise her hand again, I heard footsteps coming toward us.
“Eden, stop,” Callan ordered. He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her back, but she fought him, twisting out of his hold and reaching for me again.
“Don’t touch her,” he said, louder this time. He managed to step between us, holding one arm out to block her, and, with his other hand, he tried to push her away. “You need to calm down. You’re drunk.”
She shoved him hard. “Get out of my way! You think I don’t know you’ve been fucking her? I’ve known long before that fucking video was leaked! You think I’m stupid?”
“Enough!” he roared, but she wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.
She tried to get around him again, fingers grasping at the air as she was reaching for me. He held her back, both hands onher shoulders now, trying to guide her toward the living room. She clawed at his arms, kicking and screaming.
I stood frozen, my heart hammering so fast I felt lightheaded. My cheek throbbed, and the back of my throat burned. I couldn’t breathe right. Everything around me felt like it was closing in.
Callan finally managed to push her through the archway and to the couch where he used his body to block her from coming back to me. She hit the back of the couch with her palm, shouting at him, trying to slip past, but he held her in place.
“Go upstairs,” he said over his shoulder to me. “Lana, please.”
But I didn’t stay. I couldn’t.
The moment I realized I had a small window of time to escape, I turned toward the front door, wiping at my tear-streaked face as I reached for the doorknob.
“Lana, no!” Callan called out. “Don’t leave.”
Without glancing back at him, I choked out the only words I could manage.
“I’m so sorry.”
I didn’t wait to see if Callan heard me. Couldn’t look at his face. I yanked open the front door and ran out of the house, leaving him behind like a coward as he called out my name again and again, until I was too far away to hear him.
Callan
I locked myself in the kitchen with Eden, keeping her contained so she couldn’t slip out before the police showed up. She was drunk and completely unhinged. She grabbed anything within reach and hurled it at the walls. Glass shattered across thetile, plates broke on the counters, and cabinets slammed open and shut as she tore through them. She threw half the fridge onto the floor and stepped on everything, smashing food into the ground.
She wasn’t in control of herself. She wasn’t even close. And as much as every part of me wanted to run out of this room and go after Lana to make sure she was safe, I couldn’t leave Eden loose in this house. I didn’t trust her for a second. She’d wreck the entire place. She’d go to Lana’s room. She’d break anything she knew mattered. She was capable of that and worse. So I stayed and waited. I kept the door locked and listened for the sound of cars, hoping the police would arrive quickly.
She kept yelling at me, but that wasn’t what got under my skin. Her voice was slurred and full of venom, but I could handle her anger. What made my jaw clench was the way she talked about her daughter. Every insult was sharper than the last. She called her every name she could think of. She blamed her for things that weren’t her fault. She dragged her through the mud like she wasn’t even her kid.
If anyone deserved blame, it was me. I was the one who crossed the line. I was the adult who should’ve known better. But Eden didn’t see any of that. She never had. To her, Lana had always been the problem. Lana had always been the kid who messed up, even when she hadn’t done a damn thing wrong.
It killed me to hear it. Lana was a good person. Kindhearted and loyal in ways her mother had never bothered to understand. She deserved a mother who protected her, especially now. She had a damn revenge porn posted online without her consent, and instead of standing beside her or comforting her, Eden tore her down even more.
Eden grabbed another glass from the counter and screamed at me again, telling me how big of an asshole I was as her hand snapped forward before I could even react.
The glass flew straight at my head, and it hit my temple with a hard crack as it shattered. A sting shot across the side of my face, followed by the sharp burn of tiny cuts.
Eden didn’t even stop to see if she hit me. She just reached for something else, winding up for another throw.
I pressed my hand to my temple, felt warm blood under my fingertips, and forced myself upright again. I needed to stay calm and keep her in here. I needed the police to get here before she escalated into something worse.
And I needed them to fucking hurry.
38
Lana
I didn’t know how long it took me to reach the observatory. My mind had shut down somewhere along the way, and my legs carried me on instinct. When I finally got there, I walked straight to the furthest bench along the railing and sat down. I pulled my knees up and wrapped my arms around them, trying to hold myself together.
The view of the city was clear and bright below me, but my vision was blurred from the tears still filling my eyes. My throat still burned from the crying, but I didn’t sob loudly. I didn’t want anyone to look over. I just let the tears fall as quietly as I could.
