It didn’t matter what I thought, did it?
What mattered were the facts: my existence annoyed him, and sooner or later, he was going to kick me to the curb. Maybe it would be a padded curb close by, but it was still a curb. That could be today, tomorrow, or weeks from now. Then what?
I would end up on my own one way or the other.
Promises were only worth something when there was trust between people.
Friendship didn’t equal trust.
I forced myself to get up, suppressing the groans that wanted out of my mouth as my body ached. I used the bathroom, brushed my teeth with my brand-new toothbrush and toothpaste, and stared at my hair in the mirror. I brushed it out and put it up into a nubby ponytail.
Keeping my chin up, I went downstairs and found Selene in the kitchen again seated at the table with a tablet in front of her that she was staring at intently. Her gaze lifted the second I walked in, and she gave me a faint smile, like she could tell something was off. “Morning.”
“Hi, Selene,” I said, feeling shy all of a sudden. She’d known last night something had been going on.
“Did you sleep okay?”
I lifted a shoulder. “Did you?”
From the slight change in her narrow features, she knew I was deflecting but answered anyway. “Not long enough. I miss my bed.”
“Do you live far?” I asked.
“No. Wewere up late, and I didn’t feel like driving home,” she answered, surprising me for a moment. “Alana asked me to keep an eye on him.” She put her finger to her mouth before dropping her voice. “We’re all worried something is still off that he’s not telling us about.”
Was she expecting me to rat him out? Would I? No. I wasn’t a snitch. If he wanted to lie to his family, he could. Plus, I wasn’t shallow with my words. I had told myself I was going to be loyal to him, and I would.
Even if I wanted to flip him off.
“He just got back a couple hours ago. He’ll be asleep for a while,” she kept on whispering.
“Oh.” I didn’t want to fish.We were back to my rule: the less I talked, the better. The less I asked, the better too. Even if I wanted to know who Alana was.
“There’re leftovers from last night if you want them for breakfast. I need to head into the office today.”
I wondered where she worked, what she did. How old she was. But what was the point when I wouldn’t be seeing her for much longer? She already knew more than most people I’d ever met.
Maybe in another lifetime we could have been friends.
In another lifetime a lot of things could have been different.
“Thank you, but I have cereal. You’re welcome to it if you want any.” See? I could be polite. I could be nice.
“I’m good, thanks,” Selene answered, watching me closely.
It felt like she wanted to say something else but didn’t.
Keeping my chin up, I turned to the cupboard and got my cereal and milk out. I thought about standing up to eat, but decided I was already being run out of here. I took the seat beside her at the table just as she set her tablet on the surface and leveled beautiful blue eyes on me.
I spooned the little, round, donut-shaped objects, only meeting Selene’s gaze after I’d taken a few bites.
I gave her a brief smile.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked gently. “I know you’ve got a lot to figure out.”
“No, it’s okay. I think I can get everything sorted.” I didn’t know where to start or how I was going to pull it off, but I would, dammit.
Those eyes moved over my face like she could tell, and she probably could. I’d never been that good at hiding my feelings. I used to have to walk away so that my grandparents wouldn’t notice when something was up my ass; I didn’t want to hurt their feelings or get chewed out for disagreeing with something.
