“They saidit was my fault Larry took those drugs. My fault he got sick. Even though he was an adult and old enough to know better, they were convinced their son could do no wrong, and I was the perfect scapegoat.”
“But you didn’t do anything wrong!” Felix cried.
I shrugged. “No. But reality is perception, and nothing would convince them of my innocence.”
“You couldn’tsee!”
“I know.”
I opened my palm, remembering the feeling of desperation as I grabbed the doctor’s note from my pocket that day--only to have it ripped apart and scattered. Forgotten. The note was ignored the same way as my condition. With sickening vividness, the images flashed to the forefront of my mind, refusing to let me forget them.
“At one point, they accused me of working with the people at the party to get Larry sick,” I muttered. “That was the worst part. Knowing they thought I did something so despicable and disgusting. Like they didn’t even know me after all we’d been through.”
“Why would you even do that?” Felix exclaimed, heated now. “You’re a good person! You’d never do something like that.”
I shrugged. “Who knows? They probably had some preconceived notion about me not feeling like I was paid well enough, or something.”
“What happened afterwards? Were you okay?”
I smiled at his concern. “Physically, despite my eyesight? Yeah. But emotionally, it was a low blow. And . . .” I paused. “I’ll admit, I was scared. For a while after I was unceremoniously fired, I got to thinking--what if they come back for me? What if firing me wasn’t enough? What if they wanted to hurt me like I let their son be hurt?”
Felix squeezed me tighter in sympathy.
“Their paranoia bled into me, and with my newfound vision loss at the time, it wasn’t hard to be afraid of the unknown. Everything scared the shit out me.” I pointed to the ceiling. “I even had cameras installed because I was worried they’d come for me, or hire a hitman, or something ridiculous like that. It sounds stupid now, but honesty? I was terrified for a while.”
Felix shifted as he glanced around the room before returning to nestle on my chest again. “I guess the cameras are a good precaution to have.”
“I don’t think about them much anymore. I mean, I left them up mostly because it’s too much of a hassle to take them down.” I grinned. “It makes me silly now, thinking I was as paranoid as they were,” I admitted. “But I’ll say it does make a guy breathe easier, especially when I lived alone. At least I’d have video proof if anything ever happened, since my eyewitness testimony obviously wouldn’t.”
Felix rested his cheek on my chest. “I’m sorry the Bisleys hurt you, Elijah. They really were just a family of bullies.”
“I don’t care, anyway.” I waved my hand with a heavy sigh. “That shit’s all in the past. I just thought you should know that’s why I’m never letting you near those people again. Sorry to your dear old mother.”
Felix huffed. “She’ll live.”
“I hope so,” I said. “It might be too late, but I’d still like to get on her good side, if possible.”
He laughed a bit. “I’ll admit you didn’t really make a fantastic first impression.”
I grunted and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer. “Couldn’t help it. My protective alpha mode flared up after hearing her say you should bereturned, like you’re some shirt that was the wrong size or something.”
Felix sighed. “I know it makes you mad, but they’re only doing what they thought was best.”
“By setting you up with those maniacs?” I snorted. “Then she definitely didn’t know any better.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now, anyway,” Felix said. He rested his head beneath my chin. “I’m not going back there, and neither are you. We never have to see those people again. Right?”
My grip tightened around Felix.
“Never,” I growled.
