“What’s wrong? What hurts?” Seb’s familiar tone of concern filtered through the whooshing in my ears.
“Nothing, just a stitch in my side,” I managed to grit out.
I straightened up, putting on my most neutral expression considering the circumstances, and met his gaze.
“That’s what happened. Look it was great to see you again, but I need to get home.”
I held his stare for a long moment before he let out a sigh and pushed himself up from the table.
“Alright, Shy. Let me give you a ride.”
I accepted the hand he offered to lift me from the bench seat but quickly released his hold and stepped back.
“You know that’s not a good idea, Seb. I’m surprised you’re even still visiting this city. Aren’t you worried about your dad or Peter seeing you?”
I watched his jaw tick, and he shook his head. “No, I’m not worried about them. We’ve had no contact for six years now and I honestly didn’t even know my dad was alive. I thought he’d have OD’d by now.”
I nodded, glad he was so removed from the reality I was still dealing with. And even more glad that he didn’t have to worry about his abusive father and prick of an uncle.Sick fucking pedophile. God, my throat still hurts from his fucking dick. I wonder what Seb would do if he knew. Maybe he’d help me chop off his dick and feed it to him like a—
“But if it’ll cause drama for you at home, I won’t take you. Nox then?”
I wasn’t particularly enthused by the idea of anyone giving me a ride considering I didn’t have an actual home I could go to, but I knew I couldn’t let Sebastian do it.
“Yeah, I’m gonna go say goodbye to everyone. I’ll see you around.”
I walked out of there as fast as I could and straight to the living room where the conversation paused.
“I just wanted to say thank you so much for the delicious meal and for letting me into your beautiful home.” I paused to take a breath.Fuck, did that sound sarcastic?“I need to head out but have a great evening. It was a pleasure meeting y’all.”
I mentally patted myself on the back for how polite I managed to sound.
“Of course, honey. You’re welcome over anytime. You’re practically family bein’ raised with Sebastian and all.”
I nodded to Shelby with a smile and waved at the rest of the group. I ignored Sebastian’s stare as I passed him in the hall and went in search of Nox. I found him cleaning the stove while Jae swept and Esther loaded the dishwasher. They were in the middle of some debate when I cleared my throat.
“Nox, I need to head home. I’ve already said goodbye to everyone. I’ll meet you at the door?”
“Aw, you can’t stay for games?” Jae whined with a pout and puppy dog eyes.
“Yeah, you’re going to miss the best part,” Esther added in, matching Jae’s pouty face.
I resisted the urge to sigh, knowing it would send me into another bout of excruciating pain, and simply shook my head. I eyed Nox hoping to communicate just how badly I needed to leave, and it must have worked because he nodded, dropping the rag on the counter.
“That’s okay, there’s always next time. Come on.”
I gave one last glance at the room before following him to the front door. I grimaced as I slid my feet into my damp shoes and held my wet backpack in my hands to avoid soaking my borrowed clothes. It wasn’t raining anymore but I still wanted to cry at the prospect of sleeping outside again.
I jumped at the sound of Sebastian calling for us to wait and watched as he ran downstairs to meet us.
“I’ll walk you out,” he said, slipping on a pair of shoes by the door.
Eight
October 5, Tuesday
Shiloh
We stepped outside. Sebastian opened the passenger door for me as Nox climbed into the driver’s seat of his car. The sound of a car door slamming had us each turning to look across the street. A young man walked towards us from a newer model silver sedan, dressed neatly in a pair of chinos and a button-down. I didn’t recognize him. Not that I made a habit of hanging around gang members other than my brother, but he definitely looked like he could be one of them.
