Heyton.
Fuck.
Leo lurched away from Charlie and Fliss, already mourning the loss of Charlie’s addictive touch. “Piss off. You shouldn’t be here.”
“No, Leo,” Fliss said. “Youshouldn’t be here. You should be at home with Lila.”
Leo laughed—he couldn’t help it—and jabbed a finger at Reg. “That’s where you think he’ll take me? Home for a cuppa and a game of Uno? Yeah, okay. I know where I’m going, and it’s not anywhere withhim.”
“Why not?” Charlie’s voice was low and pleading. “Reg has only ever tried to help you. Why would now be any different?”
“He doesn’t want to help me. He wants to get rid of me.”
Fliss snorted. “So? If you don’t want to stay anyway, what’s the problem? At least come home and get your stuff. Say good-bye to your sister. ’Cause you don’t think social services are going to move her again, do you? When she’s doing so well?”
“I don’twanther to move.” Leo hadn’t realised how true it was until he said it, and by the sudden light in Fliss’s eyes, it appeared that for once, he’d said the right thing. “I don’t.”
“Why not?” Fliss stepped forward, pulling Charlie behind her before he could protest. “It’s because you trust Mum and Dad, isn’t it? You know they’ll look after her, keep her safe . . . protect her, when you’re not around?”
Leo bit his tongue, drawing blood, and absorbing the perverse comfort that came with the bitter, metallic taste. “Kate looks after her.”
“Not on her own, she doesn’t. And she’s not looking after her now—Andy is. Thanks to you, Kate has a house full of social workers and policemen, and you don’t want Lila to see all that, do you?”
“Fliss.” Reg stepped forward and put a hand on her arm. “That’s enough now. We didn’t come here to be angry with Leo. He’s as upset as the rest of us.”
“Is he?”
Fliss’s tone dripped with disbelief, and Leo’s resolve crumbled a little. Lila and Charlie had his heart to themselves, but he couldn’t handle Fliss’s scorn, even though what logic he had left warned him that she was playing him—tricking him into admitting that the idea of Lila being with Andy didn’t bother him in the slightest.
But it’s not Andy that she wants you to trust, is it?
As if on cue, Reg took another step forward, but he didn’t move past Fliss; he stopped at Charlie’s side and enveloped him in the kind of father-son hug that had always mystified Leo. Reg said something, and Charlie’s reply was muffled too, but a soft gasping sound reached Leo, and he belatedly realised that Charlie was crying.
I want to die.
Leo took advantage of Reg’s distraction and made a run for the gate.
He’s gone.
It took Charlie a moment to process the dark space where Leo’s shivering form had just been. Because it hadn’t been Leo standing there—pale, cold, and covered in blood, his eyes so vacant he looked like a ghost.
“Dad.” He wriggled free of Reg’s embrace as Fliss’s shout rang out.
“Dad! Leo’s gone.”
Reg spun around, and for the first time that Charlie could recall, a curse escaped him. “Shit. Right. You two go back to the car. Leo’s in no state to have gone much distance, and I think I have an idea where he’s headed.”
“Dad—”
“No, Fliss. This has gone far enough.”
They all picked their way out of the muddy garden, squeezing past the scaffolding. Charlie’s hunch that Leo had returned to his old home had proved true, but he had no idea where Reg thought he might go next,orhow he’d know. “Dad, I think—”
“Charlie! Go back to the bloody car!”
Charlie flinched and stumbled back into Fliss. She caught him and tugged him away from Reg, who was squinting down the alleyway beside the house. “Come on. Dad’ll find him, I promise.”
How she could be so sure, Charlie had no clue, but her grip on him left him little choice but to accompany her to the car as Reg disappeared into the night.
