He paces and runs a hand through his hair, clearly worked up. Then his face softens. “Helmets don’t protect you from everything,” he says as if it matters. “Shit. I won’t call her as long as you promise you’re good.”
“I am. Aunt Bess doesn’t need to know every little detail about every little thing.”
“Yeah, you used to say that when we were kids and look how well that always panned out. Remember the whiskey cabinet?” They kept that cabinet sealed like area fifty-one, of course his parents knew when something went missing. When I don’t reply, he adds, “You’re too forgiving, man.”
“It’s not about forgiveness.”
“No?” He crosses his arms. “Then what is it? You of all people should get that you can’t let people walk all over you. Your mom…a smarmy guy hitting you in your pretty face…”
He’s right. I do know what it’s like to have people take from me when I don’t deserve it, when they have no right. But what am I supposed to tell him? That I got in the ring with a guy that doesn’t even exist?
“You’re really getting good at this therapist shit.”
“I’m just saying.”
“It’s about surviving. He hit me where it hurt? So what. I hold onto shit, and it’ll kill me before I’m dead,” I tell him, though itwasa punch in the gut when I found out Mom stole that cash. Some of it was supposed to help me figure my life out. I don’t want to look back on my twenties and recall spending them mixed up with Finn and missing out on opportunities that won’t come around again.
I may not know what I want yet, but I do want to make something of myself. When all this settles, I’ll get back on my feet and figure out what my next steps will be.
“I don’t get how you’re staying calm. You’ve had how many odds stacked against you and honestly, I thought there’d be a hole in the wall by now.”
Because I grew up this way.Mom would do whatever the hell she pleased, and no matter how upset or worked up about it that I got, it never changed her behavior. Once I learned to take my rage out at Gulliver’s, I stopped getting bent out of shape over things that were out of my control.
It takes a lot for me to want to inflict pain and lose control.
“Coming from the guy who shits rainbows and sunshine and is always smiling that charming smile of his.”
“If I’m shitting anything off the wall, it’d be M&M’s.” We both laugh. “You know I care about you. I just want you to be good. Mom and dad want the same, and I sorta promised them I’d look out for you while you’re here. So, better get used to this handsome face berating your ass.”
“I’m good with the berating, but no more waking me up on weekends unless you really are shitting chocolate candies when I have to be up at the ass crack of dawn during the week.”
Fuck, I’m surprised he’s up at all, but he’s always been a morning person. Even when he games for hours into the night.
Something bumps into the wall in the hall, causing a thud. My eyes move to my open door to see Webber and some girl tripping by, moving toward the living room.
Is he serious?
Yesterday wasn’t enough? Is it even the same girl?
Sebastian catches the tail end of them, then yells, “No fucking on the couch!”
Because I can’t help myself, and I desperately want the attention off what we were discussing, I ask, “Aren’t he and Violet together?”
I already know the answer, but I want intel from someone who isn’t her. Or Webber.
“Theyweretogether, except he always manages to screw it up for himself.”
“What do you mean?”
“Every summer he goes back home to spend it with his family and breaks it off with her. Then when he’s there, he screws around with whoever is willing. He comes back and tries to pick up where things left off, but this last time…” He shakes his head. “She’s tired of his shit. He knows it but doesn’t want to change. Can’t say I blame her. The dude’s impossible when it comes to long term commitment. Love him as a friend, but if you ask me, she’s better off.”
I jut my chin at the door. “How long ‘til she finds out he’s fucking around like this?”
You don’t spend years with someone, on and off or not, and not care when shit like this goes down.
“If she doesn’t already, it won’t be long. As you can see, he doesn’t know how to be discreet.”
“No kidding.”
