“Mind if I ride up with you?” I turn to find Violet, and what the hell is up with people sneaking up on me today?
I glance back at the entrance, noting the darkness outside and wondering where she’s coming from. I don’t necessarily love the idea of her being out there on her own this late but it’s none of my business.
I clear my throat. “No, that’s fine.”
“You snuck out.”
I wasn’t sure if she’d bring that up, but now that she has, there’s nothing to do but address it. “I did.”
She shifts on her feet at the same time the elevator opens, and I let her walk in first. She spins to face me. “Why?”
“I showed up on your doorstep because I freaked the fuck out,” I tell her. “I needed to rip the bandage off and deal with whatever was going to come from Sebastian seeing.”
“Did he flip?”
“For a minute.”
She hums and presses the button to both our floors. “Did you tell him what happened?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Same reason I didn’t tell you. It’s my business.”
She fakes a wince. “And to think I gave you a bed to sleep in.”
“I didn’t say it to hurt your feelings. I said it because it’s true. Your shit isn’t my business, either.”
She sighs and the tone in her voice drops. “I know. I’m kidding.”
She looks over then, and I can’t help but take in the color of her eyes as she notes my duffle hanging at my side. “Just so you know, my door is open anytime you need it to be.” Then, thedoors separate, and she leaves the cab, stopping briefly to give me a once over. I can’t help but do the same in return.
My eyes trail down her thin torso and the curves at her waist. I try to ignore the pull it has on me, how it seems like it silences Eli’s opinions that have been in my head since Harrison Heights, and snap my gaze back to hers as the doors slowly glide shut.
When I go to bed later, it’s not only Eli’s words that haunt me. Deeply striking cocoa eyes do, too.
SEVENTEEN
COLSON
Finn:How’s that face of yours?
Finn:All healed up yet?
Colson:Wouldn’t you like to know.
Finn:I’d like to fucking know where my money is at more.
I haven’t been backto see Mom since I moved in with Sebastian. Those first few days I was too pissed to want to talk to her, much less see her face, but something about my conversation with Aunt Bess softened the disappointment.
I’m hopeful as I stay in the slow lane on the 401 into the town where I grew up. I don’t know what I’ll find when I show up. I mean, she did screw the Lincolns out of a shit load of money, but maybe all this time I’ve been gone has taught her a lesson.
It takes about ten minutes to get out of the highway traffic and merge onto the road in our neighborhood. Small housesline the streets, a few with dilapidated chain-linked fencing that should be replaced but won’t. The house on the corner of the block I remember walking by so many times after school, still has a pillar holding up the porch roof that looks like it might collapse at any second. When I make it further down the street, I notice Mom’s house straightaway.
White but dirty from the crud in the air, it sits nestled between two other houses looking nearly the same, though the neighbors’ houses are different colors. I pull up to the curb and put my car in park, shifting to get a good look at the house. Mom hasn’t taken care of it for years. Hell, I was always the one to keep up with the yard work, and it’s clear nothing has changed in that department. The grass is too high, nearing fine-height, and there’s a bag of trash on the porch that’s been ripped through by who the fuck knows what.
I get out of my car and swallow down the knot in my throat. With the sun an hour or two away from setting, there’s still enough sunlight that wouldn’t prompt the need for lights on in the house. Still, as I walk up the path to the front steps, I see the soft glow of the corner lamp through the window that’s been in the living room since I was a kid.
