"We should really get you back," Atticus says, but I can tell there's some room for argument by the way the statement sounds almost like a question.
"Let her stay," Seven says. "It's Eli's birthday tomorrow, she should be there."
Eli says nothing, and that's precisely why I want to stay. If I thought he seemed distant and tense on the way here, that was nothing compared to now. He has this hollow look in his eyes, like someone scooped out his insides with a spoon, and he's a shell now. Vacant.
It's terrifying.
I can't leave him like this.
"Please?"
It kills me to say it, especially tohim, but I know he won't refuse me, so I wield the word like the weapon I intend it to be. For Elijah.
Atticus shifts in his seat, then grunts. I assume it means yes because Seven gives me a smirk in the rearview and a cheeky little look that says,Well done, you.
But I can't smile back. Not with the hollow man sitting next to me where Elijah used to be.
I lean into him, trying to be his anchor like he's been mine more than once now, but it's like he's on autopilot as he wraps an arm around me and continues staring out the window into the dark.
Ellie rumbles her own anxiety from the seat next to mine, shifting so her paw taps Elijah on the thigh. That gets his attention enough that he reaches over and gives her a little scratch on the head. But both she and I know his heart wasn't in it.
She perks up when she recognizes the groan of their gate opening a while later and tries to stand on the seat. She barks through the window, wiggling so animatedly that I have to hold my hands up to keep her tail from whipping me in the face.
"Patience," Atticus says, and Ellie immediately sits back down and licks her lips, waiting…patiently.
When did he teach her that word?
Atticus doesn't stop in front of the house, instead driving around to the garage. When we get close enough, it opens automatically and I realize from this vantage point it's almost the size of the whole house. There are four bays, each double-wide, and inside are two sports cars, Seven's Jeep, three motorcycles, a four-by-four, and an ATV.
I haven't ridden one of those in ages. Not since Chris bought one the year I turned seventeen. He taught me how to drive it, but when I crashed it within a month he refused to get it fixed.Said if he did, I'd wind up off a cliff somewhere with the reckless way I drove the thing.
Atticus pulls us into the empty spot between the Jeep and a car that looks like it should belong to Bond,James Bond.
Elijah is the first one out, hands in his pockets as he heads across the garage to the door that leads into the house and goes right in without a word.
I stare after him with a stone in my stomach. "Will he be all right?"
"Yeah, Ro. Give him some time. He'll come round a bit later."
Seven doesn't sound sure, but I hope he's right.
Ellie barks, and I whirl to find her jumping up and down in front of Atticus, barking at him and then out toward the drive.
He scratches the back of his neck, sighing. "I can't, Eleven."
"Can't what?"
Atticus's eyes crinkle when he looks at me, and I'm aware I'm breaking my own ruleagain, but why is Ellie looking at him like that?
"I,uh, I took her for a few runs with me when you guys were in Paris. I think she wants to…" He trails off, indicating the long drive and Ellie still stamping her paws with a decidedlackof patience.
My jaw clenches, but I know it hasn't been fair of me…trying to put some distance between her and Atticus. At first I really thought I needed to. After he blew up at me, all I could think was, what if Ellie had been there? But Atticus isn't Jesse. He didn't derive pleasure from my pain or relish my fear. Despite my not trusting him, I know in my bones he'd never hurt my Ellie girl.
"Then take her," I say.
His lips part, and I look away. I don't want to see the hope on his face. It's not what he thinks. Just because I'm letting him take her for a run doesn't mean I forgive him. And it doesn't mean I trust him, either.
"Okay," he says. "Yeah. Thanks." Then to Ellie, "You hear that, girl? We're going for a run."
