Won’t change what just happened with my father.
I knew changing the past was never an option.
So I ran, thinking if I ran far enough, it couldn’t follow.
I’ve just been proved wrong in the worst way.
Chapter 42
Bastian
Pepper spray?
I scoff to myself as I start up my Tesla and guide it out of the parking bay. The second half of the game just began, but my appetite for sport leans more toward hunting than football. I only came here to make an appearance…and to see if Haven would grace us with her presence.
A soft drizzle mists up my windshield as I turn onto the main road exiting the stadium.
I thought Haven was stronger than this. All it took was a glimpse of her past, and she was ready to gouge out everyone’s eyes. While I love pressing on a fresh bruise, I recognized that feral look in her eyes when I approached her.
She’s ready to run again.
And this time, she’ll make sure no one can find her.
Not me, not Kai, not her atrocious father.
I’ll admit, seeing Robert Lee in the flesh came as a shock.
Now I understand why Haven goes to such lengths to avoid talking about her past.
We’d both rather leave those memories buried six feet deep.
Hers, unfortunately, clawed its way out…and is currently plodding through the growing puddles on the sidewalk up ahead.
I pull up alongside a damp, limping Bobby Lee outside the stadium’s entrance. A limp courtesy of the violent kick Kai landed in his side a few minutes ago. The boy only got in a few shots, but if I hadn’t grabbed Kai’s arm and hauled him away, I doubt Bobby would be walking anywhere.
There was murder in Kai’s eyes.
Wonder if he looked at his brother the same way at the Rain Dance before he caved in Ezra’s face?
Drizzle splatters onto my windshield, flicked away by the Tesla’s wiper blades as if the car can’t stand being wet.
“Mr. Lee,” I call through the lowered window. “Need a ride to the bus station? I’m headed that direction.”
He turns, lips twisted with suspicion. Behind the weathered lines and broken capillaries on his face, I see a ghost of Haven—the same stubborn jaw, the same slightly upturned nose. But she must have her mother’s eyes, because Bobby’s are a muddy brown.
“Fuck off!” he snaps, keeping his distance.
“You sure?” I hit the unlock button, barely audible above the car’s tires crunching over grit as I keep pace with Bobby in the Tesla. “It’s a few miles to the bus stop. You’ll be soaked through.”
…you’ll catch your death…
I shut out my mother’s voice before it becomes a lecture. Bobby says nothing, trudging ahead through the drizzle like a soldier with orders. Even has the same thousand-yard stare.
“Rain’s only going to get worse.”
His eyes dart to the car, then to the gray sky, cheeks twitching as drizzle hits his face. The calculation is pathetically obvious as he weighs pride with practicality. It helps that I never laid a hand on him. That I was the one to give him the money that finallysent him on his way. That I never once cussed at him, or lost my cool.
Doesn’t mean I didn’t want to.
