"I'd hoped my son would be here this morning so you could meet him, but it looks like he didn't come home last night," Alex says as we fill our plates. "I'm sure he stayed with Dax. He's been…difficult about this."
He frowns, and my mom places her hand over his. "He'll come around."
Yeah, I fucking hope so,I think as I dig into my pancakes. I hope he stayed with this Dax guy and not in some burnt-down house next to a cliff.
But my eyes settle on Alex's jawline, on the shape of his eyebrows and light green eyes just like the ones that bore into me last night.
I look away just as he catches me staring, spotting the dog bowls in the corner.
Suddenly, I find it hard to swallow.
Alex goes on about the school and the town, really trying to sell me on it while we eat. He tells me they want to take me to see it later, that they'll take me shopping and the three of us can get lunch downtown.
The two of them seem so happy, so hopeful. It certainly doesn't seem like anything illicit is going on here.
I smile and nod in agreement, ignoring that heavy feeling in my gut and my broken heart. I stay quiet when he adds that my boyfriend and friends are welcome here whenever I want, not bothering to mention that I don't think I have either.
Just as I'm about to clear my plate, a large brindle Boxer, who's apparently still a baby, bounds into the room and jumps up on me, licking my face.
"Arcadia, get down!" Alex says. "Leave her alone! I'm so sorry, Saige—you can push her off of you. She's still a puppy."
"It's…" I pause, spotting Elias in the doorway, his jaw clenched, eyes shooting daggers at me, pinning me to my seat. "…okay."
"Son, this is Carrie's daughter, Saige," Alex says. "Come have a seat; get something to eat."
The imposing figure frozen in the doorway doesn't speak; he doesn't take his eyes off me, but they drop briefly from my own down to the bruise on my chest and then back again.
He's going to kill me.
But I didn't do anything to him. I waskindto him. I comforted him, didn't I?
"You're asickperson," he finally says before grabbing the dog's leash and leaving the room.
"Elias, please—" Alex starts before deciding to let him go. It's clear he thought those words were meant for him; I watch him let them hurt him, but I know better. I know they were for me.
I wait a few minutes—until I hear him ascend the staircase and slam his bedroom door—before getting up. I help my mom load the dishwasher and then agree to get my things and head into town with the two of them.
"He's a good kid," Alex says as I walk away. "He's very popular—captain of his hockey team, too. We still don't know if he'll play this year, but…the point is, he'll come around. He can help you make friends."
Knowing that will never happen, I offer him a smile and head upstairs, keeping my footfall quiet as I pass what I assume is Elias's bedroom.
After I close the door behind me, I power on my phone, opening Instagram. But the photo at the top of my feed is one of Sawyer with Thea in his lap at a house party, and my breakfast threatens to come back up.
Before I can close it or scroll away, my door slams open, startling me enough that the phone slips from my hands.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
I turn, shaking my head. "I didn't know. I swear I didn't know—about you or your mom or any of it."
He extends one long, powerful arm and grabs me by the throat. Instinctively, I grab onto his fingers,attempting to pry them away, but it doesn't faze him. "Don't you dare say a word about my mother, you lying fucking gutter slut."
"I'm…not…"Lying,I try to force out.I'm not lying.
"You let me say all that shit to you, and you knew," he says, and then chuckles a little, incredulous. "Who does that?"
Elias releases me, and I fall onto the bed, coughing and gasping for air. "I'm sorry!" I say as he pins me down with his knee and grabs me by my hair.
"You should have stopped me," he grits through clenched teeth. "And I should have let you go over that ledge. I promise you that you're going to wish I had."
