“Bri,” I warned.
“…I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
I stirred some creamer in the coffee before tossing the spoon into the sink. “Look, Alex isn’t exactly a stranger to me anymore. We’re friends now. Good friends, actually, and like it or not, I want him to stick around because yeah, I do like him. A lot, actually, and I know that it’s fast, but I also know he’s a good person. I don’t need to know his history to believe that. I see it in the way he treats others, especially me and Roxy. So I don’t want you treating him like he’s some criminal.”
“Vaughn,” Bri said, but I held up a hand.
“I mean it, Bri. Enough about Alex!” I yelled. “You don’t know him like I do, so you can’t see the pain he carries! Maybe if you did, you’d see past your preconceived notions. I think someone hurt him. Like, really hurt him. To the point that he’s forgotten who he is and doesn’t know how to find himself again. I think that’s why he was on the streets to begin with because he just doesn’t know what direction he wants to go anymore. I see it in the way he acts and talks about himself. Like he’s trying to figure it all out again. And I care about him, Bri, so I just want to help him do that, even if there’s a chance he’ll leave again.”
Bri cleared her throat in a demanding way, tipping her chin toward the front door. I turned, expecting to see Roxy rolling in pain or something. But my stomach plummeted when I saw Alex standing in the hallway with wide eyes. He must’ve heard at least part of our conversation, and he was clearly hurt that I’d talked about him behind his back.
I tried to think of something to say, but shame had knocked all the air from my lungs, making it impossible to speak.
He quickly walked over to Roxy, kneeling in front of her to give her what I could only guess was her pain meds.
“Alex,” I said when he turned to walk away, but he ignored me, letting the door slam shut behind him on the way out.
17
“Alex, wait!”
The cold air whipped around my face, making me shiver as I ran after him, and I immediately regretted not slipping on a pair of shoes before stepping out the door. The grass was still wet from the rain earlier, making it brutally cold against my bare feet.
Alex’s long legs had carried him halfway across the yard before I caught up with him. I grabbed his arm, making him turn. “Would you please stop?”
Thick clouds were shielding the moon overhead, making the light coming from the clinic the only thing to cut through the darkness. There was just enough illumination for me to see his face, which was full of so much pain and anger that I’d nearly recoiled.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Little late now.” He tore his arm free and stomped toward the clinic, making me chase after him again. I had to fold my arms over my chest as I followed him, just to fight off the cold. He didn’t bother to hold the heavy door open for me, but at least he slowed as soon as we were inside.
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “Truly, I am. Bri just got me going with her concern about having a stranger stay here, and I got defensive. I didn’t like how she was talking about you, so I said some things to try to get her to understand. But I know I shouldn’t have. Not to her anyway.”
He ground his teeth together. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means I should have said them to you.”
“Which part exactly? The part about someone hurting me or that you think I’m too broken to know my own way?”
“All of it,” I admitted. “I’m worried about you, Alex, and it bothers me that I still don’t know what happened to you. You haven’t told me why you left Spokane, so all I can assume is it was something awful.”
He looked away, shaking his head in frustration. “Everyone assumes that.”
“Well, what else am I supposed to think? What could have happened to make you want to live on the streets? Or put Roxy in danger when you clearly love her more than anything? It’s what anyone would think! And it’s why Bri is worried! It’s not normal for people to choose to live that way unless they’re…” I bit my tongue from saying more.
He scoffed. “Unless they’re the cause of their own problems, right? Like a drug addict? Believe me, I know. People have assumed the worst. They’ve accused me of trying to steal shit or take one look at me and assume I’m some criminal!”
“I didn’t,” I argued. “And I still don’t.”
His jaw ticked. “Yeah, well, you were the first.”
I took a step closer, not daring to touch him yet. “One of the first questions I asked you was if you were running from trouble. You didn’t hesitate to say no, and I believed you. You want to know why?”
His jaw ticked again.
“Because I heard the pain in your voice even then. I heard the things you didn’t say, and I saw how tired you were. The shadows in your eyes. You may not have been asking for help, but you wanted someone to give you a chance.” Alex didn’t look away, and I took that as a good sign. “Whether you meant to or not, you’d shown your true self that night, and it was enough for me.”
“But it’s not enough anymore?”
