He took a shaky breath. “I can’t recount it all from the beginning; there’s toomuch.”
Maia set her cup down and placed her hands over his, noting how cold theywere.
“The morning of prom, my dad came unglued. He—” London blew a breath out through his teeth. “He didn’t want me going with you—thought it reflected badly onhim.”
His words weren’t a surprise, but they acted like an iron, searing them into the tender areas of herheart.
“I refused to break the date. Mom stood up for me and he just letloose.”
“What does thatmean?”
“He beat her. She told me to stay back, to not get in his way. She was going to take it for me.” He shuddered. “And I was going to let her because I wanted to take you to prom sobadly.”
Maia brushed her thumb over his whiteknuckles.
“You probably think I was a coward, but that’s how it worked in our house. Sometimes I took it for Mom and sometimes she took it for me. As I got older, I took more of them because I was bigger and stronger and she had a harder time recovering than Idid.
“We’ve been through counseling, her and I, together. We thanked one another for each sacrifice and asked forgiveness from each other. It was weird at the time, but it freed us—allowed us to put all that outside of our relationship. We’re goodnow.”
“Oh, London,” Maia whispered. She tried to put her fingers between his palms, but they were pressed so tightly she couldn’t find space, and she settled for stroking hishands.
“Dad aimed for the body—no visible bruises. We were supposed to be the perfect family, right?” London sniffed. “He hit Mom in the side and she cried out like never before. I don’t know how to explain that I knew that sound was different from the thousands of other painful noises I’d heard her make, but I did. I shoved him away from her, and he turned on me in a mad fury. I covered Mom and let him exhaust himself on me.” He lifted his eyes to meet hers. “He broke two of myribs.”
Maia gasped. She closed her eyes, remembering back to prom—he didn’t want to dance, he couldn’t lift his arm around her shoulders for pictures, he didn’t want her at his house because of his dad. “London, I’m so sorry I left you there.” Tears of shame burned trails down her cheeks. She let them fall, not bothering to wipe them away. “I’m so, sosorry.”
His hands suddenly had a hold of hers. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have trusted you with my secret. I should have come afteryou.”
“Why didn’tyou?”
“Because breaking up with you made my dad happy. I was so scared for my mom. I found her that night, crumpled in the hallway and bleeding internally. I barely got her to the hospital in time—she almost died. I felt like losing you was penance for having left her at all that night. My broken heart was just another beating I took forher.”
“Your mom wouldn’t have wantedthat.”
“No, but my dad ruled the house—what we wanted didn’tmatter.”
“London.” She poured her aching for him into hisname.
“He’s insane. The cop in Texas said he’d end up in aninstitution.”
“That’s probably for thebest.”
“No. He needs to be punished for what he did.” His hands gripped her fingerstightly.
Maia leaned back. She narrowed her eyes. “If you want revenge, I’ll help you getit.”
Her hands flooded with blood as London released them quickly. He scuttled out of the bench and paced in front of their table. “I don’t like the wordrevenge. It’s an ugly word for your beautifullips.”
Maia gave him a sad little smile. “London, if I hadknown…”
“What? What would you have done, Maia? Tell a teacher?” he snapped. “Trust me, I played all the scenarios out in my head. If I believed, even for a second, that it would have stopped him, I would have done it. I researched what happens—they take the kid away, not the parent. My mom would have been alone with him. And … I hate that I even thought this way, but football was my golden ticket. Changing schools would have taken thataway.”
“You were talented enough to playanywhere.”
“College coaches don’t recruit guys who aren’t on the field, and there’s a lot of politics in high school sports. I had to stick it out.” He sat back down. “I’ve thought this over a hundred times in the past ten years, Maia. The one regret I have isn’t the broken ribs, the bruises, or the constant fear. My regret was letting you walk away that night. I wish I’d beenbraver.”
Maia hiccupped a sob. She reached for a napkin in the dispenser on thetable.
“I know you’ve had your doubts about us. I don’t blame you. I mean, I come with this basket ofcrazy.”
