She hasn’t seen me yet when she pads to the edge of the deck, placing her elbows on the railing and pushing the lip of the mug to her mouth, blowing away the tendrils of steam. She arches her back, sticks her ass out, and takes a sip before clanking the ceramic down, spilling liquid over the edge.
“Fucker!” she berates, pressing her tongue to the back of her hand.
I know she’s talking about the way she just scalded her tongue, but I choose to bounce off it anyway, uncapping my water bottle again. “Thanks.” And I don’t look at her, extending my neck, pushing back into the pillow behind me as I kill what’s left. Though, out of the corner of my eye, I see her snap her head in my direction, her right hand instantly wrapping around her left bicep.
When she gets over the initial shock of finding me out here, she rests against the railing, pulling herself onto it. Laiken takes the mug beside her in her hands, opening her legs, placing it between her bare limbs. The sleeves of my hoodie hang loosely around her knuckles, though she drags them down further and one dips into the hot liquid.
“I didn’t think you’d be here,” she whispers, taking another sip, though making sure this time she cools it for a touch longer. “I thought you’d be…down there again.”
I pull myself up until I’m sitting, turning to face her, elbows on my knees. “Not today.” And when she replies with a nod, taking another sip from her mug, I find myself asking her a version of the question Harlen had asked me last night, “Why’d you run, Laik?” And I know it’s rich, considering I’d watched her leave, then done the exact same thing.Ran.From the very blood I’d selfishly wrung out of her.
Laiken didn’t have to explain why she’d left me behind, especially after the way I’d bled her dry.
“Why?” I ask again, because some torturous part of me wanted to hear her tell me that I was out of line.
She places the mug down with another clunk, tapping her nail on the side. She looks toward the house, then back at me. Her face is blank, unreadable, and yet, I watch something shift through her eyes, something she tries to pass over, even shove down,hide.Something she grapples with not touching or picking up.
“I think it’s time I head home, Chase. What do you think?”
A rock drops into the pit of my stomach. I press my chin to my chest, raking my hands through my hair.
“So, you are doing it again, hmm?” I pause, catch my breath, and will my heart to still in my chest. “Running?”
And so she should,a quiet voice in the back of my head whispers.
She tugs her bottom lip back into her mouth and a chill curls down my spine. I see that look again. I watch her squint, wet her lips, and tug at something deep beneath.
“Call it what you want, Chase. I need to go home, get back to work, and move on with my life. I can’t hide out here forever just becausehe’sback.”
“Laik—” I try, but she barrels right over me.
“What kind of life is that? Hiding from your past?”
I clench my teeth, and raise my chin. Placing my thumbnail between my teeth, I chew on it, my eyes tracing the length of her. She doesn’t so much as flinch, and I can tell she likes it, the way I take every inch of her in.
“Not the kind I’d want to live,” I return on a rasp, flicking my eyes to hers.
She licks her lips and a shiver tongues the back of my neck.
“Well, that makes two of us,” she whispers. Laiken works her way off the railing and grabs the mug of tea between her palms. “Can you take me to Nan’s?”
I lean forward again, return my elbows to my knees, and brush my fingers across my mouth.
“Or should I ask Harlen?” she asks.
I let the silence pass, but I don’t take my eyes off hers. “I’ll take you, Laiken.”
Truth is, I didn’t want to, but I knew Ihadto, because if I knew my sister's best friend the way I thought I did, she would only resent me further if I kept her here.
She’s already making her way across the deck, returning the same way she came.
I palm my face again when I hear her call my name. It’s so quiet. I keep my chin where it is, though I lift my eyes, grabbing hers.
“You know…” she starts, rubbing her bicep like she’s trying to coax the warmth I’d stolen back into her bones. She jerksher chin to my notebook lying open beside me. “I have a feeling ‘Severed Veins’ will be everywhere one day.”
I bite into my bottom lip. “Yeah, and I’d say you’re full of?—”
“Truth?” she cuts me off, raising her eyebrows, her eyes flicking to my lips and back again. “You’ll see,” she whispers.
