Liam
how are you doing
I stared at the screen. Typed and deleted three responses.
Alex
Fine. At Collins's.
Liam
a party?
Alex
Derek dragged me out.
Liam
good. you needed it. wish I could be there
Something warm bloomed in my chest. Then cold chased it—the reminder that he couldn't be here. That the reason he couldn't be here was the same reason I was drinking alone at a Kingswell party instead of being with him.
Alex
Yeah. Me too.
I put my phone away and went back for another drink.
***
The fourth drink was the one that crossed the line.
I knew it was happening—could feel the calibration slipping, the way my thoughts were getting looser, less structured. My father's voice in my head:Harringtons don't lose control, Alexander.But the voice was quieter now. Muffled by vodka and exhaustion and the cumulative weight of weeks of performing composure while the foundation beneath it crumbled.
I was sitting on the back porch. My breath fogged in front of me. The backyard was small and fenced, dead grass and a fewlawn chairs that nobody was using because everyone was inside where it was warm.
I was alone. Which was the point.
Then the door slammed open behind me.
Braden. Jaw set. Eyes hard.
"Get up."
I stood. Too fast—the porch tilted, or I did. We were eye to eye before I'd finished finding my balance.
"Your little boyfriend put his hands on me today."
Boyfriend.
The word went through me like a blade.
"He's not my—"
"He grabbed me. Slammed me into my car." Braden stepped closer.
"Then take it up with him."
