Fox.
I swallowed.
He’d been here, and I’d beentoo slow.
I gathered the notebook andthe peanut butter cups into my arms and saw a scrap of envelope sticking out ofthe side.
A note.
Thought you’d want thisback. Found it in your Uncle Vincent’s car. Sorry I couldn’t solve this fastenough to make any difference to you. Take care.
Love,
Fox
Love, Fox.
Love.
Dammit.
“Fox!” I shouted, tears inmy eyes. I couldn’t see his bike anywhere, but maybe he hadn’t gone so far thathe wouldn’t hear me.
Maybe he’d come back.Maybe if I texted him, he’d—
My blood ran cold as Iwatched a familiar white Cadillac pull up outside the complex.
No. No, I couldn’t deal with thisnow. I’d just realized—I’d just gottenproof—that UncleVincent had been the one doing this to me.
I scrambled inside, lockingthe door again before remembering that he had a key.
What was I going to say tohim if he came in here?
Could I lock myself in thebathroom? How long would that work for? Would I just make him angry?
My feet took me to thebedroom without my brain making a conscious decision, the door closing with aclick that sounded much,muchtoo loud.
Knocking on the door made mejump.
That had to be him. Fox wasgone.
Did I risk answering it?
Did I risknotanswering it?
Uncle Vincent had never hitme—he’d hit a lot ofother things, but not me—but would he still care about not doing that if hethought he had nothing to lose?
Other than Fox, I was theonly one who knew what he’d done. It didn’t seem like something worth hurtingme over, but…
People had done worse thingsover less, and I was realizing that I didn’t know my uncle at all. Iknew he’d been harsh, I knew he’d been unfair, and manipulative, and that noneof what he’d done was okay, but…
I’d never feltsafe,but I hadn’t felt like Iwas in danger.
Until now.
Now, I couldn’t think past thepounding rush in my head, the fear that I’d gone too far, knew too much.
I wanted Fox. All I couldthink of was how safe I felt when he was around, how comforting his presencewas. How he’dstood up to Uncle Vincent before, and he’d do it again.
