“Yeah, but I would get a slap for calling them the wrong name.”
I laughed for a second—until his serious expression returned.
“I mean it, though. Your bravery… how you worry more about your mum and Jasper, despite being the one who was… you know. I don’t know how you do it.”
“I don’t have any other choice. I want my life back. They took so much away from me—my childhood, my innocence, and even my voice. There’s no way I’m letting them have my future, too.”
The burning in my soul to take back control of my life had grown into wildfire.
Our drinks were slammed down on the table. I jumped in surprise, having not even seen the bored teen waitress approaching. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here.
“Thanks,” Cole sarcastically mumbled under his breath as she walked off without a word. “Do you think you’ll be okay seeing them again?”
“Not really. The thought of seeing them, especially seeing Frank’s empty, beady eyes, makes me sick.”
Cole balled his hands into fists, his knuckles turning white, and his jaw tensed. Maybe saying this to him wasn’t a good idea.
“Do you want to talk about something else?” I asked, staring down at my steaming mug of hot chocolate, splashes of it on the table.
Making him feel ill was the last thing I wanted.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his hand reach across the table before it covered mine. I curled my fingers around this thumb, unsure if I was drawing strength from him or if it was the other way around.
“We can talk about this whenever you want. Never censor anything for me, okay? I’ll always be here for you, no exceptions.”
My heart sank to my toes at his words.Alwayscouldn’t happen. Soon enough, we’d have an ocean between us again.
I reached across the table and took his other hand, the one that was bunched. His fist loosened at my touch.
“Thank you. Mum and Jasper are going to be there… in court. They’re going to watch me give evidence.”
“And you don’t want that?” He twisted his hand, so his palm was facing up against mine, releasing the other to pick up his drink.
“No. They don’t know everything—not all the details. I don’t want them to know all of that.”
The statements I had given the police revealed absolutely every disgusting last detail. It wastorture, reliving those years and years of hell, and I was not looking forward to doing it all over again, especially in front of my family.
Cole sucked air in through his teeth and tension curled around his eyes. He looked like he was barely holding it together, ready to explode.
“Right. I didn’t think about that. Do you… do you want to talk about that with me?”
I shook my head slowly. “No.” There was no way I was going to talk about it with him. Even him knowing it’d happened was too much. “I just wish it was over already.”
“Me, too. I hate that you have to go through it all over again. It’s not fair.”
I took a sip of my drink with my free hand. “Well, the hot chocolate isn’t bad.”
He smirked. “Just don’t use the sugar.”
I looked down at the ashtray-looking pot of sugar on the table and turned my nose up. That couldn’t be anything close to hygienic. “No danger of that.”
“Do you think they’re scared about what you’re going to say? Max especially.”
The way he said my dad’s name… like he could cut him down with his tone. I wished that was possible.
“Probably, but I don’t care. His defence is going to go hard, but they can’t trip me up because I have the truth on my side.”
“What if they ask you what kind of person Max was? You know, in public.”
