He grips his hair, his eyes glassy with emotion.I brace myself for him to scream into the sky, to release whatever it is that’s made him desperate and feral.“Let me explain.Okay?”He reaches out his hand for me to take.There’s blood on the back of his knuckles.
I gasp.“I saw what you did.”
He inspects his hand and rubs them on the back of his jeans.“I don’t think you did.Not really.”Then he sees the horror on my face.“Don’t look at me like that.”
“You’re telling me you didn’t hit him?Are you telling me I didn’t see you punch your father?”
Jonathan runs a hand through his hair.“You don’t understand.He was…” But he can’t find the words to explain it away.I can feel his frustration building.It presses against me, setting my heart into a panic, begging me to leave.
I look to my car, trying to figure out how to get by him.Before I can move, he’s in front of me, blocking my way.
“I have to explain, but don’t know where to start.”His words are a rush of panic.He’s desperate for me to stay.As desperate as I am to leave.
“Can you though?Explain why you hurt each other?Why it makes him someone you despise, but it’s fine when you punch him in the face?”
He stands perfectly still.“What?”
“Isawit.”
“But you didn’t see the truth!”There’s force in his words, the pressure needing a release—and I’m the one standing in front of him.
My words are a hiss.“You don’t get to tell me what I saw.”
I begin to walk past him.He steps to the side, keeping me corralled between his truck and my car.“Don’t do this.This is exactly what he wants.”
“Let me go,” I spit out.
Jonathan slams his hand on the hood of the truck.I startle and instinctively cower, my body reacting in fear all its own.The storm’s encroaching in his dark eyes.And I need to get away before it reaches a point where I won’t be able to look at him the same again.
“He’s trying to turn you against me,” Jonathan says in a clipped tone.I can hear it in his voice.His control is at a breaking point.“Don’t let him do this to us.Youknowme.”
Tears drip from my lashes.Because right now, I’m not sure I do.
I search his eyes—eyes that have held me captive, made me feel seen.I try to find the boy I love.But there’s only darkness staring back at me.He dips his head, breaking our connection.I take this opportunity to step past him to my car.
He raises his hand.
I flinch reflexively.
He becomes cemented to the spot.
I slowly peer up and am struck by the pain flooding his dark eyes.Eyes that I’ve never been able to read, until now.
“You’d think I’d hurt you?”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.
He shakes his head and blinks back the shimmer of tears.He knows what he saw too.
Collin is standing in the frame of the open door.
This time, when I walk away from him—from them both—no one tries to stop me.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The last place I want to go is home.I instinctively start driving to Danika’s.I miss her.Then I consider how she might react.If she’ll hold this against me in some way.I’m too afraid to find out in my condition.Jaz is with her relatives in the city.And as much as I love Darcy, hysterical girls aren’t her strength.I have nowhere else I can go.
Isit in my car after turning off the engine.Night has settled in around me.I stare at the floodlight, my head pressed against the headrest.I know I have to get out of the car.
