“Trust me, bringing Arlo around was the least of my problems when I was younger.” I shook my head with a sigh.
“Theleastof your problems? Did you not pick up on the fact that he was hitting on you?”
“Oh, I did. He did it when I was twelve too.”
His eyes narrowed. “Excuse me,what?”
Usually, when I heard a tone like that, I tensed. But I enjoyed seeing a hint that Theo didn’t like hearing this. He cared about me.
I still wanted him to.
“As fucked up as it is, there were worse things that happened to me. You don’t wanna know.”
“I do, though.” The anger in his voice was softer now. “If you want to talk about it.”
“I can talk about it. It’s all I do, actually. But it tends to change how others see me when they find out.”
“That won’t happen with me.”
“Somehow, I doubt it.” I huffed out a laugh. My mind slipped to Joey, who I’d had to hide the truth about yesterday from. There was something about the way he burst into my apartment that still sat wrong with me. He wanted to protect me, but it was like he didn’t trust a single thing I said.
That hurt.
“Piper,” Theo said. “You have a bad past, but despite it, you’re trying to move forward. You’re not hiding. You’re facing it. It doesn’t matter what you tell me, I still think you’re a badass for being here.”
I could only stare at him. Yet again, he’d found the exact words I needed to hear. How did he do that? “That’s ... a good way to look at it. Okay, prepare yourself.”
Theo nodded. “I’m prepared.”
“My dad beat me. A lot.”
He sucked in a sharp breath of air when I said it. “Oh.” His voice was tight.
“Yeah. He had issues after my mom died, so he took them out on me. It was anytime I reminded him of her, or if I didn’t have dinner ready fast enough. Pretty much any reason he could find. Or he’d withhold food if I did something wrong. It only stopped because he overdosed. It’s terrible to say, but I was glad it was over.”
“Jesus,” he said. “That’s ... That kind of shit isnevergoing to happen again.”
“I hope not.”
“And that’s why you don’t like touch.”
“Yeah. That’s ... an issue. It would be nice if I could go to the doctor. Or let someone get too close to me.” I let out a harsh breath, fighting the bitterness that had grown in the years since getting out from under my dad’s thumb.
“Was it always like that?”
“No,” I said. “When I was a kid, it was mostly normal. Even when I was a teen, it was fine. I didn’t expect people to hurt me, but with my dad around, it’s not like I could tell him no when he would ...” I trailed off. I could still feel the way it would feel. The way everything would hurt after. “I was stuck,” I continued. “Trapped in that house. I used to wish someone would save me.” I huffed out a humorless laugh and looked away. “People don’t do that.”
“There was a kid, once.” Theo’s voice was back to being softer. “Back when I worked for my family. His dad was like that.”
“You saw it?”
“Yeah. I called CPS. Made sure he got out of there. I got inmassivetrouble for it. Apparently, when your family makes their fortune by breaking the law, you’re never supposed to letanyone from the government get involved. I knew they were pieces of shit, but that’s the day I started planning to leave.”
“I wish it had been you instead of Arlo then.”
“If it were me, I’d be in jail for manslaughter, Piper.”
“I don’t think you’d have cared that much.”
