chapter 54

"I should have found her a long time ago, before any of this. I should have looked harder, but I was young and stupid, and I believed my father when he said it was for the best." Oh, for the love of God! I give up, eye-roll upwards at the Fates and mentally ask them if this is deliberate. I mean, when you decide to avoid a topic and they just keep pushing it between us like some sort of annoying sign, it grates a tiny bit. That heartbreak and rawness in his croaking tone, though, finally tell me how much his father s betrayal is screwing him up, and I focus all my energy on that and not the universe trying to make me smother him with his hoody. I instinctively wrap my arm around his; hoping contact will keep me from heinous beatings, and lean my head on his shoulder trying to blank them out. I really want to ease his pain as it flows through me and circles around my own heart and stomach. He s still trying to shield me but, this close, he s failing to do it fully, and