“What’s wrong?” I ask.
Ethan’s lips twitch.
“Nothing’s wrong,” he says. “Just…” Suddenly, he laughs. “You know what, you can figure it out, don’t worry.”
I frown at him, irritated. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Ethan says, grinning at me. “It’s nothing to worry about. You go and protect Allison, alright? And maybe you should try and talk to her again when she’s calmed down. It doesn’t hurt to try, right?”
I look at him suspiciously. Wasn’t he just saying that he thought my relationship with Allison was a little weird? Now, suddenly, he’s all gung-ho about it? It’s strange.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I demand in a low voice, not wanting Lily, who is rummaging in the kitchen, to hear me.
Ethan grins. His face is alight with mirth, and I can’t figure out what he finds so funny all of a sudden. He puts a green block on the tower, which wobbles precariously but manages to stay upright.
“I have cookies!” Lily suddenly announces, returning with a packet of cookies. “Do you want one, Uncle Kyle?”
“Sure,” I sigh.
I decide to ignore Ethan. I don’t know why he’s suddenly changed his tune but, if he’s not going to tell me, then I’m not going to care. I take a chocolate chip cookie and bite into it, ignoring my friend with a scowl.
“Don’t be like that,” Ethan says with a wink. “As I said, you have nothing to worry about. Just try your best, okay?”
“At what?” I ask grumpily, but he just laughs again in answer.
I roll my eyes. Ethan is weird, but he’s not wrong, either. Despite anything else, I am going to try my best to protect Allison. No matter what happens, even if she ends up calling the police on me, I won’t let Jesse get to her.
Chapter Twenty
Allison
It’s almost hilarious how Kyle thinks he managed to stay hidden when he snuck back to the apartment last night. I heard his bike coming long before he got to the street, and then he parked himself in an alley across the road, where I can see him directly. It was harder to see him when it got dark…until he pulled out his phone and started reading something on it, washing him and the entire alley in a dim glow.
Kyle will never make a good spy, it seems.
I was half-tempted, when I heard him returning, to follow up on my threat to call the police on him. But I didn’t, knowing that I was just being petty. By that point, a lot of my anger had faded, and I started to feel bad for not listening to him. Jacqui had gotten into my head.
I’m still not ready to talk to him, but I’m content to think things through and then try. The fact that he returned hopefully means that he’s willing to try for an actual conversation, too.
I almost went to talk to him before he left that morning. But I stopped myself at the last minute, and then he headed off to work, leaving me to get ready for class.
“So, he came back last night, and you pretended you didn’t see him?” Jacqui asks when I tell her about Kyle’s return.
I shrug. “Yeah.”
Jacqui rolls her eyes. “You idiot.”
I glare at her. “Hey! Why are you even on Kyle’s side, anyway? Shouldn’t you be supporting me in this?”
“I would if you weren’t being a fool,” Jacqui says simply. She gives me a hard stare. “Look… I saw the way he looked at you on Friday. He looked at you like you hung the goddamned moon, Allison. Fucking Jesse never looked at you like that, you know? But Kyle, he looks at you like you’re something precious, something he wants to keep safe.”
“I don’t need his protection,” I snap, instantly irate.
“I didn’t say you did,” Jacqui says, shaking her head. “But he still wants to protect you, no matter what. You told him you would phone the police if he returned, and he still came back. Doesn’t it say something to you that he would risk that just to watch your apartment all night? Damn, how many sleepless nights has he already had because he’s keeping watch over you?”
I grimace. “I think he’s been dozing in the alley.”
“So, he’s been choosing to catch a few winks of sleep in an uncomfortable alley over his own bed,” Jacqui says, deadpan. “What does that say to you?”