My teeth grind together as I look around, seeing Ty and Kay watching each other, Kitty’s eyes misting over, and Evan torn to shreds with what’s happening to Lexi. They’ve all got their person. The one who means more to them than anyone else.
However much I like to tell myself I don’t want or need it, it’s a lie, because as soon as I saw Lily, watched the way she smiled, the way she threw her head back as she laughed, and the look in her eyes after I kissed her, I knew it wasn’t true. I want it… and with her. Fuck.
LILY
I stand at the curb long after Aiden has driven away, staring at the empty road, the church looming behind me. He may have only been back here for a few days, but in that time, I understood how different my life could be if only—
“Liliana, you have chores to do after school!”
I take a look behind me at the open door of my house, my breath catching in my throat before I run up the path, grabbing my bag and running away from the house and the church.
The thought of being in there on my own with him scares me more than I’d like to admit. For years I’ve accepted his punishments, my mind focused on the day I turn eighteen and can leave without being hauled back if I’m found. I mentally unpack the bag hiding in the closet in my room, behind a part of the wall that I carved out. I know my dad, and I know I don’t have anywhere I can hide in that house.
Apart from there.
The more I think about what I have packed—the plan, the maps, the money I’ve been collecting—the lighter my chest gets. Everything is in place, all my ID and my route planned out. Now all I need is the next four weeks to go by as fast as they can with the least amount of pain possible, and then I’ll be free.
Free from him, free from the confines of the house.
I work on automatic, heading into the school and to my locker, walking to my classes and doing the work set out for me in silence. No one talks to me, they never do. But when my cell buzzes in my pocket, I finally lift my head, the thick cloud I’ve been in all day evaporating.
Luke: I need to see you. I’ll pick you up from school.
My heart beats faster in my chest, the bell ringing loudly in the classroom and halls not diverting my attention.
He wants to see me? Why?
Lily: Okay.
I bite the side of my thumb, watching as the “read” sign comes up, but he doesn't send another message. Does he know Aiden is gone and that I need something… what I don’t know, but just being beside him will help me through what’s to come now that it’s only me and my dad in that house again.
The afternoon passes, and as soon as I’m closing my locker, I feel eyes on me. I know who it is, I can feel the vibrating anger rolling off him from the other side of the hallway. And when I turn to look, I see him coming for me.
Any other time, I wouldn’t try to get away, knowing he’d catch up to me. But today is different. Today I know Luke is waiting outside, and as soon as his face comes into my mind, I spin around before darting out of the school and down the steps.
“Lily!”
My breath stutters out of me at the sound of Jonah’s voice, but I don’t stop, my head whipping around, trying to spot Luke’s SUV, and when I see him parked a couple spots down from the entrance, I run for it.
My pulse quickens, my feet slapping against the ground with footsteps behind me. But as soon as I pull the passenger door open and turn, I see Jonah standing in the middle of the lot.
His hands clenched by his sides, his stance wide and ready to pounce.
I jump into the car, looking over at Luke and seeing his eyes narrowed on Jonah.
“Isn’t that the guy from bowling?”
“Yeah,” I reply, my voice a mere whisper. “Can we go?” I swallow. “Please.”
He stays still, not a muscle in his body moving, a warning on his face. I wait, wanting to beg him some more, but before I get the chance, he nods and peels out of the lot.
The energy vibrating through the car throws me off, and all I can think is why. Why has he picked me up? Why did he have to show up in my life right now? Why couldn’t it have been a year from now when I have everything in place?
His face is a mask as he drives out of town, but I don’t ask where we’re going or what we’re doing. To be honest, I really don’t care as long as it keeps me away for even a small amount of time.
I lean back, relishing in the feeling of safety that surrounds me with him here.
Thirty minutes pass, and then another twenty before he pulls up, parking in a lot in front of rolling fields and turning the engine off, basking us in complete silence.