AFTER CRYING AND SHAKING for hours, Tessa finally falls asleep in my arms—only after she explains the confrontation with her dad and that she started the fire in her uncle’s house. A part of me is concerned for her mental state. It’s one thing to break a few things; it’s another to burn an entire house to the ground. However, knowing everything she’s been through, I can’t even begin to imagine the pain she’s in.
I slip out of bed, careful not to wake her, and go to find my phone. As expected, a text from Colby waits for me when I open it.
Colby: Tess’s Lambo is in the parking garage. Fire trucks were already putting out by the time we got there. House is totally fucked though. She okay?
I look over at her sleeping form, seeing how she’s curling in on herself and the pain you can still see etched across her face.
Asher: No, I don’t think she is, but she will be. I’ll make sure of it.
20
TESSA
Numb. Cold. Dark. That’s the only way I can think to describe what I’m feeling. Don’t get me wrong, I never liked my dad. He was never the kind of father that every child yearns for. The kind to show up at your T-ball games. The kind to threaten your first date but only because he doesn’t want you to grow up. The kind that will walk you down the aisle and give you away because it’s important to you. No, he was never like that. But still, no part of me ever considered how despicable he really is.
I sit on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and staring at the TV. I’m not actually paying any attention to it, but just staring into space was making Asher worry.
It felt good, telling him everything. It took a weight off my shoulders that was crushing me and making it hard to breathe. Not that it’s gone completely now, but it’s lighter, and I can handle lighter.
He gave me everything I needed yesterday. A distraction to stop the pain from swallowing me whole. A shoulder to cry on as I recited the worst day of my life. And he held me as I broke, keeping me grounded and giving me something to cling to. A reason to keep going when I needed it most.
I thought after watching that house go up in flames yesterday that I would feel some kind of relief. Every last materialistic thing he owned, every remaining physical part of him, burned inside that place. I should feel better. There isn’t a single thing left of that monster. But, I don’t. He’s still there—haunting my every nightmare.
The elevator opens and Lennon steps out of it, sighing in relief when she sees me. I throw the blanket off me and run over to hug her. The feeling of her arms wrapped around me is soothing, like Asher’s, only more. It’s the closest thing I can get to the feeling Delaney would give me.
“What are you doing here?” I ask in disbelief.
“I invited her,” Asher answers, coming out from the kitchen.
Lennon gives him a shy smile. “When you didn’t come into school, I got worried. And then I noticed he wasn’t either, so I figured you two were together. Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”
I sigh, not sure how to answer that. There’s been so much that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours, I can’t even wrap my head around it all.
Asher steps up and puts a gentle hand on my lower back. “I’m going to go get dinner from that Italian place you love. You two talk. I’ll be back.”
I nod and arch up on my toes to kiss him goodbye. It’s nothing steamy or heated, but somehow, it still holds a level of intimacy I’m not used to. Once the elevator doors close behind him, Lennon and I make ourselves comfortable on the couch. I take a breath, exhaling quickly, and then I start explaining everything that went down yesterday.
It’s difficult, reliving everything by repeating it all, but Lennon is patient and kind, and I know there isn’t a single part of her judging me. My father, maybe. But not me.
“Wow,” she says in shock when I’m finished. “I don’t even know what to comment on first.”
“Welcome to the club.”
Her eyes narrow as it all plays through her head and then she snaps. “Okay, no. First of all, your dad is a fucking dick. What the hell is wrong with him? And second, good for you for burning down that asshole’s house! I mean, there were probably better ways to go about it, especially because arson is illegal, but you’re right. Everything of his turning to ash is what he deserves.”
I can’t help but smile. “This is why I love you.”
She chuckles and pulls me so I’m lying with my head in her lap. “Did you tell Delaney yet?”
I shake my head. “I haven’t talked to her. I think I want to give Knox a heads-up beforehand. She’s not going to take it well.”
“That’s probably a good idea.”
The two of us are quiet for a minute, but it’s a good kind of silence. The kind that lets you think and just bask in the fact that you’re okay. You’re alive. You’re breathing. You’re safe.
“Has your dad tried reaching out to you?”
I nod. “That’s why I haven’t been answering my phone. After the fifth time he called, I shoved it into Asher’s dresser drawer. I don’t want to hear what he has to say.”