“That’s none of your business.”
Like fuck it wasn’t.
“He told me you were staying with relatives. That you needed time to grieve, to heal. But you weren’t staying with relatives, were you?” A lead balloon sank in my stomach.
“I… I don’t want to talk about it.”
The panic attacks.
Her strange outbursts.
The skittish behavior.
“He sent you away.” Anger rose up inside of me like an unrelenting wave. Higher and higher, it swelled and swelled, swallowing me whole. “He kept you from me. He fucking kept you—”
“STOP.” She yelled. “Just stop.”
“Birdie?” I blinked, inhaling a ragged breath.
“I was sick, Nix. I… I tried to hurt myself.”
The world went from under me. “You tried…” Fuck, I was going to puke all over Miller’s plush carpet. “Why, B? Why the fuck would you do that?”
“BECAUSE YOU LEFT ME,” she exploded, pain bleeding from every word, hitting me like shrapnel, ripping into me and tearing me open.
“B.” I reached for her. Burying my hand in her hair, unwilling to let her pull away from me. “I didn’t leave you. I fucked up, yeah … but the second I heard what happened, I came for you. I fucking ran. I almost got thrown in jail. I kicked up such a storm down at the local PD.”
“Y-you did?” She sniffled, and I brushed her tear-stained cheeks with the pad of my thumb. “You came for me?”
“Of course I did. It’s you, B. It’s you.” I gripped her tighter. “When I found out your mom had… I was so fucking scared for you. Mrs. Feeley told me she’d watched the cops take you away. Jessa called them but they wouldn’t talk to us, so I went straight down there. Refused to leave until someone spoke to me. I was a fucking mess, and when they said they couldn’t tell me anything, I lost it.”
“I-I don’t understand…” Her expression gutted me.
How had we ended up here?
Full of hate and bitterness. Half-truths and lies.
“After I drove you home that night, I met the guys. I was angry at myself for touching you, for letting myself cross that line… We got fucked up, woke up in Paul Odell’s garage the next day. My phone battery was dead. I didn’t get your messages until later.”
Until it was too fucking late.
“But you didn’t reply.” She shook her head, dumbfounded. “You didn’t—”
“I did. I called. I texted you, B. All day I tried to reach you. Look.” I gently grabbed her hand and pushed the cell phone back into it.
“It’s all right there.”
Her bottom lip wobbled as she read the messages, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. “I… I don’t understand. Nix…” Green eyes slid to mine, so full of regret and heartache it fucking slayed me. “You didn’t…”
“I came for you, B. I will always fucking come for you. Don’t you get it? You’re mine, Wren. You’ve always been mine.” I pulled her back into my arms, holding on tight.
There were so many things we needed to talk about, to figure out. But it could wait. Right now, I needed to hold her. I needed to know she was okay.
“All this time, I thought… I thought you’d left me.”
“Never,” I rasped, hugging her tighter. Closer.
This. This is what I’d been missing the last nine months.