Maze.
She looks completely horrified and I realize that now she has two-thirds of my story. She knows in detail about my parents’ murder and she now knows exactly what happened to Blake and I after it. If this has her choked up, I can only imagine how she’d feel learning what came next.
I turn away, unable to handle her pained expression. I’m not in the market for anybody’s pity.
“Wait up,” Damian calls after me. “You can’t just walk away after dropping that fucking bomb.”
“Watch me,” I say, refusing to look back.
Damian catches up to me in seconds and grabs hold of my wrist, forcing me to a stop. I turn to look at him with a groan and can’t help looking back at the courts to find Slade still watching me as the boys play ball around him. “What do you want?”
“That was heavy,” he comments as though I had no clue. I raise a brow, impatiently and he continues. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright. That seemed really intense. Slade can be an ass but if he knew the extent of that, he never would have pressured you to say it.”
As I watch him talk, I see something flash in his eyes. He’s getting attached and I instantly pull him up on it. “What is this?” I question. “This time last week, you would have stood by his side and laughed the whole way through it.”
Damian cringes. “I know, I’m sorry. It’s just, after the party and last night…”
“No,” I cut in. “Last night was fun. I went to you because I knew you’d be down. I wanted to forget, and that’s exactly what you did. There’s nothing more to it,” I take a breath. “The party was just a drunken mistake. Don’t confuse this for something it’s not.”
He nods, completely understanding. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re hot and all, but I’m not interested in dating you. You seem more like Slade’s kind of girl and I don’t want to get between whatever fucked up tension seems to be between you, but what I’m saying is that…”
I raise an impatient brow. “You’re down to fuck?”
He grins wide and almost comes across as sheepish. “Yeah.”
“You realize that’s a big fucking no from me.”
“Yeah, I thought it was worth a shot,” he mutters, “but hey, I can be a friend if you wanna, you know…talk about all that bullshit you just unloaded back there. It seems like you’ve got a shitload more to say.”
I give him a tight smile, feeling a pure genuineness coming from him which apparently is rare around here. “Thanks, but I think I’ve already said way more than I ever intended.”
“Alright,” he says, walking backward toward the basketball courts, sensing we’re done here. “If you ever change your mind…”
“Don’t count on it.”
Damian chuckles and then winks before turning around and breaking into a jog. I follow his movements and once again, find Slade gaze on mine, tearing right down into my soul.
Refusing to give him any more of me, I turn and leave, desperate for the day to come to an end.
Chapter 18
The rest of the week thankfully went by uneventfully, except for the rumors that quickly spread. I’d hardly made it to lunch before the whole school knew more about me than even I knew about myself. The rumors took off like wildfire and just as they always do, the story got twisted.
At first, it was pretty straight but by the end of the day, Lucien had a whole army of children hiding in his basement and Blake and I were the lucky ones who got out.
I’ve now made it to late Friday afternoon and rumor has it that the SWAT team is executing their raid to free all the kidnapped children tomorrow. You got to love high school. There’s nothing quite like it.
Slade hasn’t spoken a word to me since the whole basketball court thing and to be honest, I feel disappointed by it. I was waiting for some sort of explanation or even a snide comment, but nothing. It’s as though he’s completely shut down and I don’t understand it. I could be going insane here, but I think I miss his taunts. I miss the way he keeps me looking around corners and over my shoulder. I miss the adrenalin of my heart racing whenever he comes too close.
Slade was my drug to avoid thinking about the pain, but this week, my drug has been out of commission leaving the pain to shine through bright and clear. Though I have to give it to him, he’s worked some kind of miracle within me because the pain doesn’t seem to hurt so bad anymore.
Shay and Ben went out to visit friends who just had a baby boy and after Blake strides out the door without so much of a wave goodbye, I retreat to my bedroom. I’ve been doing heaps of art this week. It’s been my only escape and I’ve never been so thankful for it.