The Moth and the Flame (When Rivals Play #2) - B.B. Reid Page 0,77

me, but unlike God, I didn’t appreciate being used as a weapon.

“Yes,” Mr. Henderson said, changing gears and addressing me with solemn eyes. “Lou, the decision to move did not come easy. We have come to care for you very much even though,” he said with a small smile, “you’ve made it clear that you do not welcome our affection.”

Guilt made me look away, but then Mrs. Henderson spoke, drawing my attention once more.

“We spoke with your social worker about our options,” she informed me. “Taking you with us was our first choice, but Laura didn’t think it was the obvious choice.”

“Or even possible,” Mr. Henderson added. “We’d have to adopt you legally, and because your parents may still be alive, the hoops we’d have to jump through would be considerable.”

“But we’re willing to do it,” Mrs. Henderson rushed to add, “if you are.”

The lump in my throat grew larger as the fist around my heart squeezed tighter. I had been wrong about losing a home, but I never expected this. I didn’t trust the hope I felt swelling in my chest, which was why I blurted the first thing that came to mind. “Why would you go through the trouble? I’ll be eighteen in four months.”

“Because it’s not about delaying your independence,” Mrs. Henderson said. “It’s about having a family to call your own.”

“For the rest of your life,” her husband added.

I couldn’t take the hopeful look in their eyes, so I looked away. Unfortunately, my gaze locked with Eliza’s, whose overjoyed expression matched her parents. She seemed to have forgotten her anger over being uprooted.

“We’d be sisters, Lou!”

“Oh…” I was thrown off guard by Eliza’s sudden excitement. “Um…this is a lot to take in. Can I think about?” I requested while keeping my tone polite. They didn’t need to know that I’d already made up my mind. There was no way in hell I was moving across the country. I had a family once, and they abandoned me when I needed them most. My heart wasn’t capable of giving another family a chance to do the same. Even if I could find it in me to forgive my parents and move on, everything I needed was somewhere in this city—losing his soul at that very moment.

The Hendersons were sound asleep when I crept down the stairs in the dead of night. The weight of my mother’s rucksack on my shoulders didn’t compare to my heavy heart, but I reminded myself I was doing this for them, too. Until tonight, I hadn’t realized how much I was hurting them by keeping my distance, or maybe I hadn’t been capable of caring until now. Starting tonight, I would no longer be a burden, and that was the best gift I could give to repay them for their kindness.

I’d left a note this time—when I’d never bothered before—telling them not to wait for me. There was so much more I wanted to say, but I couldn’t risk giving them false hope. Instead, I finally gave them the push they needed to walk away. It wouldn’t be their fault. This was all on me.

Reaching the front door, I didn’t dare breathe until I stepped into the cold night. Wren wasn’t going to be happy when he learned I ran away, but for once, I was going to save him the trouble of hunting me down.

Unbeknownst to Wren, I’d learn his phone’s passcode recently and began accessing his location history, notating his more frequent destinations. I knew without a doubt that Wren was unaware of the feature, not only because his interest in technology was nonexistent but also because he would have deactivated it. With the lifestyle he led, he couldn’t afford to take chances. As his best friend, duty propelled me to enlighten him, but knowing it would come in handy one day, I selfishly withheld the knowledge. I just hoped it didn’t cost him one day.

For now, I patted myself on the back for talking him into getting the iPhone. Before me, he had been content with his last phone—an ancient Android that could barely snap a decent picture.

Fishing the wrinkled slip of notebook paper from my pocket, I studied the list of addresses I’d written down. It was easy to narrow down where to start since two of the listings belonged to the Hendersons and my school. The most peculiar, however, was the addresses out of the state. There was a town in New Jersey called Sunset Bay that he’d