My stomach, after not being fed dinner last night, growled. The thought brought me back to Aiden, and I sat up, darting around Dad and down the hall to my room. I knew he’d left, but he would’ve come back. It wasn’t his fault, but I was sure it had upset him, more than upset him, to hear it all the same.
He never came back.
The sight of my lone duffel had me rushing to my purse to grab my phone. I had no missed calls, but I didn’t let that deter me and hit his name before pressing the phone to my ear. My hand dug into my tangled hair as I reached his voicemail three times.
Giving in, I knocked some stray tears from my face and sent him a text. I asked where he was and if he was okay, then I made sure the volume was up loud and put my phone down.
The smell of bacon and eggs floated down the hall, but I grabbed a fresh set of clothes and locked myself in the bathroom.
Everything Everett had come clean about the night before, everything that’d happened because of it, not only with him but with Aiden just leaving, coalesced into a storm that thundered through my veins and sent my ass sliding down the shower wall.
I sat there a long while, tears streaming and my chest heaving until a knock sounded on the door.
“You alive in there?” Hendrix.
I sniffed, standing and quickly immersing myself in the spray. “Yeah,” I called once I was sure my voice would remain steady.
I had to go. I couldn’t stay here when Aiden was God knows where feeling who knew what. Everett needed me, yes. And even though I longed to ease all that ailed him, I couldn’t. I’d given him all I could spare, and even that had probably been too much for Aiden. Besides, he had my family. I wasn’t leaving him alone.
Not like I had Aiden.
I washed and toweled off before dressing in jeans, a black T-shirt, and a long cream knitted cardigan, then brushed my teeth and packed my things.
Everyone had finished breakfast by the time I entered the dining room and nabbed a few slices of cold bacon.
“Thanks for using all the hot water,” Hendrix said, entering the kitchen with blue lips and a towel hastily wrapped around his waist.
“When did you get tattoos?” I asked, taking in the phoenix spread across his chest and the unfinished dragon head on his upper arm.
He stared down at them and shrugged. “On the road, few different places.”
“Can you do me a favor?” I asked.
“If you hurry up and spit it out. I’m fucking shrinking by the second here.”
“Ew, why?”
“Steve, come on.”
“I need a lift back to school.” As much as I loved Mom and Dad, I couldn’t handle being in the car with them for that long and potentially talking about everything that’d happened. I needed to sort through it all on my own. Preferably in silence.
“Ugh.” He scrubbed at his wet face, sighing. “Give me ten minutes.”
I set my things by the door, then followed the sound of an acoustic melody through the living room and out onto the back porch.
Standing against the doorframe, I stared at Everett’s back. He sat on the edge of the half-built deck, serenading the few birds in the trees lining the back fence with his abrasive, hypnotic voice.