Page 172 of Only You

After I closed the window, I picked up the phone again. “Sorry. Like I said, I don’t know where to start.”

“Is everyone okay?” Daniel asked.

I laughed a touch hysterically. “No. Not everyone.”

“Minty?” Daniel asked, worry in his tone.

“No,” I reassured him. “No, as far as I know, he’s okay. It’s Adam. He’s not.”

Daniel was silent for a moment, but then asked, “In what way?”

“His dad beat him up.”

Daniel let out a rough breath. “Thank God.” I must have made a shocked noise at that because he rushed to explain. “No, it’s just that I thought he might be dead, from the way you sounded, so I was relieved. Not happy.”

“No, he’s alive,” I said, pacing back and forth through the kitchen. I paused to look out the kitchen window at the gray backyard that I knew would be bursting with color in spring, but which was miserable-looking right now. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it to sound so dramatic. Not that getting the hell beaten out of him by his father isn’t dramatic.” I tore a hand through my curls.

“Okay, let’s start at the beginning,” Daniel said.

I took a slow breath and let it out, leaning against the kitchen counter. “So yesterday was normal. Completely normal. Mom and Dad and I had gotten dinner from the same restaurant as always. And we’d just sat down to eat when he walked in.”

I explained everything that’d happened, and when I was done, I let out another wretched little laugh. “I’m the reason he got beaten up, the reason he’s been kicked out of his house and disowned, the reason he has no car and no money and no school anymore.”

“No,” Daniel said softly. “It’s not your fault.”

I’d known that already but hearing it from him made all the difference. It was like someone releasing an iron band that had crushed tight around my chest from the moment Adam had arrived. “He wants me back,” I said, wiping a hand over my sweaty upper lip. “He wants us to get back together.”

Daniel was quiet again. “And what did you say?”

“I said no. I told him that was never happening. I told him I’m in love with you.”

Daniel remained silent.

“I told him that he shouldn’t have come out to his dad if I was the reason, because I’m never going back to him.”

“Peter…”

“I’m not.”

“I know you aren’t.”

“You sound unsure.” I couldn’t stop the hurt in my tone.

“No, I’m just…” Daniel sighed. “This is a lot to take in. And there’s been a lot going on. I’m here for you, though. And I believe you.”

I groaned. “I’m sorry. I hate adding to your problems. How are things there? I haven’t even asked.”

“No,” Daniel said. “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you right now. You’re important to me, and this is a whole load of crazy bullshit that’s been dropped onto your shoulders. Let me support you.”

“You support too many people.”

“I love you. Let me do this.”

I sighed. “I’m at your house. I couldn’t stay there with him.”

“Stay where?”

I snorted. “Oh, yeah, I guess I didn’t say. My folks let him spend the night last night and are letting him stay again tonight. He has nowhere else to go. Nowhere else to stay.”

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