Page 272 of Hide and Keep

Nose stinging, I wave a hand under it.

“Edwin, can you take out the trash already? I’ve been counting down the days to be rid of his stink.”

“Right this way, Mr. Brantley.”

Crue doesn’t budge.

“Let the door hit you on your way out,” I tell him, adding a dismissive flutter of my shaky fingers.Go.

“You’re intolerable,” he grits, the emotion still evident in his tone.

I know. I know! I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.

“And you’re trespassing. Leave.”

I feel the air pouring from his nostrils.

Don’t do it. Don’t say anything damning. Please. I’m fucking begging.

“You’re not gonna see me off?”

He’s begging now, too. But I can’t give in. I can’t. I warned him. We were never going to last.

The final nail in the coffin, I close my eyes.

Just go.

Finally, Crue’s body heat recedes, then I hear him stalk away.

Opening my eyes, I spin around in time to just make out his back disappearing through the doorway that has shards of wood sticking out of it.

Look for me. Look for me!

“Better luck guarding the cornstalks!” I yell after him, equally hoping he comes back and that he doesn’t.

Just the two of us once again, my father says, “For a moment there, I was worried you were sullying yourself with the help.”

“I do have some standards, Father.”

“Like the O-line of the football team?”

“Football team of an Ivy.”

“Fair point. Now…let’s go over expectations for this weekend…as well as after.”

Rotating my head over my shoulder, I skim the list filling the screen on the wall, my stomach roiling at the adjectives jumping out at me. None of them describe me. Or even a human. They’re more fitting for a robot. A submissive, emotionless robot.

I’m not a robot though. I’m a flyer. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.

Except this time, there won’t be anybody to catch me.

What…

What just happened?

I can’t stop my hands from shaking, the tremors making their way up my arms as I stare down at the bed. The bed Ever and I have been sharing for weeks but will never get to again.

Never?

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