Page 105 of Trustfall

“Okay, this is the last I’m saying about this for a while. I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but the guy is fucking crazy about you.”

I take a deep breath. Of course, just as Nate is accepting our relationship, it’s imploding. I want to believe that Luke would never do anything to hurt me, but he did.

“Thanks, Nate.”

“Emory…you know I love you,” he says softly. There’s a brief pause and I hear nothing but his steady breathing on the other end of the line before he speaks again. “What I did when we were growing up…sheltering you…shit. Em, it was wrong. I thought I was protecting you, but I made you more vulnerable. I’m so sorry.”

“I appreciate that, Nate, but we need boundaries. I love you, but I won’t let that happen again. I’m sorry I kept what was going on with Luke from you, but you don’t get a say in my relationships. I need to know that you understand that.”

“I do now. Em, I just…”

“What is it? What made you so protective?”

Nate’s silent again for a beat, and then het lets out a deep sigh. “Do you remember Taylor Vexley?”

“Vaguely. Didn’t he get kicked out of school?”

“Yeah.” Nate sucks in a breath. “Luke and I got him kicked out. We planted drugs in his locker after we beat the living shit out of him.”

“What, why?”

“He drugged a girl at a party and then he….he fucking bragged about it to the whole locker room the next Monday.”

“Shit, Nate. I had no idea.”

“We tried to keep it all quiet for her sake. We should have gone to the police, but she wasn’t ready to come forward. She just wanted it all to go away, and we were stupid kids. We didn’t know what else to do.”

“What—” I clear my throat. “What happened to him?”

“He did some time in Juvie for the drugs and then I don’t know after that. But, Em…I just kept picturing it was you. I don’t know what I would have done?—”

I get it now. Nate is a protector. It’s who he is at his core. Even when we were little, he would always be right behind me, arms braced on either side, when we would climb trees. But it got so much worse when I started high school. Right around the time this all happened. It still doesn’t excuse his behavior. Just like Jaxon’s abuse doesn’t excuse his. But it makes more sense now.

“I understand, Nate. You were a kid helping to raise a kid. You did what you thought you had to. But I’m an adult now, and I need to stand on my own.”

“I know. And I’m so fucking proud of you, Em.”

“Thank you.”

“Hey, Dad’s calling me.” I hear some shuffling in the background. “I should take this. I love you, sis.”

“Love you too.”

He ends the call, and I toss my phone to the side of my bed.

It worked.Jaxon dropped the charges.

And I finally got the closure I needed last night. But there’s one more thing I need to say. I grab my phone and type out a text.

This is the last time you will ever hear from me. Treat her right, Jaxon. Not because you have to, but because you can.

I see the message change to read and wait a second just to see if the little typing dots will appear. Not that I would read the text if he did respond, but he doesn’t. I exit out of the text, block the number, and delete it from my phone. It feels like the anvil on my chest has finally evaporated. Jaxon is gone. Out of my life for good. If he comes back here or tries to contact me again, I now have an army of people in my corner waiting to make sure he instantly regrets it. I’m stronger. So much stronger. I meant it when I said he didn’t make me weak.

I am who I am in spite of you.

Suddenly, I hear the front door creak open and Allie’s voice.

“She’s still sleeping,” she says.

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