Page 108 of Trustfall

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EMORY

I hoverover the button on the TV screen that’s asking if I’m still watching. Yes, judgmental television, I am still watching Alaska House Hunters for the third hour in a row, thank you very much. I’ve only been off from work for three days, and I feel like I’m crawling out of my skin. Today is my usual day off, and even though I needed to be home to deal with everything for the last two days, I feel like I could have used the distraction of the bustling emergency room.

It doesn’t help that he’s so close. It’s as if an invisible tether binds us together and tugs at my heart every so often. It also doesn’t help that my traitorous brain keeps replaying our conversation on repeat.

I’ve known you were it for me since that night in the library.

He can’t possibly have meant that. No one can know that after talking to someone aboutTwilightfor five minutes. But he said maybe longer. Meaning he knew before that night? I think I may have loved him before that night too. Does that mean I can forgive him for going behind my back and doing exactly the same thing I was angry at Nate for? But I forgave Nate…sort of.

The couch dips, and I glance over to see Allie curled in a blanket with her laptop. She starts typing on it, turning her attention to the TV every once in a while.

“Deadline?” I ask.

“It’s not really a deadline when I make it for myself and keep pushing it back.”

“True,” I say. Allie has been acting weird since I walked out on Luke yesterday. I’m not sure if he said anything to her, but when I got back from the grocery store, there was no trace of him. I had expected that. I was the one who told him to be gone when I got back, after all. The weird thing is that Allie didn’t ask me what happened. Nate updated her on everything that went down since Luke was released, but she never asked why I stormed out of the house minutes after reuniting with him, which is odd. Normally, she would have hounded me the second I got home.

“Okay, what the hell, Allie,” I finally yell.

She blinks innocently. “What?”

“You know what. You’ve been giving me one-word answers and being weird since Luke was here yesterday. And you didn’t even ask what happened with him. Did he say something to you?”

Allie purses her lips and sets her laptop down on the coffee table.

“He told me not to make any rash decisions until I heard the whole story, and then he left.”

“Okay…so why haven’t you asked me for the whole story?”

“Because you’re an adult, Emory. I’m tired of chasing you down. If you want to tell me what happened, tell me. If not, I’m going to get back to this article that’s due in two hours.”

“Can’t you just move the deadline back?”

That earns me one of her epic glares.

“I just—I don’t want you to hate him.”

She quirks an eyebrow. “But it’s okay for you to?”

“I don’t hate him.” I pick up the remote and hit the mute button. “Far from it.”

“Then why did you walk out on him?”

I turn to look at her. “Didn’t you ever wonder how Luke got Jaxon to meet him? He doesn’t know him or anything about him.”

“I don’t know. I guess I didn’t think about it,” she answers honestly.

“He went through my phone when I was sleeping, Allie. I told him everything that happened in college, and he waited until I was asleep, found my conversation with Jaxon, and pretended to be me so he could set up a meeting with him.”

Allie looks thoughtful for a moment before her face twists in confusion.

“Okay. What else did he do?”

“What do you mean, what else did he do? He beat the shit out of Jaxon and threatened to kill him if he ever talked to me again. Then he got arrested. You know that part.”

“Yeah, I know. I mean, what else did he do to make you so mad?”

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