Page 51 of Unhinged Love

But he still didn’t succeed.

“Now that you know I’m eating,” I mutter after swallowing a bite, “you can go. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

At least he doesn’t waste time trying to force me into forgiving him. At least he spares me that. All he does is stand up and leave the room silently, without giving me another look. I really hope he doesn’t have the audacity to turn this around and get mad at me for not giving him what he wants.

But something tells me he will.

With the mood I’m in, I don’t really care. In fact, I hope he does get mad. Because I’m mad, too. It feels good to be mad and to actually show it instead of trying to hide it for fear of retaliation.

I used to be afraid to push too hard in case he wanted to hurt me.

Now? The damage has been done, and I almost wish he would try again so I can have the excuse to take my anger out on him.

TWENTY-ONE

Carter

I don’t knowwhat it is that makes me dread getting out of the truck. I drove all the way over here, fighting with myself the whole time, going back-and-forth over whether this was a good idea. Instead of turning around and going back home, I kept driving. Now there’s nowhere left to go but up to the front door. So why is my ass glued to the seat?

Because I know it will be chewed out once I go inside.

Hell, at this rate, I’m not even sure anyone will open the door. This is the textbook definition of a last-ditch effort. Taking my pride in my hands. Ready to beg for help if that’s what it takes, because it’s what I need. Help. Something has to get through to her, and it’s not going to be me. She hates me way too much.

That’s what got me in the car. That’s why I’m sitting in front of Briggs’s house now. His car is out here, so I know he’s home at least, but it’s Wren I need to talk to. I need advice, and she is probably the only person who can give it to me.

I jump, startled, when my phone buzzes with an incoming text. It’s Maya, surprisingly.You had better not think either of us would let you in this house after what you did.

So she’s in there, too. Instead of intimidating me—I’m fucked up over all of this, but I’m not that fucked up—I’m glad. I could use all the help I can get. Between the two of them, one of them has to know the trick to getting Elliana to…

What? What is it I want? I know they’re going to ask. I better have an answer prepared. What do I want from her? Forgiveness, for sure. I don’t think I could stand living under the same roof with her hating me as bitterly as she does now. I’m not asking for us to be best friends by morning. I’m not asking for anything other than forgiveness over something I never meant to happen. The thought of her turning her back because of this is a thought I can’t endure.

I need your help. I’m only asking for advice. You know by now I didn’t send those pictures out. I need to try to make it right somehow. Please,I add, since it seems like the right thing to do. This is new territory for me. Laying it on the line like this, admitting I need help.

It’s no surprise when they leave me hanging for a while. I can almost see them in there, deciding whether or not to take pity on me.

“Come on, come on,” I whisper, staring up at the house from behind the wheel, drumming my fingers against my thighs. When the front door slowly swings open, I release a sigh of relief that ends as soon as Maya appears in the doorway with Wren standing next to her.

“Well?” she calls out loud enough that her voice echoes across the front courtyard. “Are you coming in, or what?”

Okay, then.

I can’t shake the feeling that I’m walking toward the electric chair as I climb the stairs leading up to the doorway where the girls wait, arms folded. “This had better be good,” Maya growls.

“Where are the guys?” I ask, wiping my suddenly sweaty palms on my shorts.

“Tucker dropped Maya off, then he and Briggs went to the store,” Wren explains. She glares at me just as hatefully as Maya does, but at least she answers. It seems like all Maya is capable of right now is glaring at me like she wants to rip my head off and maybe shit down my neck when she’s finished.

“Get it over with,” Maya spits out, tapping her foot on the floor. She hasn’t moved. She doesn’t plan on letting me into the house.

But it’s not her house, is it? When I shoot Wren a look, she tugs the hem of Maya’s loose T-shirt. “Come on. Let’s let him in, hear what he has to say.”

“I’m really not interested in what he has to say.” Still, she steps aside, huffing when she does. If anything, I’m sort of glad she’s acting like this. It means Elliana has people in her corner who actually give a shit. For once, she’s got friends.

And she’s going to need people by her side once she stops hiding and has to show her face in the world.

“Come on. Sit down.” Wren waves me toward the living room off the front entry hall. I look up the stairs, asking a question without saying a word. “She’s playing video games with her friends online,” Wren explains, referring to Briggs’s little sister. “She won’t come down.”

“Though who knows? Maybe she should,” Maya adds with a bitter laugh that tells me she is way past anger and sliding into rage, maybe hatred. “This way, she will always remember to protect herself from people who make it their mission to cause misery.”

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