Page 43 of Stutter

“For six months leading up to that fourth year, every other weekend I would pace or try to keep myself busy, but I would find myself sitting there, watching her sleep, play cello, draw,read… but it’s nothing like having her with me.” I admit, letting him know I understand his separation anxiety.

“You really had it bad, huh?”

I chuckle darkly. “You have no idea. The first weekend without her I watched her via camera for almost the entirety of her 72-hour visit. I barely slept or ate. I just had to make sure she was okay. At Lorne Wood it was easy for me to lie to myself and say I was just watching how she interacted with the general population but again, it was a lie.”

He stays quiet. "I had this girlfriend a few years ago. My first serious girlfriend. I thought I loved her. She did really bad things to me, and I forgave her a lot because I thought that was what love was, you know? Just kept thinking if I was a better boyfriend, or just a better man, she would get better at loving me, too.”

“But it didn’t get better?”

He shakes his head. “It got worse.” He swallows with a grimace. “Raven… I think it’s so easy to love her because she’s so multifaceted. Every day is different and even when we argue it’s so easy to find common ground. I got so lucky. I got to fall in love with my best friend. Even when she’s having a bad day, I feel lucky that I get to make it better for her… Maverick is an asshole, but so are we. It seems all of our common ground is her. I just hopehe doesn’t fuck up again. Or me. Or You. We can’t afford any more mistakes and Riordan and that fucking detective aren’t making this easier.”

“Riordan?”

“He was at Inferno last night with his uncle. I thought you saw him?”

This is news to me. I shake my head. “What’s he doing back?”

“He was only on house arrest for thirty days.”

Ah, the privilege of being wealthy. I can’t exactly talk but then again, after Maddie was murdered, I never truly did anything that warranted my parents to worry about me until I was in college. Even then, everything I did that was considered “rebellious” was done within reason. I was sensible with my stupidity.

I’m pulled out of my thoughts by Jonas’ phone ringing. He stars at the screen, the nameAxeholepopping up.

“You should answer.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Could be important.”

He sighs, answers but puts it on speakerphone. “Yeah?”

“Hey Jonas. My mom just wants to know if… you’ll be joining us for the Monroe holiday party since you’re… dating Raven.”

“No.” He answers sternly. His ability to keep his boundaries is astounding and it makes me proud.

“Jonas-“

“We’re spending it out of state. We’ll be gone till campus opens back up.”

“I… you can’t keep her from us.”

“Well, seeing as she’s not a dog or a child and she doesn’t want to be around Sofia, andIdon’t want to be around Sofia or John or you, plus the Prescott’s will most likely be there since they were last year and all the years before we were allowed to attend, there’s no reason for us to attend.”

“What’s going on with the Prescott’s?”

“Riordan is off house arrest, and I don’t want him anywhere near Raven.”

“I didn’t know that. I’ll try to get him off the guest list.”

“If you do, then we can talk.” He says, hanging up without a second thought. His knee bounces and soon he's pulling the tracker app back up. “Looks like they’re finally leaving.”

The rest of the car ride back is quiet, with Jonas baby talking to both Kronos and Lucifer. When we get home, Mav's Navigator is gone but a silver car is waiting by the gate.

“That’s Charlotte. She helped raise me. She’ll tell you to call her Lottie if she likes you.”

“Alright,” I say, opening the door to let Kronos out of the backseat. He stretches, yawns and shakes his body dramatically as though the hour car ride was too long even though he slept for most of it. I roll my eyes.

“C’mon boy,” Jonas calls, and the horse-like dog trots to him. He greets Charlotte, a waif of a woman with a grey puffy jacket that reaches her ankles, thick, carrot-colored hair, green eyes and a Scottish lilt. He introduces us, then introduces her to both pets as we walk up the steps to the front porch.

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