Page 7 of Catch Me

He holds my hand on his cheek, but the way he looks at me makes me think he’s not entirely sure I’m telling the truth. I can’t blame him. Why would he think I missed him if all I had to do was contact them to come back? “We have a lot to discuss,” Reid says, his lips a tight line. He leans over and gives me a kiss on the cheek. I hold on to that moment, letting his kiss seal a promise to me. He doesn’t like what I did. I knew he wouldn’t. But maybe, just maybe, it doesn’t change the way he feels about me.

“Her parents want her home soon. She called them on the way here. I didn’t tell them we were stopping.”

Reid scowls. “I don’t want her out of my sight.”

“Me either,” Lex says. I tear my gaze away from Reid to find Lex staring at me with his big, brown eyes. “But that’s not fair to them.”

Reid’s fingers grip me tighter like he can’t bear to let me go. Behind him, his mom walks in to call us to the table. Lex shifts from foot to foot, casting a glance toward the door. After Reid helps me to my feet, I touch Lex’s arm. “It’s okay. We’ll leave right after. My parents are going to be super pissed no matter what, so I might as well enjoy this last bit of freedom.”

Mrs. Parker looks over her shoulder as she approaches the table. “I’m sure your mother was just so worried, Briar.”

I bite my lip. I’m sure she’s worried, but the fact is, I made her worry again. I don’t know how I can ever make that better.

4

If it’s at all possible, I might even be more nervous to face my parents.

I know I screwed up. Last time I ran away, I didn’t want to come back. I still had all the animosity for everything going on around me, but this time, I’m glad they found me. Maybe that’s what I wanted the whole time, someone to rescue me. To catch me and shake me out of the hole I dug myself.

When Lex pulls into the driveway, he turns off the car, and we both just sit back. The front curtain moves, and my heart starts beating even faster. “You don’t have to come in with me,” I tell Lex. “This won’t be pretty, and I deserve it.”

He casts me a sideways glance. “I’m done standing back, Briar. I’m going in that house with you.” He purses his lips. “I feel like I owe you an apology. I should’ve realized what you would do when you saw Reid hurt like that. It makes so much sense to me that you ran. Knowing I did nothing to help you when you were so…lost?” His throat moves like he’s strangling himself from the inside out. “I fucked up.”

“Hey,” I say, grabbing his arm. “What I did was no one’s fault but my own. I was stupid and acted carelessly.” I shake my head. “I’m the one that should be apologizing to all of you. It was reckless and idiotic. It—.”

“I don’t want an apology,” Lex says, speaking up. “I want your forgiveness.”

His chestnut gaze locks onto mine, and my stomach overturns.

“In my eyes, I failed you. I don’t care that you don’t understand it. Just tell me you don’t hate me. Tell me—”

I squeeze his arm. “Lex, I could never hate you.”

His head falls back onto the seat with relief. His body visibly relaxes. The tension in the car is higher than ever though. My skin buzzes, and my neck itches. What I really need is a long, hot shower to wash the past week off me. And maybe an enema for my brain…

Lex throws his door open, so I follow. When we reach the front of the car, he grabs my hand and gives it a double pump that I barely notice because my eyes are on the front door. Right now, I can’t think of a single reason why I wanted to leave this place. My parents. The house that holds almost all my favorite memories of Brady.

My heart constricts. Lex’s hand in mine gives me the strength I need to twist the knob on the front door and push it open. Inside, my parents are sitting on the couch. They’re both staring at their laps, and when we walk in, they glance up. My mom looks pale. My dad’s hair is disheveled. I stare at them even though it pains me to do so because I know I did that to them.

I wiggle free of Lex’s hand and cross the floor, dropping to my knees in front of them. Shame. Humiliation. Self-loathing. All of it hits me at that moment. My eyes burn and run over with salty tears. “I’m sorry.” I hug them both, my hands encapsulating their upper legs, my left around my mother and my right around my father like I can show them with gestures that I didn’t mean to leave. I truly didn’t. It just felt right at the time.

A hand comes down on my head. I feel a pat, pat, and I know right away it’s my father. “You scared us again, Briar.”

“I know,” I say, choking back a sob. “I won’t do it again.”

“That’s what you said last time,” my mother says, her voice curt.

I don’t actually remember saying that last time, but I might have to get them to forgive me.

My mother’s stiff. I peer up at her, my eyelashes spiked in front of me. When she looks at me, her face softens. “Why, Briar? Just why?”

I clutch at my chest again. My heart starts racing and despair hits me, making me feel as if I’m hurtling toward a brick wall.

Lex kneels next to me. His arm goes around my shoulders. “Shh. It’s okay. Deep breaths.”

My eyes go out of focus, but I think I see my mother staring at him like a stranger.

“I think she’s having major anxiety or even panic attacks. She had one on the way home.”

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