Page 141 of Endless Anger
“I know that, I just…wish I didn’t sometimes.” I slump forward, my forehead leaning against his chin. “It’s hard.”
“Most things that are worth anything in life are hard.”
“Ew. You sound like my dad. Or your dad.”
That makes him laugh, and he rubs my back in soft, soothing circles. “I’m not always as unaffected as I may appear, you know. You’ve seen how quick to anger I am. And the years we spent apart? I was a fucking disaster. Plus, were you not listening to what I just said? Every time you so much as cry, it tears me up inside. I care about you, Luce, and I love that you care about people so much.”
“You don’t think it’s stupid?” I ask in a small voice.
“Never.”
I relax a little, softening against his embrace. The comfort I find in his arms should maybe alarm me, but at the moment, I’m too blissed out from his scent and warmth to really care.
“Can I stay here tonight?”
He shifts, and then the comforter is being pulled up and tucked around my shoulders. His hold on me tightens, and his lips skim my scalp. I get sleepy all of a sudden, my eyelids drooping until they remain closed, so I barely hear his answering whisper against my temple.
“You can stay forever.”
A few days later, I’m reading in my dorm room when Foxe kicks my door in. I turn in my desk chair, a bland expression on my face when the handle lodges into the plaster.
Cringing, Foxe drags a hand through his messy, slightly damp hair and yanks the door from the wall. “Fuck, my bad. It was locked.”
“So you kicked it?”
“I didn’t think you’d let me in if I knocked.”
“I wouldn’t have.”
“You’re somean, Lulu. Ash-tree is such a bad influence.” Walking over, he flops down onto my bed, and I appreciate how the both of us are expertly ignoring the room divider I’ve erected by hanging multiple sheets from the tiled ceiling, blocking off Celeste’s side from view.
Since I’ve been granted access to my room again, I’ve been attempting to spend more time in here, but living with her half being exposed was not an option. Dean Bauer agreed—after a call from my mother threatening to come back to campus—to put a hold on filling my roommate assignment for the time being, so for now it’s just me and my thoughts. Flipping my Landscape Ecology textbook shut, I bring my legs into the chair with me and swivel toward Foxe. He’s got an arm propped behind his head, the sleeves of his T-shirt rolled up, revealing the plethora of patchwork tattoos on his skin, and a strange expression on his face.
I’m used to a bored, restless Foxe. Happy Foxe, and obnoxious, overly touchy Foxe.
This one looks crestfallen somehow.
Setting my chin on the heel of my hand, I squint at him. “What’s wrong with you?”
His gaze shifts to me. “Nothing?”
I cock a brow.
Sighing loudly, he rolls over onto his side, looking at me with big green, puppy-dog eyes. “Asher ditched me to do some errands for his sister, and I’mdyinghere. Turns out school is really goddamn depressing when you’re not enrolled.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to mention that it’s depressing even when youare, but I don’t. Like me, Foxe barely scraped by in high school, and since he comes from a huge music empire, college was never on his radar anyway.
Problem is Foxe James is also likely part golden retriever, so he goes where his loyalties lie. I suspect that’s why he’s been hanging around Avernia with Asher rather than continuing to tour by himself.
Considering Aurora’s also here and averse to his presence, I’m certain the entire experience has been less than thrilling. It’s a wonder he hasn’t jumped in Lake Lerna at this point.
“What do you even spend your days doing?” I ask, pulling my sleeves over my knuckles.
“I’ve got, like, a whole fucking album written. It’s the only reason my dad agreed I could come, if I was productive.” He makes a face, rolling his eyes. “He and my mom worry all the time about stupid shit I might get into if I’m not occupied. Like I’m a dog that needs constant stimulation.”
I wince, realizing I just made that comparison and that it could be applied to me as well. I’d hate it if it was.
“In their defense, you did get into trouble a lot before we graduated,” I say. Mostly with illegal betting and underage drinking, but still.
