Page 142 of Endless Anger
“Sure, but eventually, you’d think they’d learn to trust me again, right? I mean, I keep Asher around to make sure I’m in line, but most of the time, I don’t really need him.”
There’s no conviction to the last few words he utters, as if he doesn’t fully believe them.
Foxe and I are codependent. We stuck our flags on ships that could survive tumultuous seas, aware that there’d be times we didn’t feel strong enough on our own.
Or maybe too terrified to try.
Sometimes, I think that means he gets me more than Asher or Aurora or my family. There’s no substitute for experience.
“Okay,” I say, clasping my hands together and pushing to my feet. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“Party in the quarry. You clearly need human interaction, and I need to not be trapped in here with a wallowing man-child.”
He grins, climbing from the bed. “Isn’t this the party Asher didn’t want you going to?”
Throwing a cardigan over my maroon sweater, I slide my stocking-clad feet into a pair of Doc Martens. “So? He’s not the boss of me.”
“True. He’s always enjoyed being on the receiving end of that.”
I pause, giving him an incredulous look. “Something is very wrong with you.”
Sighing, he drapes an arm over my shoulders, tugging me close. He’s a couple of inches taller than Asher, who’s already got eight on me, so I feel miniature next to him.
“There is,” he says, his voice solemn in a way that feels alarming. “But let’s go get drunk and forget about it. I’ll keep ya safe if anyone tries anything weird.”
41
LUCY
We don’t.
Get drunk, that is.
After we arrive at the quarry, I immediately introduce him to Eli and Willa, who recognize him from an EP he released a couple of years ago. He gets excited instantly, snapping back into his regular self like nothing was ever amiss in the first place.
We get beers from one of the people passing them out at the keg, although I make it clear to Foxe that he shouldnotbe going overboard.
I don’t want to baby him, but I also don’t want to drag home his goofy, drunk ass later.
Asher would come do it for me, no questions asked, but I don’t want to see the look on his face when he learns I went to this party or that I made Foxe join.
Not that he explicitly asked me not to come. When I brought it up, Asher just said he wouldn’t be able to go and he’d be more comfortable if I didn’t because he doesn’t trust Beckett.
Well, neither do I. But IknowBeckett knows things, and I want the answers. If I wait around for Asher to find them out, I’ll be pushing fifty before anything comes to light.
The air does feel extra cool out here tonight though. I can’t tell if it’s all due to the weather or if the terrain is throwing in a biting chill.
I’m sure it isn’t the ghosts, since they don’t exist.
A breeze sweeps through the crowd, and I cross my arms against it.
Officially anyway.
I find Yuri near a row of kegs, nursing a beer. She’s got a scarf wrapped around her neck, her black hair tucked into the thick white fabric, and she lights up when she spots me. A girl I recognize from Professor Dupont’s class sits next to her, gripping the neck of a vodka bottle.
“Lucy!” Jumping up, Yuri wraps her arms around me, some of her beer sloshing onto my shoulder. “Aurora’s not here. Had some last-minute fashion emergency and had to go to the mall in Concord. Although she thought you’d be hanging out with your newboyfriend. We didn’t think you’d make it.” She wiggles her thin, dark brows, poking my side.
