Page 74 of Bitter Lies

“Halsey says she feels unsafe around you. I trusted you,” she says again, shaking her head in disappointment.

Griffin’s face spasms with pain, his eyes shooting to mine with a fierce glare that slowly drops to nothing. I want to deny it. I want to take it back, but it’s too late.

Glancing at Max, I see he’s also glaring at me fiercely. Shuddering, I turn away because maybe I’m not afraid of Griffin, but I’m not exactly comfortable around him. At least, this is what I tell myself as I follow my mom into my room.

She comes to an abrupt stop at the sight of my walls, gazing at them with wide eyes before her mouth curls in, and she pulls out my bag without asking and starts piling my shit inside.

Bewildered, I stare at her before pushing her gently aside and taking over. What the hell did my counselor say to her to have her driving here almost immediately and whisking me away? It can’t be good, and I’m fucking terrified to know the answer.

All too soon, I’m packed, and she’s carrying my bags out to the car as Max appears in the door.

“What the fuck did you say to your counselor?” he demands harshly.

Glancing behind him, I spy Griffin just beyond, staring at me through tortured eyes. Meeting Griffin’s stare head-on, I say to Max, “The truth. This environment isn’t good for my treatment. Neither of you cares about me. Neither of you cares about what happened to me. I’ll never survive here, and I need to go.”

I know this is hard for Griffin because he loves my parents just as much as Max and me. Which is why I raise my trembling chin even though I want to curl up in shame when Griffin’s eyes grow icy before he nods and turns away.

But Max isn’t done, and he steps into me, grabbing my arm. “You little bitch. If you said anything…”

“Let me go, Max. I haven’t said anything to anyone. I don’t fucking care. I’m tired of caring.”

“I didn’t fucking ask. I only care about me, and if you fucking utter so much as a word—”

“Max,” Griffin says gruffly, stepping forward and pulling him away.

Max lets go as though burned, turning to Griffin with a sneer before stalking from the room. We both stare after him silently until Griffin turns back to me. “So, this is it? You lie to your mother to get your way?”

“It wasn’t a lie,” I say, grabbing my school bag and staring at the painting on the wall one last time.

“I’ve never fucking hurt you. I would never lay my hands on you,” he says harshly. “Fuck Halsey, you fucking painted half your walls like a freak, and I never said a word.”

Like a freak. Nice. Shaking my head, I turn to him and smile, but my lips tremble around a throat full of tears. “That’s the thing, Griffin. You don’t have to touch me to hurt me.”

Stepping around him without touching him, I stop in my tracks when he huffs out a frustrated breath. “And so, you’re going to ruin my relationship with your mom, your family? Because you’re hurt about adolescent fucking shit?”

I turn to him so swiftly he steps back in surprise, the pain on his face fading as I poke him in the chest fiercely. “I loved you. You were my best fucking friend, and even after I lost you, I tried to see the best of it, hoping you’d come around. But you were never going to come around because you’re a fucking douche. But even that I could have handled, Griffin, but I can’t handle knowing you traded away my virginity for fifty dollars like I don’t fucking matter.”

“I never said that,” he says quietly.

“No? Well, I guess you didn’t have to.”

With that, I stalk from the house and get into my mom’s car, refusing to look in their direction as she pulls from the drive.

Chapter Twenty-One

Don’t hurt me no more.

Luckily, I had taken the last of my classes before my mom whisked me away, and now I’m home, hiding out in my room. Despite what I said, I am ashamed of using Griffin as an excuse for Max’s shitty behavior, but I had no choice, or so I tell myself.

Mom’s still angry and disappointed, which is easy to see in every line of her body, and I know I have to, in some way, make this better. It was never my intention to break her heart nor prevent Griffin from his second family, even if most times I wish he would go the fuck away.

Max is due home anytime, and I’m dreading it. I don’t know if he’s gotten over his anger or if he’s going to come at me full force. At the least, Mom has promised to let me move into a dorm, and she’s already been speaking to the administration about it.

Luckily, a room opened when a student dropped out before Thanksgiving, and I now have a new place to live. In this, at least, I can breathe.

Mom’s in the kitchen, cutting up vegetables for dinner, when I find her. She’s got the same look of concentration she always has when her feelings are hurt, and I wince, studying her pretty features, so like mine.

Now that I really see it, I guess Max doesn’t look so much like her, but he still has the look of us, which makes the adoption news that much more confusing.

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