My gut tells me I can use this against her. I’m just not sure how yet.
I’m jerked from my thoughts by a sudden knock on my door. My heart hammers and I feel the color drain from my face. Fuck, is she back? Did she decide she let me off the hook too easily?
Another knock sounds, more insistent than the first. Slowly, I make my way across the room and hesitantly answer it.
A breath of relief rushes past my lips when I see Loni standing at my threshold. Her eyes are wide and she looks stunned.
“Hey,” I say with a frown. “What’s wrong?”
She points her thumb over her shoulder. “Was that Jenn I saw leaving your room a few minutes ago? She looked scary as shit, but not crackhead scary like I expected. Like Stepford-Wives-meets-dominatrix—”
Shit. Grabbing her wrist, I yank her into my room and slam the door shut.
And before Loni can lose her shit, I tell her everything. It all just kind of flows out, but once I start talking, I can’t make myself stop. Her expression grows more and more shocked with each word I spit out, but she remains silent and listens intently. I tell her about Nora and Mr. Angelle’s history, as well as their separate plans for me. I tell her about Ghost, and how I drove him away.
And I tell her that I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to stop any of them.
To my surprise, Loni doesn’t take too long to snap out of her state of shock. She also doesn’t appear angry that I’ve kept all this from her. Her expression is one of concern, however, and I think I might’ve freaked her out with my confession.
“You have to tell Carley,” she says, taking me by complete surprise.
“What? Why would I do that? It’ll only upset and worry her.”
She grabs both my shoulders and holds me so I’m forced to meet her gaze.
“She needs to know what’s going on,” she insists. “She has a right to know, Mallory. She’s the only parental figure you have who’s worth a shit. If you can’t rely on her, who the hell can you count on? I get it—Jenn raised you with that snitches get stitches mentality—but this time, you need to say something.”
I hate that she’s right. Hate it with everything inside me. I’ve been trying so hard to shield Carley from everything that’s happened, but maybe I’ve been making things worse by keeping her in the dark? If she found out I’ve been lying to her, I know she’d be more than angry.
She’d be devastated.
Releasing a sigh of defeat, I bob my head.
“You’re right,” I murmur. “Shit, I know you’re right.”
She lets go of my shoulders to grab my phone from the top of my desk. I take it from her when she holds it out to me.
“Call her. Now,” she gently orders.
I stare down at the phone for long moments as I summon up the courage to pull up her number. When I finally do and hit the call button, I hold Loni’s gaze as I put the phone to my ear and listen to it ring.
I mentally pray that she’s at work and can’t answer, but she picks up after only two rings.
“Hey, baby girl.” I can hear the smile in her voice. She’s in a really good mood. “What’s going on?”
“Hey, Carley,” I say, my own voice soft and hesitant. “Um … I have something I need to tell you.”
“What it is, honey?” The smile is gone from her voice, replaced by instant concern.
And once again, it all comes out. Loni nods and offers me small smiles of encouragement as I talk. I’m not sure I’d be able to do this without her here.
At last, I finish by telling Carley about Nora’s visit not even an hour earlier.
When I’m done, I wait for her to respond.
She doesn’t. In fact, the silence stretches between us for so long, I begin to wonder if the connection was lost.
“Carley? Are you still there?”
“Hmm.”
“Are you … are you okay?”
“No.” There’s more silence, and guilt swarms over me. “I need time to process this all, Mallory. But I’m not happy. At all.”
“I know,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry.”
“We’ll talk in a bit,” she says, her tone harder than I’ve ever heard it. “Don’t you dare go near Nora again.”
I hate that I can’t promise her that, but she doesn’t give me time to reply. The phone clicks and the call ends.
Slowly, I lower the phone from my ear.
“What did she say?” Loni asks in a gentle voice.
“She said she needed time to process things. She was upset, which I expected, but I didn’t expect her to just … hang up.”
Loni flinches. “So, she didn’t take it too well.”
“I can’t blame her.”
Before I can react, she wraps her arms around me and hugs me tight.
“It’s going to be okay. It’s a lot to take in. She’ll figure out a way to support you in this. I know she will.”
I want to believe that too, but I know I’ve hurt Carley.
I just hope it’s not enough to make her decide I’m not worth the trouble.
“Mallory? You okay?”
I glance up and meet Liam’s concerned gaze from across the table. It’s the next morning, and I’m having breakfast with him, Saint, and Gabe. I haven’t been able to stop worrying about Carley’s reaction to everything I told her last night. The stress I’m feeling is so sharp, I don’t even have much of an appetite and have been poking at my meal listlessly. I don’t even have the energy to hide the fact that I’m upset.
“I’ve been better,” I say with a shrug. My lame response catches Saint’s attention and he looks at me with a furrowed brow and a frown.
“Something happen?” he asks in a low voice that only I can hear.
I should tell him what’s going on. He deserves to know about Nora’s latest visit, and even that I have a phone number for her. I can’t tell him now, though, in front of the other two.
Opening my mouth, I’m just about to say that we can talk later, when I catch Headmaster Aldridge approaching our table out of the corner of my eye. Closing my lips back up, I turn and look up at him with a frown when he comes to a stop next to me.
“Mallory, I need you to come with me,” he says without preamble.
“Why?” I ask, suspicious.
“She’s not going anywhere with you without her attorney present,” Saint snaps.
To my surprise, Headmaster Aldridge ignores Saint and keeps his gaze on me.
“Your guardian is in my office,” he grumbles.
My eyes widen and I gasp. “Carley? What’s she doing here?”
Headmaster Aldridge releases a heavy sigh. “She’s come to take you home.”
36
When I burst through the door into the headmaster’s office, Carley is sitting in a chair in front of his desk. She pushes to her feet when I walk in and meets my gaze. Her expression is a stone mask.
“You didn’t tell me you were coming,” I say lamely.
She tilts her chin. “I didn’t want to waste time. We’re going to pack up your stuff and you’re coming back to Georgia with me.”