I was so fucking messed up.
Light blazed from the trailer door and Vince appeared, one hand on the button of his jeans. Bile washed through me as I watched him yank the door shut and make his way down the steps. He didn’t see me, sitting there in the darkness. If I had a gun, maybe I could have done it. Maybe I could have put a bullet through his skull. Fuck knows the world would have been a better place with one less person like Vince Colombo in it. But how could I abandon Jessa like that? After all she’d done for me.
The second Vince disappeared into his car, I headed inside, my heart crashing violently against my rib cage. “Jessa?” I called.
At least the place wasn’t trashed.
A trickle of unease went through me when she didn’t reply. “Jessa?” My voice echoed through the silence.
Slowly, I approached their bedroom, my throat dry, blood roaring between my ears. I pushed the door open. Jess—”
She lay curled up in a ball in the middle of the bed, the sheet pulled up around her body.
Glancing down at the floor, I inhaled a calming breath. “Jessa?”
“N-Nix.” Her voice cracked.
“Are you okay?”
“Can you get me some Tylenol please and a hot water bottle.” She clutched the sheet tighter, refusing to look at me.
“Maybe I should take you to the ER.”
“N-no. I’ll be fine, sweetie. I just need to rest.”
“Yeah, okay.” The words soured on my tongue as I backtracked to the kitchenette and found her some pain pills and filled the hot water bottle.
“Here you go.” I went to the side of the bed, crouching down so she had no choice but to look at me.
Her face was free of bruises, but I didn’t for a second doubt her body would be littered in them.
Another wave of bile churned in my stomach. “I can get you out. I could—”
“I think I want to rest now,” she said, accepting the water bottle and pain pills. I helped her sit up a little to wash them down.
“Jessa, this isn’t—”
“You’re a good boy, Nix.” Her weak smile didn’t reach her haunted eyes. “Promise me one day you’ll get out of here.”
“I…”
“Nix.” She clutched my hand. “Promise me.”
“Y-yeah.” I blew out a steady breath, the word cracking something in my chest.
Relief washed over her, and she settled back against the pillows, closing her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, the words cutting me deep.
How much more could she take before she broke, before her body broke?
The thought gutted me.
Jessa didn’t reply. She didn’t say anything. I walked out of there and took up position on the couch, with a clear view of their room.
If my father came back drunk and horny there was no chance in hell I was letting him anywhere near her.
Not tonight.
I really fucking hoped he found somewhere else to sleep tonight.
Harleigh
“Harleigh,” my father’s voice was an unwelcome sound as I roused from a deep sleep. Everything ached; the lingering effects of my afternoon with Nate no doubt.
“Harl—”
“Yeah, yeah” I murmured. “I’m awake.”
“Actually,” he said, poking his head around the door, “I was hoping we could talk.”
“Talk, right.” My lips thinned as I tried to force myself upright against the headboard.
“May I come in?”
“Technically, you’ve already let yourself in, so…”
He gave me a disapproving look and slipped into my room. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine. Good… why?”
“Principal Diego emailed me. He’s concerned you skipped out yesterday afternoon.”
“Are you keeping tabs on me?” I bristled.
“I would like to think that Principal Diego would inform any parent if their child was cutting class.”
Their child. As if I’d ever been his child.
“I had a stomachache.”
“You were seen leaving the school grounds with Nate Miller.”
Crap.
“He gave me a ride, yeah.”
“I’d assumed from the altercation at the mixer at the end of the summer that you and Nate weren’t compatible.”
“Compatible? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
He let out a strained chuckle and I hated it. Hated that he had the same cleft in his chin as I did. The same green eyes. I didn’t want to look like him, to resemble the man who abandoned me.
“Excuse my poor choice of words,” he said. “I merely meant I didn’t see the two of you striking up a friendship.”
“I wouldn’t call us friends.”
“But you let him give you a ride?” His brows knitted.
“Is there a point to this interrogation? It’s too early for this.”
“Principal Diego asked your teachers for some feedback…” He let the words hang, his insinuation heavy in the air.
“So you are monitoring me.”
“Harleigh, be reasonable. Last year was… difficult. We all just want to make sure you’re handling things okay.”
“I don’t know how many times I need to say this, but I’m fine.”
“So what happened?”
“Ask Max.”
I hadn’t seen the little shit yet or figured out what the hell I was going to say to him.
“Do I even want to know?” He let out an exasperated sigh.
My fingers curled into the covers as I weighed up my options. I could try to handle Max myself, but risk Sabrina’s wrath. Or I could own up to my father and hope he dealt with his treacherous loose-lipped son.
“He told some people… about Albany Hills.”
Anger rippled across his features. Michael Rowe was an imposing man. Tall with broad shoulders and a good physique thanks to his regimented workout routine and Mrs. Beaker’s healthy cooking. His hair was dark like mine, our eyes and dimple the same. But his expression was always one of cold composure. I guess you didn’t become one of the richest men in Hudson Valley through smiles, charm, and a kind heart.
“He did what?”
“Yep.” I popped the P. “So as you can imagine, my classmates loved grilling me about that. Me and a girl got into it and Ms. Holland called me out on it, so I bailed.”
“I see.” He ran a hand over his neatly trimmed whiskers. “Still, I can’t have you skipping out on class, it doesn’t give off the right impression. I pulled a lot of strings to get you into DA.”
Like registering me as Harleigh Rowe instead of Maguire.
Incredulous laughter bubbled in my throat, but I smothered it. I should have known, of course he would care more about the optics of me cutting class than the fact people knew the truth.
“That’s it?” I asked as calmly as possible.
“I’ll talk to Max, but I suppose the truth would have come out eventually. Please just… don’t do anything stupid.”
“As opposed to what exactly?”
“We knew it was going to be hard, Harleigh.” He pursed his lips. “But you can do this. You can assimilate into DA and have a productive senior year.”