Day two, Gabrielle asked me where Truth was and told me she had tried to message her. Then she told me she didn’t think Truth had even read it. What I wanted to say was so fucking what, but the reality is that Gabrielle had issues and I always tried to help her out. So, I acted like I didn’t give a fuck, which had been easy for all these past months, until she ended up at my house and I nearly lost my shit.
That night, there was a bag of takeout from a barbecue place inland and a note.
Good shit,
C.S
Knowing how much he must hate me, and that he could possibly try to fucking poison me, and that if I died here, it would take a few days for someone to even check it out, I tossed it.
Day three, today, has been the hardest. Justice asked me what was going on with Truth and me, and I told him nothing happened, and nothing was gonna. He asked me why, and I knew right then that he didn’t know about my shit, so I told him a half-truth, that I was looking forward to starting over.
Another bag of food was at my door when I got home, and it pissed me off. If he was trying to kill me, he was persistent. And if he was thinking I was starving and couldn’t take care of myself, that pissed me off, too. But if he was being nice, making me his cause so I stayed away from his daughter, he obviously not only doubted my word but was a manipulating asshole. I’d had enough of that with every other fucking male, father figure or otherwise, for a lifetime, and it enraged me enough that I put it in the fridge and planned to deliver it to his own fucking doorstep at five in the fucking morning with a note that told him to fuck off.
Now I’m lying in bed, not touching my junk, while I picture her laying here the other night, because it feels wrong, which is another reason I know there’s no way in hell I can do this shit anymore.
As soon as I turn off SportsCenter, I hear my door open, knowing damn well it was locked. The clock reads ten p.m., and I know I’m not expecting company.
I get up, reach under my bed for my baseball bat, and then quietly walk to my bedroom door and look out.
I see her, in what appears to be pajamas and slippers, hair all knotted up on top of her head, silently scolding herself as she walks in circles. One second, her hands are above her head, then on her hips, and then gripping her hair. She’s basically mirroring how I feel on the inside. I can’t watch that shit, and she can’t be here. I’ll have to be a dick so she’ll leave.
“You can’t just walk in here whenever you fucking want to.” I toss the bat on my bed then shut the door behind me.
“I need to talk to you.” She smiles and shakes her head. “I need to tell you I’m not gonna stop myself from falling in—”
“Shut your mouth, Truth. Just shut up and leave.” I swallow down the bile that is boiling inside of me and tell her, “I have company.”
She plops down on my floor, pulls her knees to her chest, and hugs them as she shakes her head. “Make her leave.”
“Truth—”
“Make. Her. Leave. Now!” she screams.
“Truth.” I walk over and grab her elbow.
She yanks it away and screams, “Make her leave, and I’ll pretend this didn’t happen, and I won’t go fuck Harrison Reeves or—”
“Shut the fuck up, Truth, and leave!” I seethe, my voice shaking in rage and pain.
She looks up at me, tears falling down her face. “I will, you know. I will, and it will be all your fault!”
Surprising me, she jumps up, dodges my reach, and runs toward my door. I grab her just as she turns the handle and kicks it open, screaming, “Get out! Get out!” Her legs are strong as fuck as she kicks at the air, and when she twists, I lose the shitty grip I have on her, and she runs and jumps on my empty bed. Her expression is shocked as she looks around, but when she looks at me, it’s as if I betrayed her.
“What’s my name!” she demands.
“Don’t start. Just leave,” I say, gripping the top of the doorjamb to keep myself in place.
“I’ll leave when you tell me what you said to my dad.”
“Guess you’ll have to ask him. He’s your dad. I’m nothing to you.”
She shakes her head and knots the comforter. “I heard them tonight. I was listening at their door, and I heard some things that doesn’t make sense.”
Fuck. I sigh and nod once. “I’m not the person to clear it up for you, and that’s the truth.”
“You’re the one person who should! You’re supposed to tell me everything, Tobias.”
“What the hell are you—”
“I know I’m falling in love with you—”
“Don’t—”
“I know you are, too, so you don’t get to lie to me. Love doesn’t work that way!” She sniffs.
“We can’t happen. We won’t—”
“Newsflash: we’re already doing it, and it’s supposed to be beautiful, Tobias. It’s supposed to give you butterflies and not make you sick! I want those butterflies back, and I’m not leaving until you answer me. And if you think I’m gonna give a shit if the cops have to drag me out of here, you’re wrong! I’d rather be in jail than in the hell you’ve put me in!” Sniff. “They said something about my mom being a virgin stripper, and …” She wipes her tears and sniffs again. “It makes no sense. And it makes no sense that it even matters, ’cause so what? It’s her before.”
“Before what?” I ask hesitantly.
“Before life made sense to her. Before life got beautiful. Before she found her person to get through the tough times and celebrate the good. Before she found her one true love.”
When my phone rings on my nightstand, her face scrunches up. “You better tell her not to call you again or …” She stops when I walk toward it, and then lunges and grabs it.
“Truth, give me the phone now.”
“He doesn’t want you!” she yells into the receiver. “Lose his number, you … you—” Her hand starts to shake, and then her eyes widen. “Why are you calling him?”
“Truth, give me my phone or I won’t call the cops; I’ll call your father.”
She holds up my phone and tosses it at me. “He beat you to it. And you better tell him I’m not leaving. And if he thinks he can make me, I’ll move out, or I’ll run away.”
“The fuck you will!” I snap at her.
“Then tell me, Tobias, just tell me!”
I hold the phone to my ear, walk out of the room, unable to stomach seeing her upset, and straight up ask him, “You coming to get her?”
“You need to have a talk with her, Tobias. She needs to hear it from you. This is making her a different person.”
“Why haven’t you?” I snap.
“Wasn’t sure how I was gonna tell my wife, and I was trying to deal with a heartbroken little girl. Now I have talked to —”
“I can’t—"
“You think you love my girl, Easton, it’s your job to tell her, because she’s no longer listening to me. You got an hour. I’d rather her not drive in the state she’s in, so we’ll come get her then. If you need us to come sooner, you know my number.”