you did with that aspirin bottle, it’s all over. After last night, I could use the outlet, and I’m not in the mood for this mopey shit’s eyes to be raking across my girl’s chest at seven in the fucking morning.
If I weren’t immensely aware of the lack of emotion behind her eyes, I would probably have pulled him over the counter, but her fake smile, black-rimmed eyes, and dirt-stained dress stop me and yank me from my violent thoughts. She just looks so lost, so sad, so fucking lost.
What have I done to you? I silently ask.
Her focus shifts to the door, where a young woman and child are entering, hand in hand. I watch her as she watches them, following their movements a little too closely, if you ask me; it’s borderline creepy. When the little girl stares up at her mum, Tessa’s bottom lip trembles.
What the hell is that about? Because I threw a fit over the new revelation in my family?
The clerk has packed up all of my stuff and holds the bag somewhat rudely in front of my face to get my attention. It seems that as soon as Tessa stopped looking at him, he decided he could be rude to me.
I snatch the plastic bag and lean toward Tessa. “Ready?” I ask, nudging her with my elbow.
“Yeah, sorry,” she mutters and grabs the coffees from the counter.
I fill the car up, all the while considering the consequences of driving Vance’s rental into the sea. If we’re in Allhallows, we’re right next to the shore; it wouldn’t be hard.
“How far are we from Gabriel’s bar?” Tessa asks when I join her in the car. “That’s where the car is.”
“Only about an hour and a half, traffic considering.” The car slowly sinks in the ocean, costing Vance tens of thousands; we take a cab to Gabriel’s for a couple hundred. Fair trade.
Tessa twists the top off the small bottle of aspirin and shakes three of them into my hand, then frowns and stares down at her screen, which has started to light up. “Do you want to talk about last night? I just received a text from Kimberly.”
Questions begin pushing through the muddied images and voices from last night and into the surface of my mind . . . Vance locking me outside and walking back into the burning house . . . As Tessa continues to stare at her phone, I grow increasingly worried.
“He’s not . . .” I don’t know how to ask the question. It won’t seem to pass over the lump in my throat.
Tessa looks at me, and her eyes begin to fill with tears. “He’s alive, of course, but . . .”
“What? He’s what?”
“She says he was burned.”
A slight and unwelcome pain tries to seep through the cracks in my defenses. Cracks that she caused in the first place.
She wipes one eye with the back of her hand. “Only on one leg. Kim said one leg, and that he’s to be arrested as soon as he is released from the hospital, which should be soon, any minute, really.”
“Arrested for what?” I know the answer before she gives it.
“He told the police that he started the fire.” Tessa lifts her shitty phone in front of my face so I can read the long text message from Kimberly for myself.
I read it all, not learning anything new, but getting a good sense of Kimberly’s panic. I don’t say anything. I have nothing to say.
“Well?” Tessa asks softly.
“Well what?”
“Aren’t you even slightly concerned about your father?” Then, taking in my murderous glare, she adds, “I mean Christian.”
He’s hurt because of me. “He shouldn’t have even showed up there.”
Tessa looks appalled by my nonchalance. “ Hardin . That man came there to help me—to help you.”
Sensing the beginning of a rambling spell, I interrupt her. “Tessa, I know—”
But she surprises me by holding a hand up to silence me. “I wasn’t finished. Not to mention he took the blame for a house fire that you caused and was injured . I love you, and I know you hate him right now, but I know you—the real you—so don’t sit here and act like you
If I weren’t immensely aware of the lack of emotion behind her eyes, I would probably have pulled him over the counter, but her fake smile, black-rimmed eyes, and dirt-stained dress stop me and yank me from my violent thoughts. She just looks so lost, so sad, so fucking lost.
What have I done to you? I silently ask.
Her focus shifts to the door, where a young woman and child are entering, hand in hand. I watch her as she watches them, following their movements a little too closely, if you ask me; it’s borderline creepy. When the little girl stares up at her mum, Tessa’s bottom lip trembles.
What the hell is that about? Because I threw a fit over the new revelation in my family?
The clerk has packed up all of my stuff and holds the bag somewhat rudely in front of my face to get my attention. It seems that as soon as Tessa stopped looking at him, he decided he could be rude to me.
I snatch the plastic bag and lean toward Tessa. “Ready?” I ask, nudging her with my elbow.
“Yeah, sorry,” she mutters and grabs the coffees from the counter.
I fill the car up, all the while considering the consequences of driving Vance’s rental into the sea. If we’re in Allhallows, we’re right next to the shore; it wouldn’t be hard.
“How far are we from Gabriel’s bar?” Tessa asks when I join her in the car. “That’s where the car is.”
“Only about an hour and a half, traffic considering.” The car slowly sinks in the ocean, costing Vance tens of thousands; we take a cab to Gabriel’s for a couple hundred. Fair trade.
Tessa twists the top off the small bottle of aspirin and shakes three of them into my hand, then frowns and stares down at her screen, which has started to light up. “Do you want to talk about last night? I just received a text from Kimberly.”
Questions begin pushing through the muddied images and voices from last night and into the surface of my mind . . . Vance locking me outside and walking back into the burning house . . . As Tessa continues to stare at her phone, I grow increasingly worried.
“He’s not . . .” I don’t know how to ask the question. It won’t seem to pass over the lump in my throat.
Tessa looks at me, and her eyes begin to fill with tears. “He’s alive, of course, but . . .”
“What? He’s what?”
“She says he was burned.”
A slight and unwelcome pain tries to seep through the cracks in my defenses. Cracks that she caused in the first place.
She wipes one eye with the back of her hand. “Only on one leg. Kim said one leg, and that he’s to be arrested as soon as he is released from the hospital, which should be soon, any minute, really.”
“Arrested for what?” I know the answer before she gives it.
“He told the police that he started the fire.” Tessa lifts her shitty phone in front of my face so I can read the long text message from Kimberly for myself.
I read it all, not learning anything new, but getting a good sense of Kimberly’s panic. I don’t say anything. I have nothing to say.
“Well?” Tessa asks softly.
“Well what?”
“Aren’t you even slightly concerned about your father?” Then, taking in my murderous glare, she adds, “I mean Christian.”
He’s hurt because of me. “He shouldn’t have even showed up there.”
Tessa looks appalled by my nonchalance. “ Hardin . That man came there to help me—to help you.”
Sensing the beginning of a rambling spell, I interrupt her. “Tessa, I know—”
But she surprises me by holding a hand up to silence me. “I wasn’t finished. Not to mention he took the blame for a house fire that you caused and was injured . I love you, and I know you hate him right now, but I know you—the real you—so don’t sit here and act like you
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