Page 83 of Necessary Cruelty

Twenty-Six

I wakeup with the not so unique feeling that I’m being watched.

But unlike every other time this has happened, it isn’t fear that shivers down my body when I sit up.

Vin sits in the corner of the room where he has so many times before. Even though only the whites of his eyes are visible in the darkness, I know he’s staring straight at me.

The air between is charged with electricity, evidence of the coming storm.

I tried really hard not to let it bother me when he left me on my doorstep this afternoon, not even bothering to look back as he jumped into his car to drive away. The urge to invite him in had come up my throat like bile and been swallowed back.

The peace between us is fragile and probably temporary.

Our relationship, no matter how good it feels at times, isn’t actually real.

I need to remember that, even when his smile widens and heat races over my skin. When he smiles, I can almost convince myself that we are something different than we are.

It would be a lie.

But it’s hard to remember that when his eyes flash in the dark and he stands up from the chair.

I wait for him to decide what he is going to do, but it quickly becomes clear he has no interest in climbing into bed with me. He doesn’t make a move toward me, even once I’ve completely sat up and we’re just staring at the outline of each other’s faces in the dark.

When he finally speaks, his voice is suddenly loud in the dark and silence.

“Are you ready to go?” he asks.

I struggle out from under the comforter that seems too heavy on my overheated body. “Go where?”

His lips quirk, but he gives nothing away. “It’s a surprise.”

“It’s also the middle of the night and we have school tomorrow.”

“Like I give a shit. You shouldn’t either because there’s barely a month left of senior year.” He holds his hand out to me. “Let’s go.”

The smart part of me wants to ask what he has planned that requires leaving my bed in the middle of the night, but if he had any intention of telling me, then he already would have. No, my only option is to go with him willingly or put up a fight.

“I’m not dressed,” I point out, half-rising from bed.

His gaze skims over my bare legs beneath the sleep shirt that hits me well above mid-thigh. “You have five minutes.”

Vin sweeps out of the room, not even bothering to turn on the light.

I want to fight him, regain some of the power I lost when I agreed to all this. He can take his mysterious nighttime adventure and shove it up his ass. Whatever he has planned can’t be more important than my education.

But eventually, curiosity wins and I climb out of bed.

There isn’t anyone else in the house. Less than an hour after I got home, medics in starchy white uniforms arrived to transport Grandpa to the care home. I was happy to see him go, because I know it means he’ll get the care he needs, but it was strange to fall asleep in an empty house.

None of the neighbors will come running if I scream. There isn’t anyone or anything to stop Vin from doing whatever he wants with me.

At least, that’s the excuse I give myself as I pull on a wrinkled pair of shorts and follow him out my bedroom door.

Vin isn’t outside where I expect him to be when I reach the bottom of the stairs. Instead, he is in the small office off the living room that is so crowded with boxes and plastic trash bags full of junk that the beaten up desk inside is impossible to reach.

“What are you looking for?”

Vin doesn’t bother to look up as he rifles through the filing cabinet. “Your birth certificate.”

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