Page 102 of Where We Ended

Across the garage they had a fridge they kept stocked with water and food. I walked over, briskly, agitated that I had to help him at all. Once I had a few water bottles in my hand and someone’s sub sandwich, I returned to Alec’s place on the floor. I only hesitated for a second before twisting the cap on the bottle and handing it over to him.

His eyes remained on me as he downed the entire thing as if he hadn’t had a single thing to drink all day. Then he began unwrapping the sandwich.

I was sitting on the floor, my legs folded, close enough that Alec could kick me if he wanted to.

I gave him a second before trying to get more answers from him, but he beat me to it.

“We talked about you…I got angry with him for making me feel like shit. I told him I fucked up with you and needed to apologize. Silas reminded me that even if I did, you’d never forgive me. So I lashed out and made sure he was reminded of his failures with you, except he never knew about them.”

Fuck.

A fissure of panic settled in my chest.

“You told him about Dirk?”

Alec nodded, taking another bite.

I looked down, tugging at a loose pebble in the groove of the floor. After Christmas, I made it my mission to avoid Alec. Which wasn’t too difficult but then during one of the times Silas was gone, he’d been there, with The Death Raiders, partying and found his way to my back door.

I didn’t let him in, but I took out two beers and sat in the garden under a star-speckled sky. I cried while explaining that I was trapped in a house with memories that haunted me every single day. I had confessed a few things about Dirk, and my fear of him. Not a ton, but a few details had slipped through the later it became. Alec hadn’t said much, and when I was ready to call it a night, he merely waved at me and watched me go inside.

“How did he take it?”

“Not well.” Alec snorted, shaking his head. “I think he short circuited…he left the garage, got on his bike and flew out of here like a bat out of hell.”

“I wish you hadn’t told him.” My voice was feeble, but I still said it. I knew I owed Silas the truth, but I’d rather he’d never known than ever blame himself for it.

Alec stared at me, grabbing for another water bottle.

“I wish you had a long time ago…maybe you guys would have broken up. Maybe, selfishly, I imagine a scenario in which you tell him, he blames himself so much he can’t be with you. In that scenario, you fall for me. You love me and instead of sadness in your life, all you have is sunshine.”

“What, then you’d never have had to kidnap me?” I glowered at him. “Besides, I don’t want a life full of sunshine. I create my own and crave a cool place to retreat when my world is too big and too bright. Silas and I would have continued even through me telling him, just like we will now. I know he’s hurt, but we’ll get past it.”

My brother-in-law focused on me, as if he was calculating what to say next. His mouth parted with something else he wanted to say, but he shut it just as fast while focusing on the floor.

“I’m sorry, Natty. I’m so fucking sorry for what I did to you. I…” He started, then stopped, as if he were rethinking what he was going to say. A tiny kernel of pity must have been stored up in my chest because it came out, unfurling like a pod in spring. I gently kicked his boot, which had him looking up.

“I was coming for you…to protect you from Fable. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I wanted to help you. If you need help finding him, then use me. I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe.”

Right as he said that my phone pinged with a text.

Giles: I have one…you gotta come tonight though. He’s connected to too many people.

I put the phone down and inspected Alec.

“What?”

“How are you with interrogations?”

That contemplative expression swept over his features again. “I’m pretty damn good, about as good as Silas.”

That’s exactly what I needed.

Since I had no way of finding Silas and this window was about to close, my only option was to trust Alec. For some reason I believed him when he said he wanted me safe from Fable. His father had raised the stakes, and if that meant he’d help me locate his father, then that’s exactly what I’d use him for.

TWENTY-SIX

NATTY

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