Page 112 of Borden 3

“I don’t touch the drugs.”

“Yeah, but you sell it, Theo.” The words tasted like acid on my tongue.

He was quiet. I didn’t like how anxious his quiet made me. His moods affected mine. I braved a glimpse his way. He didn’t look angry. His shoulders sagged as he slowly walked to a bench and sat down on it. I followed. Elbows propped on his knees, he brought his hands together, bumping them against his mouth in thought.

Then he finally broke the silence.

“The night I returned the backpack…I got caught.”

My whole body went cold. “What?”

“I got caught by a group of the guys at the house. It’s why I didn’t make it back to the bastion. I…I took so long to see you because I was waiting for the bruises to fade. They beat me badly.”

“You didn’t fight them back?”

“They’d have killed me if I did. I let them hurt me. They threw me into the basement for days. Locked me up real good. Then when they finally came down to see me, the dude I bought weed off of was there. He was the only one that stopped them from wanting to kill me. They knew who I was, Emma, and they said I was popular around the kids. They told me to sell for them. If I don’t, I’ll pretty much eat a bullet.”

I didn’t respond. It took me a long time to absorb his story. I felt momentarily ashamed for doubting it. I still wasn’t certain about his story about finding the backpack. There’d been so much damn blood. I wanted to ask him about that at the moment, but I felt like it was a bad time. He’d know I was doubting him all over again, and then he might take off on me.

That was another fear I had.

He’d left me before, he might leave me again. He claimed he’d been beaten and thrown in the basement, but wouldn’t there have been some bruises that hadn’t faded over two weeks? Then again, he was always covered in bruises from all those fights, so why would I have checked him over?

I let out a trembling breath, feeling like it just didn’t fit.

Once you believed that a person lied, it was impossible to start believing in that person’s truth.

But instead of saying anything to that effect, I said, “So you’ve been forced to sell for them this whole time? It’s been months, Theo.”

“I know.”

“Can’t you say there aren’t any customers?”

“I get a quota.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Why do you think I’m fighting all the damn time?”

I studied his face. At the look of despair in his eyes as he let out an exasperated breath. “How do you get out of it?”

“By leaving.”

My heart dropped. “You’d leave me?”

“No, of course not. I don’t want to leave you, Emma. I’m…I love you.”

My heart pinched at his words. He wouldn’t look at me as he said it. I needed him to look at me and repeat it.

“Say it again,” I whispered.

“What? That I love you?”

“Yeah, say it again.”

“I love you.”

“Look at me and say it.”

He let out a strange laugh. “Don’t make this weird.”

“Please.”

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