Page 107 of Cross the Line

Scrolling through his contacts, Alec’s finger hovers over the one person he needs.

With shaking fingers he taps the call button, holding it to his ear while it rings. When it goes to voicemail, Alec hangs up and calls again, knowing he’s being an asshole by waking him up but needing him anyway. When the call answers, Alec breathes just a little easier.

“Alec?” Charlie’s voice is strained, full of sleep, and so familiar a lump forms in Alec’s throat.

“Hey.”

“Hey?” Charlie echoes. “It’s two in the morning. What’s going on?”

Alec opens his mouth, but all that comes out is a choked-off sob.

“Ally?” Charlie’s voice pitches higher. He sounds so worried.

“I did something stupid,” Alec whispers, tears falling freely again.

“Talk to me. What’s going on?” Charlie curses under his breath, the sound of him moving around in his room echoing through the phone when he puts Alec on speaker. “Are you at home?”

“No,” Alec answers.

There’s a pause, followed by more hushed cursing. Knowing Charlie, he probably walked into a wall or kicked his bed frame. He’s clumsy when he’s tired, and Alec would feel more guilty about waking him up if he didn’t desperately need a hug from his big brother right now.

“What happened? Where are you?”

“I lied to you,” Alec answers, scrubbing away the tears.

“You’re scaring me, Ally. Tell me what’s going on. Let me help you.”

And that right there is exactly why Alec called him. When he was little, the only one who could calm Alec from a nightmare was Charlie. Andrew tried since they shared a room, but with his sleeping issues, Alec didn’t like waking him up if he didn’t have to. Besides, Charlie was always a night owl, and often up with the moon sketching or painting. Since he was often already awake, Alec never felt like he was bothering Charlie when he snuck out of bed to find him. A restless sleeper prone to nightmares, Alec spent a lot of time with Charlie while the rest of the family slept. That is, until he went away to college with Andrew. Eventually he and Andrew both came back to Santa Leon but they got jobs and their own place to live, and while Alec knows that’s part of growing up, he misses him. He misses all his brothers.

“Don’t be mad at me.”

“You’re being cryptic as fuck.” Charlie sighs. “You know that no matter what you did I can never really be mad at you. Just tell me what the hell is going on, please?”

“I don’t wanna be in love.”

The line goes silent and for a second Alec thinks the call dropped, but then Charlie’s voice rings out clear as day. “Oh, Ally.”

Whatever was left of Alec’s heart breaks, shattered into a million little pieces that he doesn’t even want to try and find anymore.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me. You know that. Just tell me where you are so I can come get you.”

“Downtown somewhere. Dunno the street,” Alec sniffles, rubbing his hoodie-covered hand over his nose. “I just started running from—from where I was.”

He’s not sure why he hesitates to say it was Theo’s house. He knows he’s going to have to tell Charlie about what happened all too soon, but that seems less daunting to do in person. That way, after the look of knowing disapproval he’s sure to get from Charlie, he can at least have a hug.

“That’s vague as hell, Alec. You gotta give me an address or a street name so I can come find you.”

Alec hears a car approaching, but the light at the intersection is red and the car is on the opposite side of the road so he doesn’t pay them too much attention. Instead he turns back to the street sign, frowning when he realizes it’s partially blocked by an overgrown tree on the sidewalk. He sighs, careful not to move into the street as he leans sideways to try and read the sign.

“Hang on, this tree is overgrown, I think—” but the rest of Alec pauses when the car speeds through the red light. “Fucking asshole drivers at night, I swear.”

“Focus, Alec.”

I’m trying, Alec wants to say, but he doesn’t get a chance. His phone flies from his hand as the car jumps the curb. For a moment, the sharpest pain Alec’s ever felt cracks through him like lightning, and then just as suddenly it’s gone, along with everything else.

CHAPTER 20

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