Page 83 of Pretty Broken Things

I wait for a reaction, but get nothing. She doesn’t turn to face me, her muscles don’t tense, she doesn’t even sigh. She just continues to sit with her chin resting on her knees. When we were teens, even at her loneliest Tessa was a warrior. That seems to be gone, and there’s something very fragile about her now.

“I legally changed my name,” she says in a flat quiet tone.

She really has lost her fight. “Okay, Tessa,” I emphasize her name. “What are you doing out here alone?”

“I’m wondering what I’m still doing here at all. They know what he’s up to now. I don’t have anywhere to stay, and I doubt I’m wanted here anyway,” she replies. It’s worrisome how little emotion there is in her voice.

“Are you fishing for an invitation?” I try for a teasing tone, but she doesn’t respond to that either.

“I’ve learned not to ask you for anything. I suppose though that one of you will tell me where I’m going to stay. I highly doubt Sin is going to let me out of his sight until the threat against Raven is handled,” she states. She might as well be reading the weather report for how removed she seems from what is happening in her own life.

Shane and Jen come around the side of the house. He’s probably accurately guessed that I’m fucking this up, and haven’t yet invited her to stay with us. Not that we discussed it before, but I think we both knew we should be the ones watching after her.

When he gets close to us he says, “She’s going to stay with us. Ted usually stays here, so he said she can take his room. He also told me we need to take her devices.” He looks apologetic when he addresses Tessa. “Sorry, we need to be sure you won’t share our plans with anyone.”

This makes her head snap up. “Please don’t take my phone. Can’t you just download something to listen in instead?”

“Expecting Jesse to call?” I sneer. I instantly regret it, because all the life she just displayed goes right out of her.

Jen puts her hand on Shane’s arm. “I’m sure Ford or Sin can figure out something to install on her phone that will let you verify who she’s talking to.”

Now she looks at me, and I see hope in her eyes. “Can you do that?”

“Who do you need to call that bad? Other than your new friends Poppy and Jesse, everyone you know is here,” I grumble.

I watch the hope drain from her eyes. She returns to staring straight ahead. If she wants to sulk so bad, she can do it from Ted’s room.

“Do you need to go get your things from your apartment?” Shane asks her.

“I don’t have an apartment here,” she mumbles.

“Well then, where are your clothes?” Jen asks.

“I don’t have anything here,” she replies. There’s no life or emotion in her words.

I pull my keys out of my pocket. “Let’s go back to the apartment, we can sort everything out there.”

As soon as we arrive Tessa makes a beeline for Ted’s room. I let her sulk for nearly an hour before realizing we hadn’t taken her phone yet. It’s also eerily quiet in there. The walls in this place aren’t very thick, and you can usually hear when someone is just walking around.

I pace back and forth in the living room. I don’t trust her, not since she didn’t trust me enough to confide in me what her father was threatening to do. Normally I don’t dwell on all of this, but there’s something in her demeanor that reminds me of then. Only, I feel like there’s something so much bigger happening now, and I’m not seeing it. Worse, she doesn’t trust me either, certainly not enough to confide in me.

My distrust wins, and I decide to go in and get her phone. I don’t knock, because if she is messaging Jesse or one of his people I want to catch her so we can know for sure. So I can know for sure more like.

I don’t see her at first. I rush to the window to see if she snuck out. Sin is going to be pissed, but we’ll know to watch our backs. The window is shut and locked, something she couldn’t do from the outside. Her phone is sitting on the nightstand. There’s no sign she left, but no sign she’s here either. I’d be able to hear her breathing or something.

Still, I check inside the closet. Not sure why she’d decide to hide in there, but everything she’s done is at odds with the person I thought I knew. I’m about to leave to see if Jen or Shane have seen her when I look on the other side of Ted’s bed.

Her legs are up against her chest again, with her head dropped down. Her long, dark hair falls all around her like a curtain hiding her from the rest of the world. The closer I get to her, the more worried I am. She shows absolutely zero awareness I’ve entered the room.

“Tessa, why are you sitting on the floor?”

Nothing. She doesn’t even twitch. Carefully, I move closer to her. That’s when I notice the pocketknife in her hand and the cuts on her other wrist.

“Jen,” I scream.

This seems to rouse Tessa. She slowly lifts her head, as if she’s been drugged, and blinks as she becomes more aware. She sees where I’m looking and starts pulling down the sleeve of her shirt.

“What are you doing?” I demand, and reach for her arm.

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