Page 116 of Resist Me

I let out a clipped laugh. “Not once have you cared about anything I do. If Willow wasn’t here, you wouldn’t have even considered it.”

When he didn’t deny it, my traitorous chest constricted. I fought the tears with everything I had, refusing to show this man how much power he had over me. He would just use it against me as another way to hurt me. He didn’t deserve my pain or my love, maybe not even my hate. My dad hadn’t earned a single thing from me. All he did was take- my childhood, my happiness, my ability to look at myself in the mirror most days. My dad. He’d taken him from me too.

“Go home,” I said, turning my back on him. “We don’t need you here.”

Willow took my hand and pulled me closer. “West.” I wrapped my other arm around her and held the back of her head to keep her close.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t want it to be a part of our lives anymore. I just needed a minute to deal with it and move on.”

“You should’ve told me, Willow.”

She pulled back and surprised me by smiling. “You’ve been so happy.”

“Come on. Let’s go home.”

“No, Kai offered to take me already. I want you to stay here.”

“You’re insane. I’m not leaving you alone.”

“She won’t be alone,” Kai said from behind me. “Mom and Dad want to see the apartment anyway.”

“It’s a shit hole,” I muttered.

“Whose apartment?” Eli, Kai’s dad, asked.

“Kai’s apartment,” Savannah told him gently.

“I’m coming with you,” I said.

Willow huffed. “I’m fine, I swear. It just stirred up the past a little and I let myself lean into the darkness. This is your night and I want you to go in there to enjoy it. Go listen to Linc’s speech. He’ll totally be red while he’s up there. The dude is aggressively introverted.”

I breathed a laugh, then grew serious again. “Stay here, then.”

“No, I feel like shit. I’ve been drinking since ten this morning. Go support your man and claim your title as god of Harmon University.”

Even though I wanted to refuse, I knew she wouldn’t give up. There wasn’t really anything I could do about what she felt right now. I could see that she was telling the truth about being okay. It wasn’t new; she’d just cracked open a little. I’d rather be there to make sure she didn’t continue to spiral, but I trusted Kai to do that. It still felt wrong, though.

“Fine,” I conceded. “But I’m leaving this thing early and we’re going to eat a whole gallon of ice cream when I get home.”

She snorted. “Each.”

Finally, I was able to truly smile. Cupping her face with both hands, I looked into her eyes. “I’ve got you. You know that, right?”

“Of course. I’m not afraid.”

“No, because you’re a goddamn badass, Willow Densmore. But you’re not allowed to touch alcohol until you’ve worked through this.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

When she started forward, she stumbled a little. This time, it made me chuckle. It was possible people had a point when they said how alike we were.

Kai pressed his forehead against mine and gripped the back of my neck. “I’m proud of you for choosing to stay.”

I grimaced. “You can keep that to yourself. It made me nauseous.”

He pulled back and looped his arm through his dad’s. “We’re gonna have a whole tour. I’ll show you where West first learned that roaches were into skydiving.”

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