Page 117 of Broken Skulls

“I hate this. I miss you,” I say, struggling to reign in my emotions.

When he doesn’t say anything, I snap.

“You know what? You’re the one who made me come back to this world. You can’t abandon me now!” I yell.

“I need to talk to Dirk,” he says shortly.

Dirk warned me about this. He said he might ask to talk to him. I really don’t want to respond the way Dirk told me to, but I have no choice but to trust him.

“Um, Dirk told me to tell you to fuck off and grow a pair if you asked for him.” I cringe as the words leave my mouth. It sounds so harsh.

“Then go get someone else,” he says gruffly.

“Are you saying you’ll talk to anyone but me? Does that mean you want me to leave?”

Again, I hear him sigh. “Elizabeth, you can go anywhere you want in this world. You’re free. Let the club help you get out of this fucking junkyard. Go live someplace beautiful.”

His words pierce my heart, but my soul recognizes his pain. I’m thankful Dirk and I talked about this ahead of time.

“You saved me, Jacob. Not once, but twice.”

Of course he doesn’t say anything. I don’t expect him to.

“You were a boy. There was no way you could have overpowered your father back then. Do you really think your mom would want you to beat yourself up for the rest of your life for what happened that day?”

“I hit you, Elizabeth. I’ll never trust myself around you ever again.”

My head rests against the wall. “Jacob …”

“Yeah, yeah, it was an accident. That doesn’t make it right.”

I jump to my feet. “Well, I see you’ve made your decision. You’re throwing your life away.”

“Maybe I am.”

“Good.”

“Good?” he asks.

I hear the surprise and the sadness in his voice. He doesn’t want me to leave. He wants me to stand by his side no matter what. How do I know? Because that’s exactly how I felt when I was on the other side. We all want someone who stays with us, especially on our darkest of days.

“Because now it belongs to me.”

I march up the stairs, going over to his album collection. My fingers flip through them until I find my favorite one. Something in my heart tells me it was his mother’s favorite too. The corners are bent, and it’s slightly faded. It’s been well loved.

My hands hold it to my chest. “If you’re listening, I could use a little help,” I whisper.

Someone knocks on the door. I jump up to answer it, and smile when I see who it is.

It’s everyone.

They’re here to work on my secret project for Jacob.

I’ve spent my life dealing with everything on my own. I know now that I should have asked for help when I was a teenager. But I’ve grown, and this time I was brave enough to ask.

I open the door a crack, giving Jesse a smile. “I’ll be out in a minute.” I hold up the album. “I just need to give the man I have locked in my basement a little mood music.”

She laughs. “There’s my girl.”

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