Page 23 of Leave

“That’s enough,” Dad snapped. “Don’t you talk to your mother that way.”

“Yeah, you’ve always gotten on my case to respect Mom,” I said, those tears making it into my voice, “but at what point do either of you respectme?”

Dad gave a long-suffering sigh. “We do respect you, Riley. But you can’t just expect us to be okay with something like this overnight.”

“How long do you need?” I barked, making everyone in the room jump, myself included. “I’ve been trying since I wassixteento get you to love me and accept me—allof me—and you’ve just tried to either ignore or talk me out of being who I am.” I set my jaw and glared at my parents. “You’ve had plenty of time. When you decide that I’m a part of this family—no conditions, and no staying home from church so I don’t embarrass you—you know how to reach me.”

And then, before I lost my nerve, I got up and headed for the door.

My father shouted after me, but he stopped abruptly, and when I looked over my shoulder, I found him staring wide-eyed at Nolan. Nolan didn’t say a word, but his expression was colder than I’d ever seen it. He could be intimidating as hell, and he was using that to his advantage right now.

I touched his elbow. “Let’s go.”

He glanced at me, gave my parents one last frosty look, and then nodded and followed me out of the house.

Mom was crying before we got past the front door. I didn’t hear what Dad was saying to her, only that he was probablytrying to comfort her. It hurt, because even when I was standing up for myself, I didn’t enjoy upsetting my mom. I didn’t enjoy any of this.

Beneath the hurt was a layer of chilly indifference, and beneath that, simmering anger, because I also knew those tears were weapons. If I went back into the living room now, Dad would remind me I’d upset her. Mom would sob and tell me I was her baby and she couldn’t lose me. They’d use her emotions to cut me down to size until I apologized and assured them it was all a misunderstanding and apologized again.

I wasn’t falling for it this time. I didn’t enjoy hurting my mom any more than I enjoyed angering my dad, but I was protecting myself. If no one else was going to be in my corner, then I had to be.

Except someone elseisin your corner.

I snagged a glimpse of Nolan as we headed down the front porch steps. His expression was still icy and full of unspoken anger. He hadn’t said anything, but he’d put my dad in his place with a look. Without a single word, he’d told my dad to stand down when, had I been alone, I’d have been hit with a whole barrage of guilt trips and derision.

Maybe Nolan wasn’t my real boyfriend, but my parents thought he was, and he really did have my back.

Coming here was hell. Bringing you was the best decision I ever made.

At the car, Nolan halted. “Do you want me to drive?”

“No.” I continued around to the driver side. “I’ll be fine.”

I braced internally for insistence that he’d handle it, that I was too pissed off, that—

Nolan got into the passenger side and put on his seat belt.

Thank God. Because I wasn’t as fine as I wanted to be, and I didn’t have it in me to argue about whether I could drive. Which probably meant Ishouldn’tbe driving, but… fuck it.

I pulled out of my parents’ driveway. Glancing at the house in the rearview was a mistake. My family. My childhood home. I worried every fire season that this would be the year everything I’d ever known would be turned to ash. This felt like lighting the match myself. It would all still be standing today, tomorrow, the next day, but there was no going back, so it might as well have burned to the ground.

I swore under my breath as I tore my gaze away.

“You all right?”

“Not really.”

But I started driving anyway, and Nolan didn’t press the issue.

I didn’t get very far, though.

When we were far enough down the road that I was sure we couldn’t be seen from the house, I pulled over. Still gripping the wheel, I pressed my head back into the seat and blew out a harsh breath.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

Beside me, a seat belt clicked. “Put the car in Park.”

I turned to Nolan. “Huh?”

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