Page 12 of Savage Scream

‘Jared and I aren’t a thing.’

Griffin throws his head back, laughing. “Sure. Keep telling yourself that, kid.”

I glare at him, but he ignores me, and I shift my gaze to Aggie, who is trying to hide her smirk.

FML!

Glancing down at my phone, I tap out a message and hold it up so Griffin can read it.

‘Get me the list. I start cleaning house tonight.’

5

JARED

Leaving the hospital yesterday was the best fucking news, but now that I’m home, my mum won’t stop fussing. I have to wonder if this will be like the last time I was in hospital after Mike West, Lexi’s brother, beat me within an inch of my life.

Mum had hovered, fussed, and spoiled me right up until the bruises faded and I appeared normal again, and then she retreated back into her bottles of wine.

I want to ask her why she did that. Why she didn’t think to ask if the invisible wounds to my fucking soul were still healing? If she did, she’d know they will never heal.

I keep those thoughts to myself, though. My mum doesn’t need my selfish crap, and I’m grateful for this brief attention, even if it is starting to grate on my nerves.

I haven’t seen or heard from Dee since she left the hospital with her foster parents on Friday. I sent her a message on Friday night and last night, but she hasn’t responded. I’ve been fighting the urge to send her multiple messages, but I don’t want to smother her, not when we had such an honest moment on my hospital bed.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Dee, it’s that she will be freaking out about the moment we shared. She’s used to being a one woman show. Not needing anyone or sharing her true self.

But now she has, and she’s likely avoiding me, just like I knew she would.

It’s always one step forward and ten steps back with this chick. It should piss me off more than it does. Normally I wouldn’t bother with someone that you have to work so hard with.

But Dee is different. I’m not sure why. It’s just something I feel deep in the centre of my chest. I’m pretty sure she could try to kill me a thousand times, and I’d still pursue her. Still try to break down her walls and hopefully show her that she doesn’t need to be alone. That she can be loved.

Shit.

Love.

That’s a BIG four letter word. Yet it feels like the right word where Dee Porter is concerned.

After Griffin left the hospital on Friday, my mates came back in and parked their arses on chairs for the rest of the day and night. Gaz was quiet and broody, which isn’t that unusual for him, but the heated glares he shot me on occasion told me that this stuff with him not liking me associating with Griffin isn’t over.

I was thankful for my mates’ attention, though. They didn’t even ditch me for Rhys. Sure there were some phone calls, and at one stage, Marcus handed me his phone where I listened to Rhys tell me how glad she was that I was ok, and even told me that Dee was ok, and resting in her room.

That news made me feel a little more at ease, and I instantly felt like shit for being so shitty at my mates and their relationship with Rhys George over the past few months.

After all, I’m beginning to understand what it’s like to be that addicted to another person.

My head is clearer now, and since I spent all of yesterday and most of this morning in bed, I decide to lounge around in the living room, where Mum doesn’t have to make such an effort to come and check on me.

She has the radio on today, something she hasn’t done in a long time, which means she’s doing ok. She shakes her shoulders a little as she cleans to the song playing on the old school station, and I grin.

I really like this version of my mum.

My old man is out in the yard. I can hear him cursing every now and then as he tries time and time again to get the whipper snipper started.

Deciding not to annoy Mum by turning the TV on, I scroll through TikTok with the volume low, chuckling at the ridiculous videos my mate Simon has posted trying to dance.

He’s such a funny fucker.

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