Page 45 of Bound By Threads
“She’s broken,” he murmurs.
“She broke us.” I snap.
“I think we broke her first.”
Silence drops between us like a guillotine. I don’t want to have this argument. Not with Elijah, and definitely not now. But the words hang there, poisonous and sharp.
I don’t say it, but we both know what he’s referring to.
The bullying.
I swallow thickly. I don’t want to feel sorry for her. I can’t. If I start feeling anything, I might just remember I loved her once.
I still do, in the worst kind of way, but love can rot, too.
“I’m going to talk to her,” I say.
Elijah’s head jerks. “What?”
“I’m not waiting here for answers, hiding in the shadows like a creep. I’m going to make her look me in the eyes and explain. I want to know why. We deserve to know why.”
“She won’t talk.”
My voice comes out low and cold. “She will, and if she doesn’t, then I’ll make her.”
Chapter23
Lottie
Nothing ever lasts. I should’ve known it wouldn’t.
The quiet. The illusion of control I’d built in my head over the years like armor—dancing under lights, breathing through the pain that threatened to take over every day, becoming Lottie.
It was never going to protect me forever.
I’m walking to class,and the quad is filled with people milling about, waiting for their next class to start, or just talking with their friends.
Elijah appears out of nowhere, grabbing my wrist. He doesn’t say a word. He just storms across the quad, and I stumble after him, ignoring the glances from passing students. Memories assault me, scenes from before when they would do similar, and even then, no one would save me.
The sun is blinding, and it feels like a cruel joke. How could the world be so bright while everything inside me is sinking?
I open my mouth to scream at him to stop, but I knew the moment they found out I was alive, they would demand answers as if they deserve them.
Crew and Roman are already waiting inside as he drags me through the door to an empty classroom. There are empty chairs and a whiteboard smeared with marker that never did wipe off properly. My senses are going haywire, like being in their presence again has set every nerve alight.
The lights buzz overhead. Their breathing is heavy as if they can’t believe I’m really here—I can’t believe I’m here.
The stench of weed and something acidic clings to Crew, who’s standing to the left, Roman’s aftershave that I swear he’s never changed, and the smell of cigarettes… and Elijah, who smells like every bad decision I’ve ever made when it comes to the three of them towers over me from behind like a shadow.
The door shuts behind me with a sharp click, and I have to suppress the urge to flinch. I’m no longer Scarlett, and I’m no longer the broken girl they once knew, even if I still feel as if I am.
I turn, not wanting my back to Elijah, and see him leaning against the locked door as if he’s afraid I’ll bolt, which—fair.
Roman’s standing near the windows, arms crossed, jaw clenched so tight I’m surprised his teeth don’t crack, a storm in his eyes. Crew’s sitting backwards on a chair, hands clenched tightly over the backrest, one knee bouncing rapidly, his eyes bloodshot and manic. His hoodie hangs off his frame like he hasn’t eaten in days. My heart breaks knowing he gave in to the demons he was always so scared of.
And I stand there.
Cornered.
