Page 48 of The Crush
“I amnota kid.”
“—taking advantage of her.”
It’s so loud inside my head.So fucking loud, with a voice that keeps yelling,Go. Go. Go. Go now.
Eva tries again. “Aarón, we need to—”
“Itoldyou I’m not letting him in the house. I shouldn’t even let her in the house when she’s beenlyingto us like this.”
I started this. I didn’t have the fucking self-control to keep myself away. I didn’t do the right thing. “This is on me. I—”
“It isnot,” Isabel says quickly, looking at me with tear-brimmed eyes before she turns back to her family and fires out, “I’m the one who’s been sneaking into his room every night.”
Oh. Fuck.
“Damn it.Enough.” The fact that Eva is swearing now means that shit has truly gone off the rails. “Everyonesettle down.”
“Settle down? Thatson of a bi—”
“Aarón,” my dad warns again, and Isabel’s father pivots his anger in that direction.
“If I find out you knew about this—”
“I knew.”
I glance at my dad, wanting to tell him to take it back, to plead ignorance.
“Youknew?” Isabel’s father asks, past the point of angry, while Eva just looks hurt. “You knew he was putting hands on my daughter? You knew they were together?”
My dad nods. Officially leaving no room for himself to not be dragged into this mess.
“And you didn’tfuckingsay anything?”
My dad looks at Isabel’s eldest brother, not seeming at all bothered by his battered face, before directing his attention to Eva. “They’re adults, and…they should get to make their own choices.”
“No. He isnotgood for her. He is a—”
“I understand you’re upset,” my dad says, his tone making it clear he’s had enough, “but if you say one more word about my son, I’ll make sure you leave looking like yours.”
Isabel’s father takes a step in my dad’s direction and I move to intervene, placing myself as a barrier between both my dad and Isabel. Seeing me in his path, her father seems to decide against turning his threats physical.
“Tadeo, your family and mine are done. You understand?Done,” he says, even with Eva shaking her head at him as he snaps back to Isabel. “Come over herenow. We’re going home.”
Isabel presses herself into my side, and I hold up my free hand as if he has a gun pointed at my head. “She’s not going anywhere she doesn’t want to go.”
He ignores me. “Come homenow, hija, or don’t come home at all. I mean it.”
“Wait, this is—” I start again, but Isabel squeezes my hand and looks up at me, eyes searching mine as everyone starts arguing again.
“It’s all right,” I tell her in a low voice. “You need your home. I’m not…”I’m not worth this.“It’s okay.”
“Now.” Her father is insistent, rushing her when I only want a few more minutes. A few more seconds.I’m not ready.
She glances away from me and before I can stop myself I grip her hand harder, because I know this is it. She looks down at our joined hands then back at me.
“Home,now,” he repeats. “Or not at all.”
Isabel faces her father, and, when she speaks, her voice is strong and steady, regardless of the waver in her step.
