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Because he’s bad.
Like him.
Because they hurt me.
Because they killed my sister.
“Not by choice,” Hugh stated calmly. “Gibsie’s mother married Mark’s father. That doesn’t make them biological brothers.”
A shudder of revulsion rolled through me. “They’re still family.”
“Gibs is my family, too.By choice,” Hugh countered in a frustrated tone. “Does that mean I’m guilty by association, too?”
“Forget it,” I mumbled, blinking away my tears. “Forget I said anything.” Sniffling, I climbed off his lap and retreated to the opposite side of my bed. “He’s your family and I’m just a girl.”
“That’s not true, and you know it, Liz,” Hugh snapped, voice thick and gruff. “You have never been just a girl to me, but I can’t keep having this same fight with you.”
“Then stop coming over and you won’t need to,” I hissed, feeling defensive. “You should leave.”
“Like hell I’m leaving,” he countered, twisting around to glare at me. “Don’t you even think about pulling that stunt on me. It won’t work.”
“What stunt?”
“Pushing me away?” He shook his head. “I’m not leaving, Liz, so quit it.”
“I can’t be with you if you’re with him,” I heard myself shout, tears flowing freely down my cheeks now. “I don’t want anything to do with his family and you haveeverythingto do with them.”
“You don’t need to have a damn thing to do with any of them in order to be with me!” Hugh shouted back, pushing a hand through his hair in obvious frustration. “So just be withme, Liz!”
“I don’t want to be anywhere, Hugh!” I lost all control and screamed. “And I especially don’t want to be in this fucking house!” Pulling up on my knees, I dragged my hands through my hair in frustration and choked out a furious scream.
“No, Liz, stop!”
“My sister’s dead, and my mother’s dying!” Pulling so hard on my hair, a clump came away in my hand, I tossed it away and quickly reached for my shorts-clad thighs.
“Lizzie, please—”
“My father hates me, and I’ve lost all my friends!” Digging my nails into my skin, I tore at my flesh deep enough to draw blood. “I wish I could switch places with Caoimhe!” Ignoring hisprotests, I continued to scream and claw at my skin. “I wish I fucking died that night!”
“No, baby, no!” I felt Hugh’s arms come around me like a vise, rendering me helpless. “Please, Liz, don’t hurt yourself.”
“It’s not fair!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Why did she have to die, Hugh? Why Caoimhe? Why likethat? Whymysister?”
“I don’t know, Liz,” he replied, keeping a firm hold of me. “I wish I had the answers for you, but I don’t. The only thing I can tell you with absolute certainty is that I am glad it wasn’t you.”
“Don’t say that!”
“I’mgladyou didn’t die that night, and I wouldneverwish for you to switch places with Caoimhe. Not in a hundred thousand lifetimes! I pick you every single time, Lizzie Young, because I love you!”
“No, you don’t!” I screamed, trying and failing to escape his relentless hold. “You don’t love me because you can’t!” He was so much stronger than me that I couldn’t break free no matter how hard I tried. “Do you hear me? You fucking can’t!”
“I do, I do,” Hugh continued to whisper over and over, while he fused my back to his chest, my arms pinned to my sides. “I love you, and you can’t make me stop.”
“You’re his friend, not mine!” I lashed out, desperate to prove myself right. Because he would leave me, too. That’s all I knew for sure in this life. Nobody stayed. “You’rehis!”
“I’m yours,” he soothed, voice steady and unwavering while I sounded feral. “I’m all yours.”
“Don’t lie to me,” I warned, feeling my chest heave from the sheer height of panic clawing at my chest. “I can’t take it.”
