Page 106 of Body Language
But God, Niv… why?
Why couldn’t you have just told me?
We could’ve found another way.
I would’ve found another way.
Now I was walking behind two people I couldn’t imagine my life without. The woman I love and the man who brought me into this world, and knowing there was no way my family would ever come back from this.
Hell, I don’t even know ifwecould.
My family would hate me for loving her. And I wasn’t even sure if loving her would be enough after this.
We made it outside and the night air hit me with a slap full of reality. The flashing lights painted everything red and blue, and the moment felt like something out of a nightmare.
That’s when I heard it.
“Niv!”
Hux came running from across the lot, Zejah right behind him. The kid’s eyes were wet, his chest heaving like he’d been crying for a while already. But the second he saw her, saw the blood on her hands and shirt, saw her cuffed and flanked by cops, he stopped dead in his tracks.
And Niv, she broke.
Her whole body caved in, her cries turning into full sobs. Because she knew what that sight was doing to him.
All he saw was blood.
All he saw was his sister like that.
I moved fast, cutting across to him before he could get closer.
“What’s going on?!” Hux demanded, his voice cracking.
“Don’t worry about it,” I told him, grabbing his arm. “Just get out of here—”
“No!” he yelled, jerking against my grip. “I need to talk to my sister!”
He was pulling hard, fighting me, his voice getting louder and more desperate, and the last thing I was about to let happen was him running at the cops and getting himself slammed to the ground.
“Hux, stop—”
“What’s wrong?!” Niv’s voice tore through the chaos. She was crying harder now, twisting to try to see him.
And then it happened.
Hux’s knees buckled and he hit the ground, his palms slapping against the cold pavement. His face crumpled like he’d been holding something in and couldn’t anymore.
Zejah’s scream cut through me like a blade. “We’ve been trying to call you! My sister said your mom overdosed!”
The words punched the air out of my lungs.
Niv froze. And then I watched it hit her. Every ounce of pain, fear, guilt, and love for her mom, all at once. Her cry was the kind of sound you never forget.
It was like the world just… stopped.
The cops still had her arms, still moving her toward the car, but Niv wasn’t walking anymore. She was thrashing, jerking, her voice ripping through the night.
“No! No! No, no, no—”
