Page 47 of Fractured Loyalties
Or maybe I just want him again.
I sit down on the toilet lid, wrap my arms around my knees, and let the tremors run through me until they slow.
My phone vibrates on the counter, the screen lighting up my name. For a second, I hope it’s my mom. Maybe she finallydecided to check in, to remember that I exist beyond dressing me up like her little doll. But nope, it’s just Tess.
Tess: Party moved to the pool if you want to join!
A scoff escapes from my throat. I don’t want to join. I want to disappear.
I scroll through my contacts, finger hovering over the cause of all my misery. Well,mostof it, anyway.
Roman.
The thought of him coming to get me fills me with something like nausea, but also something else, something that makes my legs tense and my heart bang against my ribs. I shouldn’t text him. I shouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
But I do.
My thumbs move on their own, as if they belong to a version of me that’s more honest, more desperate.
Me: Can you come get me? I’m at 1422 Hillcrest Drive.
Nineteen
ROMAN
I ignorethe vibration of my phone against my thigh, as my father’s eyes bore into my skull. “I have it handled. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“You created a false trail of a runaway,” my father says through gritted teeth. “What good do you think that would do?”
“It created a distraction,” I say with a shrug. “I don’t know. It is what it is—and it keeps you from pinning me for murder.”
My father lets out a heavy sigh and runs his hand over his face. I flip my phone over to see who thinks they need me at the moment.
Oh shit.A text from Ivy is sitting there, unopened.
Ivy: Can you come get me? I’m at 1422 Hillcrest Drive.
It hits like a sledgehammer to my sternum. She never asks me for anything, which means…Something’s wrong.
“Roman.” My father’s voice is sharp. “Are you even listening?”
Oh fuck, was he talking again?
“Yeah,” I say, tucking my phone into my pocket. “But now I have to go.”
He gives me the world’s coldest glare. “What? Are you serious?”
“I have something personal to deal with.” I stand, completely ignoring the way my father continues to stare daggers at me.
“Where are you going?”
I grab my jacket off the back of the chair. “A friend needs me. You know, not every family is as great as ours.”
Robert’s eyes narrow. “At eleven p.m.?”
“Night’s always the time that people struggle with mental health,” I say, already backing through the door. “You wouldn’t know that, since you’re made of steel.”
He waves me off with a bored flick, but I see the offended gears spinning in his head. But by the time he tells Edward to tail me, I’ll be halfway across the city.
