Page 58 of Unleashed
I clear my throat then lean against the door. “What are you doing here, Anthony?”
“I’m worried about you. You’re not answering any of my calls or texts. You’re not using the money I send you.”
“Keeping an eye on my accounts now, too? I’m pretty sure that’s against the law.”
“Stop. Don’t be like this.”
“Be like what? Independent? Angry? Take your pick.”
“All I want to do is help you.”
“By going to my mother behind my back? Speaking to my doctors before I’ve even had the chance to? Checking my bank accounts? That’s not help, Anthony. That’s control.”
“No, it’s not.” His grip tightens on the cane, knuckles whitening. “It’s making sure you’re safe. Do you know how many nights I sit up, wondering if you’re eating, if you’re sleeping? You’re working double shifts at some cheap fucking coffeeshop to get by, Everly.”
“Anthony, stop!”
“Can I come in? Can we just sit calmly and talk this out?”
“No,” I snap then lick my lips, take a breath. “I just…” I place a palm on my forehead then find his gaze. “You have always been my best friend, and there will always be a bond between us that I’ll never have with anyone else, but?—”
“Why are you so angry with me?”
“Because you betrayed me!”
“Betrayed you?” Confusion sets between his brows.
“You knew how I felt about controlling my own life. You were there for years, watched Michele and my mom take that from me. You saw what it did to me, and now,” I almost choke on a breath, “now I find out that that’s exactly what you’ve been doing all this time. For God’s sake, Anthony. You knew I was living with Molly, where I work. Can’t you see what you’re doing?”
“But when he does it, you have no problem with it?”
“Because he wasn’t there when I cried myself to sleep at night,” I erupt, heart twisting. “He wasn’t there to see what my stepdad and my own mother were doing to me. He wasn't there for every mental breakdown I had, trying to build myself back up, recovering from the abusive manipulation of it all. He wasn’t there…you were!”
Anthony’s jaw works, his mouth dragging into a hard line as he wipes a hand across it. “At least I’ve never lied to you.”
The tears sting sharp, but my voice slices anyway. “At least he never pretended to be something he’s not.”
His shoulders drop, the fight in him leaking out. For the first time in so long, Anthony looks less like the soldier he’s trained himself to be and more like the boy who used to sneak into my room with Pop-Tarts when Michele was yelling.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Everly,” he says softly. “I never have. You’ve always been home to me.”
“Then why does it feel like you’re the one cutting me down?”
“I’m not.” His voice cracks. “I’m just trying to hold you together, even when you don’t see you’re falling apart.”
“Have you ever thought that maybe I don’t need you to hold me together?” I take a step closer. “That maybe all I need from you is to be my friend.”
“That’s what I’m trying to be.”
“Then give me space.”
“I’ve tried. It’s been weeks, months. I’ve tried to give you space, but then I heard your messages, how alone you sound, and I couldn’t?—”
“What?” For a beat, I don’t understand. “What messages?”
His mouth works, like he’s searching for a way to take it back, but the guilt in his eyes says everything, and my blood runs cold.
“What…messages?”
