Page 44 of We Are Yours
“Wear mine instead,” he ordered.
The fabric and scent felt familiar for some reason.
Why?
Like his brother, he read my mind, stating, “You were wearing it the night you passed out on Julius’s bike.”
I passed out on there?
“You don’t remember?”
Did I mouth that, or is he suddenly telepathic?
“Jesus,” he muttered under his breath. “Julius didn’t tell you about the night he brought you here?”
In his defense, I didn’t ask him. I wasn’t ready for the follow-up questions he had every right to ask me when I did.
Perhaps I was finally ready to discuss it, or maybe I just felt compelled to explain myself, wanting him to like me. All in all, I was a nice girl, and I never had anyone hate me before. At least not someone my age.
When I didn’t respond, he did for me. “Well,” he reaffirmed, “you were quite the sight that night and not in the way you are right now.” He waited, contemplating his words, until he stated, “You were covered in blood and looked like you fought your way out of hell. Any truth to that?”
I nodded anxiously, and he nodded warily back.
“By the time Julius drove you here on his bike,” he continued, “you were passed out in his arms. Roland fixed you up, and then you woke up in Julius’s bed two days later. The rest… well, that, you know.”
A desperation filled my heart, making me sick to my stomach.
He didn’t waver, straightaway questioning, “Was it your parents or fosters you ran from?”
Willingly giving him what he sought, I mouthed…
* * *
“Fosters.”
Chapter
Seventeen
Isla
I honestly thought this was only the beginning of his interrogation, and I probably would have told him everything he demanded to know, so I was stunned when he said, “The Uber’s out front,” and led the way.
He opened the front door, gesturing for me to go first. I did, and then he did the same thing with the back door to the Uber. I scooted in, sitting farthest by the window. The ride was quiet, not that I expected it to be anything but.
Despite the silence, my thoughts and emotions were hammering. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for us to get there even though we had to drive through the woods. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Kraven staring out the window, completely lost in thought. I wanted to know what he was thinking and feeling, and what would happen from here. Where we went from here, I suppose, and I wasn’t talking about physically.
Since we were driving through darkness, it was hard to see where we were going. Branches scraped the top of the car as it made its way down a dark and narrow road. The headlights only illuminated so far in front of us, making the night creepy and inviting all at the same time.
For a second, I thought we might have gotten lost, but suddenly, a huge house appeared in the middle of nowhere. Rows of cars lined the grass and gravel. I could hear the rock music blaring through the party’s sound system, beating against the windows of the Uber.
People were everywhere, and most of the girls were dressed in skimpy outfits despite the cold outside.
The driver pulled up to the front of the house, announcing, “We’re here.”
Kraven glanced back at me, demanding, “Stay close.”
Something about the way he relayed it made my stomach churn. Though it was the moment he reached for my hand and grabbed it that the same spark of electricity from earlier occurred the second we touched.
