Page 47 of Relentless (The Titans of Founder's Ridge 2)

“Do I look okay?” She yells, spinning to glare at me. “I spent the car ride up here talking circles around Dad, trying to get him to understand.” She steps up to me, “There’s no hope for us right now.”

“So that’s just it, then?” My heart is pounding against my ribs, trying to escape its cage. “Just throwing in the towel? There’s no hope?”

She takes a deep, shuddering breath and looks me dead in the eyes before answering, “Yes.”

“Ivy,” Isaac walks in, eyes narrowing on me, “let’s go.”

“Five minutes.” She says without looking at him.

“Dad and Frank are about to beat each other up, we don’t have five minutes. I sure as fuck don’t trust this asshole to be alone in a room with you.”

“Fuck off,” I seethe, “at least let us say goodbye to each other.”

“Two minutes, Isaac.” She rolls a suitcase across the closet to him before turning to zip up the other one. “Starting as soon as you leave with these.”

He takes them silently but gives her a look saying to hurry up.

“Ives, we can figure something out,” I start to say, but she stops me with her palm over my mouth.

“I’m sorry, Levi. I love you, but we were stupid to think this could work, that we’d get away with it.”

I drop to my knees and wrap my hands around her waist, resting my head on her chest. “Please,” I don’t recognize the sound of my hoarse voice. “Don’t walk out that door without fighting for us.”

She cups my cheeks with her palms and pushes my head back, so she’s looking in my eyes. “I love you so much, Levi. I really do, but I think this is a sign.” Tears slip out of her eyes at the same time that they start to fall from mine. “Maybe you and I need to work on fighting for ourselves, first. Get a clean break from each other, from this place. Figure out how to tell our dads that their visions for our lives aren’t what we want.”

Isaac calls her name from the hall.

“I have to go.” She bends down to give me one last kiss, wiping my tears as she leaves her own. “I love you.” She steps out of my hold, and as she leaves her bedroom, she gives me one last, sad look over shoulder before Isaac wraps an arm around her shoulders and steals her away from me.

I collapse into a pile on the floor of her closet, drowning in her scent. I wonder if she knows she reached in my chest and yanked my bleeding heart out to take back to Connecticut with her. I stay so still on the floor that the motion sensor thinks the closet is empty, and the light goes out.

* * *

I don’t know how long I laid on the floor of the closet, but I have to toss my arm over my eyes when the light comes back on. Light footsteps pad across the carpet, and the smell of lavender and vanilla wafts over to me. Hoodrat slides her back down the island near where my head is and pats her lap. I shift and rest my head on her legs.

“How did you find me?”

“Ivy texted me,” she says as she works her fingers through my hair. “This fucking blows.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll sit here as long as you need,” she says softly, offering silent comfort. “Con and Griff said they’re going to get supplies. Whatever the hell that means.”

Probably booze and weed. Since football is over, I can occasionally smoke a joint again. We stay there on the floor for a while. I stare absently at the ceiling, and she keeps playing with my hair.

Two sets of footsteps enter the closet.

“Get off my girlfriend, asshole.” Connor says with no heat in his voice. “Let’s go to your room and get our drink and smoke on.” He holds out a hand for me and pulls me to my feet while Griff helps Hoodrat.

“Did you get the good stuff?”

“Of-fucking-course,” he says haughty as shit. “Gorilla Glue 4.” He pulls out a bag with four perfectly rolled joints.

We cross the hall and spread out in my room. I light up my joint and toss the lighter to Griff who lights his as well. Con has his hanging out of his mouth, but he’s watching Hoodrat look around my room. She’s never been in here, at least not that I know of. She stops in front of a picture of me and my mom, looking extra close before pulling it off the wall.

“Levi,” she locks eyes with me, “why do you have a picture of my mom on your wall?”

I cough on the drag I just took of my joint. “What?” I manage to croak when I catch my breath.

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