Page 39 of Forever Yours

Fallon scoured the room with a don’t-fuck-with-me glare. “If you live here or are a pledge, grab a trash bag from the kitchen and start cleaning this shit up.”

Everyone but me, Fallon, Julien, Jayson, Ryder, and the girl scattered.

“E,” Julien said again.

I ignored him.

“Do I even need to ask?” I said to Ryder.

“Probably not,” he replied.

The headache that had been gradually fading came back with a vengeance.

“Elijah,” Julien tried again, using my first name instead of E.

The irony of the moment wasn’t lost on me. He and I had played this scenario out before at Nate’s party when Julien saw Jessi sitting on my lap. Then, it was me saying his name repeatedly while he ignored me.

I sighed.

“Are you alright?” I asked the girl.

She was clearly shaken up and looked like she had been crying. Her hands trembled when she looped a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

“Yeah. Thanks. They’re twins?”

“Unfortunately,” I replied, and it made her almost smile. With a calm I absolutely did not feel, I asked, “Can you tell me what happened?”

She tucked another strand of hair behind her other ear and nodded. “Yeah, uh, sure. They, um…” She warily looked over at Julien and Jayson. “I really don’t know, honestly. They kept saying someone’s name.”

“Liz,” I supplied, and Ryder recoiled at hearing her name.

“Yeah, that’s it. And, um, one of them grabbed me and tried to kiss me, I couldn’t tell you which one since they look the same. Then the other one tried to grab me, saying he couldn’t believe I was back and how much he missed me. Then this guy,” she said, looking up at Ryder, “pushed them off me, then they started fighting. I’m sorry. I know I’m not making any sense.”

Trying to reassure her, I said, “Thank you. I’m so sorry they scared you.”

She sniffled. “It’s okay.”

It clearly wasn’t by the way she wrapped her arms around her waist, like she was trying to hug herself.

I aimed my anger at the two idiots on the sofa, and from the look on Julien’s face, he knew I was about to lose my shit with him and kept his mouth shut. Jayson, on the other hand, stared at the girl with glassy eyes. He was clearly drunk. So much for promises to do better.

Trying to bring some levity to put her at ease, I held out my index finger. “I’m Elijah. Nice to meet you.”

“Patricia, but everyone just calls me Trish.” She touched her finger to mine, her smile a little bigger than before. It made her appear younger.Muchyounger.

An uneasy niggling settled in my gut as I took a good long look at her. Her face. Her makeup. The clothes she was wearing.

Oh, hell.

“Trish, how old are you?”

Her light brown eyes widened, and she nervously glanced around the room before staring at the Randy’s Custom Auto logo on my shirt.

“Fifteen,” she whispered.

I thought it couldn’t get any worse. I was wrong.

With my head ducked between my knees and my hands covering my head, I closed my eyes and drifted away. I just felt done… broken. Emotionally spent.

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