Page 41 of Chase

“Thank you, Mom,” he says when she comes to hug us both. “Though, I would have liked to have told you myself.”

He glares at Tilly, but she’s already moved on and is pouring another glass of wine for herself. Gary, on the other hand, looks beyond embarrassed.

“You’re happy about this?” Dad says to his brother, looking completely unconvinced by the joy and jubilation being cast out by his own flesh and blood. “Wyatt, they’re cousins, how will this look to everyone?”

“They’re not blood-related cousins,” Frankie argues before her husband can even open his mouth to speak. “Besides, who cares what other people think?”

“Relax, big brother,” Wyatt says before shoveling food into his mouth, “no one worries about appearances anymore. Apart from you, Craig. When are you going to learn that you can’t control everything?”

Word has it that Dad and my grandfather didn’t exactly approve of Wyatt’s choice of wife, being that she was American. When it came out that she was unable to bear a child of her own, my grandfather told him he should leave her and start again. Wyatt obviously stayed with Frankie despite the family’s fallout. In my estimation, this makes Uncle Wyatt considerably more respectable than my father.

“Are you coming?” Theo asks, holding out his hand and snapping me out of my reverie.

I look around and suddenly realize I have gotten lost inside of my own head for a while. Everyone is making a move to retire into the living room, and Theo was the only one who stayed behind for me. Figures.

“Where on earth were you?” he asks with a chuckle.

“Oh, er, Izzy world, I guess,” I reply with a shrug. I then make a move to grab his hand before remembering myself and pulling it back again. “Actually, I’m just going to go and get some fresh air.”

I signal to the front door before leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. It shocks him at first, and he begins to smile. That is until he notices the audience behind us. When he turns back to face me, he looks almost disappointed. Doesn’t he realize it yet? Everything about me is fake, especially in front of my family.

“Ok,” he says quietly, “don’t be long.”

Before I can make it to the door, his hand pulls me back, right up close so he barely even needs to move when he kisses me. Kisses me chastely but meaningfully on my lips so I am in no doubt as to how real this kiss is.

“That, Izzy,” he whispers inside my ear so no one else canhear, “that was for you. When it comes to me, Twiglet, everything is for you.”

Chapter 15

Izzy

As soon as I’m outside, I run. I run like I’m trying to escape monsters. I’ve been running ever since Theo left me behind, but now that he’s here, I’m still running. The monsters have changed, mutated into things that live inside my head so I can never escape them. I can only subdue them, and even then, the only way I can achieve that is to stop myself from feeling anything.

The thing that stops me in my tracks is the sheer lack of breath that has me bending over double from the lactic acid now attacking my muscles. I’ve not been this far from the house, where the forest lines the perimeter of the extensive grounds, and the fir trees grow tall and bushy. Beauty in the face of all my ugly emotions. However, seeing as someone was kind enough to leave a bench on which I can privately break down, I decide to collapse in a heap and allow myself to cry. Except the tears don’t come; perhaps they have finally run dry.

“Izzy?” a small, female voice says from behind my huddled body, making me jump out of my skin. “Oh, Jesus, sorry, I didn’tmean to scare you. I just wanted to catch you alone.”

Frankie looks worried, so takes a seat next to me where she clasps her hands over mine. The moment her fingers touch my skin, however, I flinch. She sees it, as well as the goosebumps that are taking over my flesh on a perfectly warm day.

“That bad, huh?” she whispers.

My eyes finally fill with the tears that I had expected moments ago; she can see right through me, to the real me. I look away, suddenly unable to handle her eyes on mine. But she’s not going to let me get away with it that easily, because she takes me inside of her arms and holds me tight. My eyes close of their own volition, if only to release the tears that are now filling them. It all feels too much – Theo, seeing Ethan again, Frankie’s arms and soothing voice – so I dig my nails into my palms to the point of breaking the skin.

“You can stop doing that, Izzy,” she says, lifting my hand to reveal the crimson blood now seeping out of my self-inflicted wound.

“Please don’t be nice to me, Frankie,” I whisper my plea. “I’ve worked hard to resist my emotions, to push them away, but when you and your son are nice to me, it makes it a hell of a lot harder to do.”

“My son loves you, even if this whole engagement is a farce concocted by a desperate old woman,” she says, rummaging around her bag, all the while I look back at her in shock.

“How do you know?”

“Because I helped your grandmother come up with it,” she replies, smiling as she does so, complete with a tissue ready in herhand to pass to me. “As for Theo, well, he needs you just as much you need him.”

“I don’t need anyone,” I argue stubbornly. “And Theo doesn’t need me. I’m more likely to be the last person he needs.”

“Don’t lie to me, Izzy,” she scolds, soft as she sounds, she’s still calling me out on my usual bullshit. “I know you’re battling something deep inside of you, but I also know that when you’re ready to let it out, he will be there for you. As will I.”

“Please don’t be nice to me,” I finally sob, sounding loud and unable to control it. “Please…”

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