“Sounds good… God, I can’t wait until Monday when everything goes back to normal.” I peer over my shoulder as the door dings and someone walks in. When I see who it is, my sullen mood sinks further. “And the day just keeps on getting shittier.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Braiden just walked in.” I don’t know why I’m so surprised. Mapleville is a small town. I should have known there was a chance I’d cross paths with him.

“Huh? Where the hell are you?”

“At a gas station.” I rise from the chair as Braiden spots me.

He freezes in front of the cash register with a deer in the headlights look on his face.

“Don’t hang up on me,” Greyson begs anxiously. “Just walk out of there, okay? Seth, are you listening to me?”

“Yeah, I’m listening.” I keep my eyes on Braiden.

He looks the same; tall, muscular, with brown hair that matches his eyes. I’m sure he’s still fucking hot, but right now all I can see is the anger he had in his eyes when he tried to break me.

My pulse is racing so quickly I feel like I’m one step away from dropping dead. Somehow I manage to put one foot in front of the other and move toward the door.

Braiden glances over his shoulder at the cashier, who’s reading a magazine and chomping on her gum. He relaxes a bit as he turns around and gives me a tense smile. “Hey.”

My scars pulsate as I force words out of my mouth. “Are you serious?”

His expression drops. “Huh?”

“You seriously think you can speak to me?” I wrap my fingers around the door handle. “You have no right to talk to me anymore. You made that decision six months ago.”

“Seth, if you’d just talk to me, I could explain myself. What happened… I didn’t have a choice.”

“Everyone has a choice,” I snap. “You made yours the moment you showed up in that truck with your so-called friends. And trust me, I regret my choice of not reporting what you guys did to me to the police. ”

“What the hell did you expect me to do? Tell them the truth?” he hisses, stepping toward me.

I raise my hand in front of me. “I’m not going to get into this with you. I don’t want to talk to you, see you, or have anything to do with you ever again. I’m so over it.”

“Seth,” he starts, but I don’t want to hear it.

Turning my back on him, I push open the door and step into the flurry of snow drifting from the sky.

“Are you still there?” Greyson asks as I hike across the parking lot.

“Yeah, I’m still here.” My breath puffs out in front of my face. “I’m headed back home to get my stuff and hit the road. Stay on the phone with me for a little while, though, okay?”

“Of course,” he says like it’s the easiest thing to do. “You know I’m always here for you.”

I shuffle through the snow toward the neighborhood where I grew up. “I know you are.”

Even after all the drama of the day, I manage to smile as the truth warms all the cold around me. It may feel like I’m completely alone right now, but I’m not. Callie was right. I do have people in my life that love me for who I am.

Chapter 13

Greyson

“What’s with the frown, my beautiful little boy?” My mother is melting butter in a pan on the stove as I enter the kitchen, preparing to cook her favorite brownies.

Every room in the house has its own unique style, and the kitchen is no exception. Painted on the far wall is a mural of the beach. The rest of the walls are blue to match and the cupboards are yellow like the sun. It’s a little strange, but somehow it works.

“Nothing.” I move beside her and stare at the sizzling butter. “Need any help?”

She glances up from the pan with worry on her face. “Greyson, don’t lie to me. I can tell when there’s something bothering my little boy.”

“I wish you’d stop calling me that.” I lean against the counter. “I’m almost nineteen.”

“Oh, the big nineteen.” She holds up her hands in front of her, mocking me. When a laugh escapes me, she lowers her hands, satisfied. “Just so you know, you’ll always be my little boy, even when you’re ninety.”

I don’t point out that she more than likely won’t be around when I’m ninety, since it would lead to a very long story about how she’ll find me in her next life.

She picks up a spoon and stirs the bubbling butter. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

I open the cupboard, grab a glass, and fill it with water. “It’s Seth. That guy I told you about? Some stuff happened while he was at home and he left to go back to school early.”

I take a sip of water, trying not to think about Seth enduring the rest of the holiday alone on campus, trying to work through what happened by himself. It hurts thinking about him being alone after all that horrible shit happened while he was at home.

“I hope everything’s okay.” She reaches to turn down the temperature of the burner.

“I’m not so sure that he is, even though he says he’s fine.”

“Can I ask what happened?” she asks, wiping her hands on a towel.

I blow out my breath and recap all the details that I know. By the time I’m finished, I feel sick to my stomach, thinking about what he must be going through right now and how badly I wish I was by his side.