Blindness(64)

I see Cody lunge toward me, and I flinch when Jessie grabs him. He’s yelling at her, and then he says something that makes her slap him in the face—hard. She doesn’t give him anything more after that, and she’s marching back to me, reaching for my hand, while he stands in the distance behind her, his hand flat against the place where she struck him. When she gets to me, she whisks me around and finds the key to the front door.

“I know it’s hard, but don’t look at him. He doesn’t deserve you right now, and he needs to know what that feels like,” she says.

“What do you mean?” I say, part of me worried that something’s wrong—that Cody’s fallen into drugs, like Gabe once did.

“Charlie, please trust me on this, and just don’t…” she says, as she pushes the door open. I grab her arm, desperate to understand.

“He slept with Kyla tonight. They’ve been hanging out…since he saw her at the concert. And tonight they hooked up. And he’s bringing her to Thanksgiving,” she says, the sharp pain through my heart so foreign, so awful, but also answering the one question I’ve been struggling with since I moved into the Appleton house.

I’ve never really been in love before, and now that I am, I hope I never am again.





Chapter 14: Reasons to Be Thankful





I’m awake hours before Jessie. I sneak downstairs to brew myself a pot of coffee. It’s been days since I’ve slept an honest full night through, and if I’m going to drive to the airport today, I’m going to need to spike my energy.

The sun is long from rising, and the house is the same unnerving quiet that it always is. It’s like I live with ghosts—these fake people that pass through on special occasions. Jim is flying in Thanksgiving night, late, so I doubt Shelly will come out of her room at all today. Trevor says that she always hires a catering company to bring in Thanksgiving, and he told her how many people he was bringing with him, so she already knows how many plates to set.

I load the grounds into the machine and push the button, leaning forward to wait for the water to drip into the pot. It’s funny, I can’t sleep a wink with my head on my pillow, but with my chin propped atop my hands while I stand at the counter, I’m suddenly sleepy.

“You can’t sleep either?” Cody says, his voice caught between normal and a whisper.

I’m not surprised to hear him. I think somewhere inside me I thought—maybe hoped—that if I came down here, he’d find his way to me.

“No,” I say, keeping it short. I’m not really sure what I want to say to him, and I’m not sure I’m ready to be nice.

“Trevor coming in today?” he asks, accentuating Trevor’s name. I get it. He’s reminding me that I have no rights to him—that I’m the one that’s taken. And he’s right. But it doesn’t mean what he did with Kyla didn’t destroy me.

“Yes,” I say, still not turning to face him. I decide to keep the one-word answers up as long as I can; they seem to be keeping me out of trouble.

Cody chuckles lightly, and I hear one of the stools slide out. I shut my eyes, exhausted already from this conversation.

“Pour me a cup?” he asks.

“In a minute,” I say, already pissed at myself for breaking my own code. That was three words, two more than he deserves.

“I’ve got time,” he says. I pull a pair of mugs out from the cabinet and get the milk from the fridge. I turn to slide it over to Cody and realize he’s still wearing the same thing he was when I saw him last night in the driveway. The same clothes he wore to Kyla’s—I bet I can smell her on him, and just seeing the long-sleeved DC shirt is making me sick. I know I’m scowling, so I’m ready when he calls me on it.

“Wow, someone is super pissy today,” he says.

I just smile, a full-grinned fake one, teeth and all. “Why, not at all, Mr. Carmichael. I’m super peachy. I love waking up at five in the morning to have coffee in the dark, while I listen to some smug * talk about the hot piece of ass he got the night before,” I bite. Cody flinches at my statement, and I’m surprised at myself, but glad I affected him. I’m filing this away to share with Jessie later, hopeful she’ll be proud.

Cody’s getting back to his feet, and on instinct, I slide back into the counter so I can see him and escape if I need to. He walks around the island to the coffee pot and pushes the flashing button.

“Coffee’s done,” he says, his smile tight. He reaches for the pot and pours himself a cup. Then he reaches over and offers to pour one for me. I slide my cup at him, flippantly. He smirks and laughs softly, shaking his head while he pours.

“So tell me, little miss perfect…does Trevor pour your coffee for you? Or do you do all the work, waiting on him hand and foot, while he’s off playing powerful-lawyer-man?” Cody says as he reaches up and takes a long, noisy sip of his coffee.

I’m instantly hot with anger. He has no right bringing Trevor into this, especially given everything he’s done for Cody, is doing for Cody.

“I wouldn’t judge Trevor. He’s saving your ass, you know?” I spit back at him, holding my mug under my lips in both hands and blowing on the steaming liquid.

Cody nods at me, setting his coffee down and reaching for the milk now. “You’re right. It’s not Trevor’s fault you’re the way you are. Seems I’ve misjudged two people. Here I thought he was the *, and you were the princess. But turns out he’s a good guy and you’re just a…”