Every Other Weekend(112)

“Uh, yeah, he can. Do you even care what you put my dad through last night? I mean, do you?” He broke off with a note of disgust that made me flinch. “Adam and our dad were starting to make progress and in one stupid night, you destroyed all that. You deserve this. Adam, too. But our dad didn’t.”

My heart took the hit from his words and pain lanced through me. “I’m sorry,” I said. “Please don’t be mad at Adam about this. Something happened last night and I didn’t know who else to go to. You have to tell your dad it wasn’t Adam’s fault.”

Jeremy sighed. “Yeah, it was. Unless you physically prevented him from going home last night, it was his fault. Whatever excuse you try to come up with makes Adam look cowardly as well as stupid. Trust me, stupid is plenty.” Then he walked back to the door and opened it. “You don’t have anyone to blame but yourselves.”

Tears spilled over onto my cheeks. No, I thought. That can’t happen. I can’t lose him and ruin everything he wants. I was already on my feet, striding toward the door as if Jeremy had opened it for me.

“What do you think you’re doing? I told you he’s grounded. He can’t see you.”

“I need to talk to your dad.”

“Yeah, that’s a bad idea.” Jeremy stretched his arm across the door, barring me when I stepped forward.

When I didn’t relent, he sighed again and dropped his arm. “I’m also supposed to tell you that Adam’s waiting for you on the balcony.”

I didn’t stop to yell at Jeremy for withholding that crucial bit of information. It was just another thing that didn’t matter. Instead I shoved him into the hall and slammed the door before running to the balcony.

“Adam?” I couldn’t lean far enough out to fully see into his balcony, but I heard him perfectly.

“I’m here.”

I let all the air out of my lungs, the still-freezing temperature turning it into fogged clouds. “Your brother just told me.”

“I figured he would be less than forthcoming. I had my doubts about him telling you at all.”

“He’s pretty mad.”

“He’ll get over it.” Adam’s hand crossed over the railing in front of me, and I covered it with my own.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.”

“You don’t even know what you got in trouble for,” I said.

“It was for you. That’s all I need to know.”

My heart swelled, then shriveled in the space of a single heartbeat. I lifted my hand free and clutched my elbows tight to my chest. “I did something stupid last night.”

“I was there,” Adam said. “I have the frostbite to prove it.”

“No.” I shook my head. He was trying to help me, even then. I owed him more than the teasing excuse he was trying to give me. “I did something before that.”

He already knew that, or he at least knew something.

“I went somewhere I shouldn’t have, and something happened.” I gagged on the memory of Guy’s hands on me, his mouth... My stomach twisted and would have emptied itself if there’d been anything in it. “I’m not this girl. I’m not this stupid. I don’t know why I kept going back. It was so stupid, because I knew. I kept lying to myself because I—I don’t know.” I went on like that, my words becoming vaguer and harsher as I spoke. “And I’m sorry I texted you like I did. I couldn’t think of anyone else.”

Adam was silent for a long time. A really long time. Too long. “Are you hurt?” he asked at last.

“No.” My voice was so quiet that wouldn’t have carried to him if he was even an inch farther away.

“Are you safe?”

I told him I was.

And then Adam said something that made me flinch. “Jolene, where did you go?”

I didn’t answer, because we both knew my options had been limited. It had been late; there had been a blizzard. And he was smart. He figured it out between one heartbeat and the next.

“What did he do?”

I didn’t even try to lie.





   ADAM

When I got back inside my bedroom, I felt frozen solid. My legs didn’t move right and my chest ached. Even after the warmth from the heater soaked into my bones, I still felt that way.

Dad was on the phone with Mom. He must have been pacing outside my door because I could hear him perfectly.

“Yes, all night, I saw them myself... I agree... Sarah, I’ve already talked to him, but he isn’t saying much... Yes... He’s in his room... Nothing, he says, but would he tell me? Not yet, but I will. I’ve never actually seen her father, but I’ll get in touch with him somehow...”

I almost laughed. Jolene’s dad wasn’t going to care, assuming my dad could find him. Jolene hadn’t even seen him in months. Fire suddenly raced through my muscles and my hands formed into fists.

“Now’s good. Jeremy’s here... We can meet somewhere if you’d rather I not come to the house... Okay. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.” A fist knocked on my door. “Adam?”

I opened it.

“I’m going to the house to talk with your mom. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but you’re not allowed to leave this apartment, do you understand me?”