Until You (Fall Away, #1.5)(88)

She had to feel me. Even if I wasn’t touching her, she had to feel me.

“I called your dad, because he was going to find out anyway. That goddamn, f*cking video is out there, and I wanted him to hear it from me first. He’s coming home.”

The tension in her shoulders slacked, but her head dropped. Almost like she’d given up.

“I love you more than myself,” I told her, “more than my own family, for Christ’s sake. I don’t want to take another step in this world without you next to me.”

And as much as I hated to admit that, it was true.

I loved my mother and my brother. But if it ever came between the three, I would always pick Tate.

When she didn’t turn around or say anything, I dropped my hand to her shoulder. “Tate.”

But she whipped around, flinging my hand off her body. Her eyes were guarded.

I was still the enemy.

“You have every right not to trust me, Tate. I know that. My f*cking heart is ripping open right now. I can’t stand the way you’re looking at me. I could never hurt you again. Please…let’s try to fix this together.” My voice was cracking, and the lump in my throat got bigger.

“Fine.” She reached into her pocket and took out her phone. “ I’ll play along.”

Play?

“What are you doing?” I asked, narrowing my blurry eyes at her.

“Calling your mom.” She started pressing buttons on her screen.

“Why?”

“Because she installed a GPS tracking app on your Android when she bought it. You said you lost your phone? Let’s find it.”





“School,” Tate almost whispered as she slipped her phone back in her pocket. “It’s at school.”

“Son of a bitch.” My mother tracked me? I guess that explained how she found me the night at the fish pond. “She’s smarter than I thought,” I said more to myself.

So my phone was at school. I left it at the party, so that meant that someone from our school had taken it, and they had it on.

Well, that was dumb.

It still didn’t solve the question of how someone had recorded the video. My phone was playing music that night, but it definitely wasn’t recording Tate and me.

Shit.

I blinked long and hard.

The balcony.

Could someone have been out there filming us?

Now, my gut was twisted with acid, and I was charged.

That was the first time Tate had taken over, tried something new and gotten on top. She was brave and beautiful, and I was rocked.

To think of someone outside on the balcony the whole time, watching us. Watching her.

Refocusing, I looked at Tate, whose eyebrows were arched in. Scared.

But she’s not a runner anymore.

“I see that look in your eye.” I inched closer and spoke quietly. “It’s the look you get when you want to bolt. The look you get right before you decide to stay and fight.”

“What am I fighting for?” she said, her voice cracking.

Us, dammit!

“We did nothing wrong, Tate.”

Her eyes were red from crying, but I knew she wasn’t running away. Her breathing evened out, and her lips settled in a resolved line.

“Let’s go.” She turned and walked to her truck, swinging open the door.

Thank God. I let out a long breath.

Maybe we wouldn’t find my phone. Maybe I wouldn’t be proved innocent in her eyes. Maybe taking her back to school, with all of those eyes, was a huge-ass mistake.

But she was fighting for us again, and that had me so happy I’d dance in public anytime she asked.

“Is…um…is your car safe to drive?” She gestured to the Boss parked behind her truck.

Baby, I don’t even care. I shook my head.

“Don’t sweat it. It gives me an excuse to do more upgrades.”

Her eyes pooled, but she blinked the tears away and took a deep breath.

“Stop at your mom’s firm and pick up her phone,” she instructed, as we’d need my mom’s phone to find mine. “I’ll meet you at school.”





Once I grabbed my mother’s phone and hurried away from her questions, I sped off to school to find Tate in the parking lot waiting for me.

“Are you okay?” I asked, taking her hand, but she immediately yanked it away.

My heart dropped into my stomach.

“Tate.”


She wouldn’t look at me. Her eyes were turned away, looking at the school.

“Don’t ask me if I’m okay.” Her voice was raspy as if she were holding back tears. “I don’t think I’m going to have any idea how to answer that for a while.”

She ran a hand through her long, blonde hair and took a deep breath before walking towards the school.

God, I hope this works.

The more time that passed, the further away from me she got, and whether or not I was guilty, this might be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Tate had had enough.

She was walking the line between fighting back and shutting down.

Coming up beside her, I stayed close but didn’t touch her.

Everyone was still in class but not for long. The bell would ring soon, and we’d be like animals in a cage at the zoo.