Her Destiny (Reverie #2)(23)
All I want to talk about with her is why she told the cop we were together the night of Krista’s murder and that was it. I’ll hop in my truck, buy a giant coffee or soda at a convenience store and get the hell out of here. Go back home where I belong. In Nowheresville doing nothing.
She brings me a cold water bottle from the refrigerator and I thank her, twisting off the cap so I can take a swig. Reverie settles in the overstuffed chair across from the couch, her expression expectant, her hands gripping her knees as if she needs to brace herself against whatever is about to be said.
“You shouldn’t have talked to the detective,” I finally say, earning an eye roll from her.
“What am I going to say? Leave me alone? Tell him to go?”
“Yeah, absolutely.” I set the bottle of water on the tiny table to my left. “You don’t owe him anything. Tell him to call your lawyer or whatever.”
“I don’t have a lawyer,” she admits softly.
Well, that’s shocking. I’d figured the entire Hale family needed a lawyer after everything that had happened. “I wish you wouldn’t have said what you did to him.”
“All I did was tell him the truth.” She shrugs. “Why didn’t you tell the police you were with me from the beginning?”
“Because I didn’t want you to be involved.”
“I was already involved, from the very beginning I’ve been a part of this but you pushed me away. You never came back for me, Nick. I had no idea what happened.”
“They stuck me in jail, that’s what happened.” I stand and start pacing, fighting off the guilt, the pain, the irritation…all the emotions that are flooding me at once. “They held me for questioning for forty-eight hours. Tried to break me down pretty much the entire span of those forty-eight hours too. By the time they let me out and I went back to your house, you were gone.”
I remember the feeling of rushing to get to her the minute the police released me, my heart racing the entire drive to Hale House. When I got there, the house was dark and quiet, the grounds seemingly abandoned and I knew before I even attempted to knock on the door they were gone.
For good.
“We came back here early. I told you that was going to happen,” she murmurs. “My parents wanted to get us back so they could…take care of legal matters.”
Huh. Yeah, that went real well for them. “You shouldn’t have told that detective about us being together that night, Reverie. I didn’t want to get you involved in this mess. I was trying to protect you.”
“By hurting yourself in the process? That’s the dumbest thing ever Nick, and you know it.” She stands, her cheeks red, hands resting on her hips. “I’m your alibi, proof that you couldn’t have been the one who killed Krista that night yet, you kept your mouth shut.”
“I know, but I didn’t want you involved in this.” I stand too, towering over her, hating how she cowers away from me ever so slightly. “I knew your parents would flip out if they knew we spent the night together and that’s how you became my alibi. I didn’t want to get you in trouble.”
“They weren’t even paying attention to me. They were too wrapped up in their own problems.” She’d shed her coat when she first entered the apartment and she looks damn good in the simple white button-up shirt and black pants. There’s a stain on the shirt though, low on her belly, and the fabric is wrinkled. She’s nothing like the girl I left behind, nothing at all. “I missed you,” she admits.
My heart cracks. “I missed you too, baby. I was climbing the walls trying to find you.”
“I’m sorry. Maybe…maybe it was for the best.” She wraps her arms around herself and holds on, looking small and sad. “Things are so different now, Nick. And so am I. You probably wouldn’t like me anymore.”
I take a step toward her, ready to convince her otherwise. “There’s no way that could be true.”
“I hardly recognize myself. When school first started I went sort of…wild. Going out to parties, meeting boys.”
My muscles tense and I try not to show any outward reaction. “What sort of guys?”
“Jerks who were only looking for one thing. Sometimes I let them…touch me.”
Closing my eyes briefly, I will myself to stay under control. I had no claim on her then, though she’s always been mine. “I don’t know if I want to hear this.”
“It didn’t last that long. I got over my rebellious streak quick.” She laughs but there’s no humor in the sound. “I never heard from you again, you refused to see me when I went to the jail looking for you. My parents were neglecting us…it felt like no one cared about me. So I decided I didn’t care about me either.”
“Reverie…” I start toward her but she holds out her hand, stopping me.
“Don’t.” She shakes her head, her expression forlorn. “I don’t want your sympathy. I snapped out of it quick. I have my brother. I have my friends. I don’t need anyone else.”
Including me? I want to ask but I don’t. She’s hurting. She thinks I abandoned her. I need to convince her I didn’t. Not really.
Yeah, fine I turned her away when she came to the damn jail the day after they kept me for questioning about Krista’s death. The f**king cops encouraged me to go talk to her, probably hoping I’d slip up, but I refused. I wasn’t going to put her through that.