Sweet Rome (Sweet Home, #1.5)(86)

I knew she was right, but even spending a day apart from my girl, without hearing her voice, was going to kill me.

Fuck. How did it all go so wrong?

I couldn’t help but think of my folks and what they’d done. Year and years of their abuse flashed before my eyes and I hated myself for never fighting back. I wanted to hurt them, just like they’d hurt me, hurt Mol… our f*cking baby! My palms felt like they were on fire and my hands curled into fists.

“Rome?” Ally said nervously.

“I can’t go!” I shouted, Ally cautiously stepping back across the room. “I need to find my folks. They need to be held accountable for what they’ve done!”

“And where you gonna look?”

“I don’t know. Everywhere. I can’t just do nothing. They’ve taken everything from me… Everything!”

Ally moved right in front of me, panic all over her features. “Rome, I understand the need for justice, I really do, but be logical. Let the police do their job. They’ll be found and dealt with in the right way.”

“Al…” I whispered, unable to find my voice.

“Promise me. Don’t let them ruin your life anymore. You go after them, and you’ll end up in trouble. I know you Rome, you’ll lose it.”

“Goddamn it, Al!” I complained, but slumping my shoulders, I reluctantly nodded my head. “Okay, we’ll go to Birmingham but… let’s go now, before I change my mind.”

Ally tentatively placed her hand on my shoulder. “We’ll get our bags packed and get straight on the road. I’ll drive.”

I stood numbly and reluctantly left Mol’s bedroom, following Ally to her room while she got her stuff together. Everywhere I stood felt suffocating, so I stepped out on the balcony to think. It was the wrong choice; it was out here where Mol and I had really hit it off. It was the beginning of us.

After about ten minutes, there was a panicked knock on the door, and Lexi and Cass ran in, their faces dropping when they saw me standing outside, looking at them blankly.

“Hey, Rome. We’re sorry. We didn’t know you’d be in here,” Lexi said. I didn’t reply, just turned away again to stare out at the trees once more.

“Where’s Molls?” Cass whispered, trying to be discreet, but her thick Texan accent sounded like a foghorn in the quiet room.

“Gone,” Ally whispered back, causing all my muscles to tense.

“Jesus! Gone where?” Cass asked, her own anger seeping through her words. “Wherever it is, we need to go and get her! Now!”

“Too late, Cass. Looks like she’s gone back to Oxford, caught a flight outta here earlier tonight, hitched a ride from the hospital with the professor,” Ally informed her, and for the first time that night, I heard her own tired sadness leak through.

Someone sniffed, and then Lexi’s soft, broken voice cut in. “Poor Molly, what must she be feeling? I want her back where she has friends. I want to hold her, comfort her, and tell her everything will be okay. No wonder she left. How’s she expected to cope with everything that happened?”

“With me!” I screamed, almost involuntarily, and whipped to face our shell-shocked friends. Lexi’s heavy black makeup was smudged down her face, her bottom lip trembling as she stared at me, eyes wide.

“I’m sorry, Rome, I—”

“She had me!” I shouted again, approaching them furiously. Ally moved before me, trying to stop me with her hands flat on my chest. I cast her aside, yelling over her shoulder. “We were meant to get through all of this shit together! She promised me, over and over! I’m so f*ckin’ mad at her! You all stand here crying, but she ran out on you too. She left all of us! She’s almost twenty-one and she still runs when shit gets tough! She should have f*ckin’ stayed, stayed and got through our baby’s death with me!”

Lexi and Cass stood rooted to the spot, tears streaming down their faces. I actually felt some semblance of guilt seeing Cass reduced to a weeping mess. But I was pent up with rage, stuck in f*cking limbo, unable to see past my own grief.

The door burst open, and Jimmy-Don and Austin stepped in. Austin glared at me as Jimmy-Don wrapped Cass in his arms, eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he registered the scene. Austin pulled Lexi beside him, cupping her face, then turned to look at me, mouth tight. He was pissed at me too?

Perfect.

“Rome, you need to calm the hell down and stop ripping on the girls,” Austin said calmly, but I could hear the heavy threat in his voice.

“Fuck off, Austin. You have no idea what I’m going through,” I snapped, moving to walk away.

His already dark eyes seemed to blacken even more, and he grabbed my arm. I looked down at his hand wrapped around my bicep and clenched my jaw.

Austin watched me, lurching back slightly, but hissed, “You’re right, I don’t, none of us do, but don’t give Lexi shit because Molls left you, okay?” That caused me to pause, and Lexi lowered her head in embarrassment, avoiding my gaze.

Whatever. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass as to what was going on between those two right now.

Ripping my arm free, I looked to Ally and asked, “You ready?”

She nodded, exhausted, and addressed the rest of our friends. “We’re going to my momma and daddy’s early. Have a nice Christmas, y’all, and we’ll catch you when we get back.” She hugged each person tightly, but I just pushed past them to the door—I wasn’t exactly full of Christmas cheer.