Tragic

Chapter Twenty-Seven: If You Say So

Hunter

Elliot has been acting weird since she got home from practice today. Typically she comes over after showering and does her homework on my bed while I grade papers. Today, however, she's doodling circles on the top of her page and sighing every few minutes. Kind of adorable, but it's driving me crazy wondering what's wrong.

I set my pen down and stand up from the chair at the small desk by the window. I sit down on the bed beside her and gently run my hand down her back. "Are you okay?"

She nods, blackening the edges of her latest creation. I give a sigh of my own and pat her on the ass. "Come on, tell me. I'm a big boy. I can handle it."

Elliot shoots me a skeptical look, but then rolls over onto her side. "Promise you won't get mad."

I hate when people say that. It almost always means that whatever you are about to hear will piss you off. That being said, I already promised to be there for her when she needs me and part of that is not acting like a dick when she tells me something I may not like.

I take a deep breath. "Okay, let me have it."

She sits up the whole way and crosses her legs in front of her. Her eyes remain wary. "I'm serious, Hunter. You can't freak out, and I don't like keeping things from you, so I want to tell you."

My pulse begins to quicken. Since our current situation is still precarious, I'm afraid of what she's going to say.

"I promise."

She laughs once. "Okay, well remember that in a few minutes." She flicks her long, dark hair over her shoulder and meets my eyes. "Holden started a rumor at lunch that Judah got into a fight with my new boyfriend."

My stomach drops a little further. "Do they know who?"

"No," she says.

This time, I breathe a sigh of relief. I reach over and squeeze her shoulder. "Okay, we can handle that. Judah said he isn't going to say anything, and you trust him, right?"

"Right."

She answers automatically, but her tone lacks enthusiasm. Something's not right.

"What else happened?"

She turns her eyes away from me toward the window. "You're going to get mad."

I'm already mad imagining all of the horrible things she could possibly tell me. The fact that she's upset at all right now is reason enough for me to find the person who made her this way and teach him a lesson—but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to take a deep breath and think everything through as it comes.

I grab her hand. "Elle, look at me baby." Her eyes shift back to me, and I bring her hand up to my lips. "Let me fix it, okay? Whatever it is, you should never be afraid to tell me something."

The look in her eyes is desolate and it destroys me. What could have possibly happened today to make her feel this way?

She takes a shaky breath. "I don't want to ruin your life."

My eyebrows pull in, confused by her admission. I tug her closer to me and wrap my arms around her. "What could make you think that?" I kiss the side of her head. "Huh?"

She sniffs like she's been silently crying. "The guys are determined to get to the bottom of what happened to Judah. If they find out..." her voice trails off with a strangled sob. She grips the front of my T-shirt, looking up at me with tears in her eyes. "You could get in serious trouble. Like trouble you can't come back from."