Mended

5

Izzy's POV

I paced around Ethan's apartment, my gaze sliding to the clock every time I faced it. I could feel multiple pairs of eyes glued to the back of my head, yet I ignored them as anxiety caused the tightness in my chest to spread to the rest of my body with every passing second.

Every part of me felt like it was coiled up, ready to burst at any given moment now. The walls felt too close, every sound felt too loud, and every minute had felt like an hour ever since Ethan had stormed out the door.

As soon as that door had slammed shut, I'd been ready to run after him, but Elijah had stopped me before I could get far. And no matter how much I'd protested and tried to convince everyone to go after him, they'd all said that he needed to want to come back to us by his own free will. Reluctantly, I'd managed to agree.

"Bella," Elijah's calm voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I halted, my attention sliding over to where he lounged on the couch, his dark gaze never leaving mine. "You've been pacing all day. Why don't you come and sit down now?"

My spine locked up as I narrowed my eyes at him. "How are you so relaxed right now?" I said through clenched teeth, taking in the way he was sitting back like he didn't have a single care in the world. His left arm was thrown across the back of the couch, and nothing about his nonchalant demeanor expressed that he felt any worry right now. My attention swiveled over to Kaiden, who was sitting on the other couch, his gaze glued to his phone. He glanced up when he felt me staring, raising his eyebrows in question. I bristled. "And you! Am I the only one losing my mind right now?"

Elijah released a deep sigh and I turned back towards him. He leaned forward on the couch, resting his elbows on his thighs. "We're all worried," he told me. "But we also know that he'll be back when he wants to. Nothing you can do about that."

I scowled. "Maybe I can't, but you can," I snapped. "Don't you have the ability to snap your fingers and send people after him? You always did it to me?"

He rolled his eyes and Kaiden chuckled. "If I hadn't sent my men after you all the times that I did, you wouldn't be here right now," he reminded me. "Do I need to remind you of all the dumb situations you've gotten yourself into in the past?"

"Dumb situations I've gotten myself into because of you," I remarked, arching my eyebrows as I crossed my arms over my chest. "Or did you forget about the part where you lied to me about almost everything for basically the span of my entire life?"

Elijah's lips twitched. "Don't be dramatic," he said smoothly. "It wasn't your entire life."

I opened my mouth to reply, but another voice interrupted me before I could. "Only about half of her life, right?" Caleb commented as he strolled into the living room, holding three beers in his hand. "No big deal."

"Thank you, Caleb," I muttered as Elijah scoffed.

"It wasn't half. She's not even twenty yet," he argued, taking a beer from Caleb. I watched as Kaiden took the other one and Caleb sat down on the couch next to Elijah.

I scowled again. "Hey, where's mine?"

"How old are you again?" Kaiden questioned, taking a swig from his bottle as he leaned back in his seat.

"Older than all of you were when you started drinking," I pointed out and he smiled, shaking his head. Sighing, I reluctantly trekked over to the couch and plopped down next to Kaiden. My feet were starting to ache and Elijah was right, Ethan did what he wanted, when he wanted. There was nothing I could do to bring him back.