Moral Devotions

15| Macy

"Macy?"

I push Declan off of me, the same time he steps back.

I turn my head to see Jonathon standing there with a hurtful expression on his face. "What are you-- No, never mind. I'll see you Monday." His tone is bitter, sending a chill down my spine.

"No, Jonathon, wait." I go to take a step toward him but a warm hand clasps around my own.

"Let him go, Mace. He's angry, he'll say something he doesn't mean."

I look up at Declan with tears in my eyes. "I'm a terrible person."

He shakes his head and cups my jaw again. "No, you're not. You said it yourself, you're scared. You did what you thought was best. Let me take you home, we can talk there."

I just nod.

Declan heads inside and pays both bills and tells Barbie to go home-despite her protesting, and daggers sent my way.

"Have fun with my sloppy seconds, babe." She said as she brushed past me.

Declan chuckles. "The funniest part is," he wraps an arm around my shoulders, and tugs me to his side, "we never even hooked up. She fucking dry-humped me in a club without an invitation and told everyone we screwed."

"Sounds like she's desperate to me."

"Did you drive here?"

"No."

"At least he did one thing right." Declan grumbles as he leads me to his truck.

"And what did he do wrong?" A curious brow raises.

Declan smiles. "He asked my girl out."

"Your girl?" I look up at him as my heart pounds against my chest.

"Apparently I gotta have some claim on you, or else guys will keep thinking you're free for all." I snort and cover my nose with my hand. Declan reaches up and pulls my hand down. "I thought I told you to quit doing that."

"Sorry, it's a habit."

"Where'd you pick it up from?" He asks as he opens the door to his already started truck. When I climb inside, it's already warm and cozy and smells like everything Declan.

I shrug. "My mother, I guess."

Declan climbs into the driver's seat and buckles himself in before pulling out of the parking lot. "Are you close with your mom?"

I sigh. No sense in hiding the truth. "I used to be."

"And you're not anymore?"

I shake my head. "I made some poor decisions in high school. Lost all trust with my parents. Then I..." My voice chokes up on its own. "The summer before my Freshman year of college, my sister and I got into a car accident. She's paralyzed from the waist down and had a Diffuse Axonal Traumatic Brain Injury."

"What is that, exactly?"

"It's basically just a bunch of tiny injuries throughout her brain. Most of the damage was to the back of her Corpus Callosum, which connects the right and left brain and is responsible for hand-eye coordination, depth perception, and her eyes working together as one. So, she can't walk and her eyes are a little crossed now. I was driving."

Declan reaches over and entwines his fingers with mine, and gives my hand a squeeze. "You can't blame yourself for something like that."

"Yeah..." I look out the window. "I know."

But the full truth is, I can. I knew what I was doing when I climbed into the driver's seat. I knew the risks I was taking.

"I'm fine." I'd told Ava that night when we left a party.