hømetøwn

• : / twenty eight / : •

"I'm going to fucking murder him."

It took several days for him to pull the full story out of me. All the sharp edges and broken fragments. All the dark aching pieces I didn't want to revisit. But now the gig was up. He knew. He knew everything.

"Brendon --"

"No, I'm serious, I'm going to freaking murder that manipulative prick."

We were sitting across from each other on his bedroom floor. My head ached. Brendon's eyes were blazing.

"Listen to me."

He leaned forward, capturing my hand in his. I couldn't look him in the eye.

"You were just a kid, Lake. You never meant for that to happen. It wasn't your fault, okay?"

A raw hotness dripped down my chest. I hated when people said that. When they told me it wasn't my fault, even though it was. When it so undeniably, inescapably was. I may have been a kid. I may not have meant for it to happen. But it still happened. And it was still because of me.

I pulled my hand away.

"He was just...he was manipulating you. I hate to tell you that, but he -- that thing with the kiss, or the condition, or whatever. That was so wrong. That was so, so wrong," said Brendon.

"I know it was."

"Connor is such a...a..." His eyebrows twisted downwards as he struggled to find a word that was vile enough.

"I know," I said.

I fidgeted. He kept going.

"And the fact that he has the nerve to bring this back up, to torment you about this and -- and make you feel threatened like this -- I -- I -- I'm going to fucking kill him!"

"It's okay," I said.

He looked at me like I'd gone crazy. I didn't blame him.

"Okay, yeah, it's not," I said. "It's definitely not okay. But...there's not anything he can do to me except remind me of the past. Right? He wouldn't..."

"I wouldn't put anything past him."

His words sent a chill through me.

"That thing with the matches...and him calling you, texting you, leaving messages outside our door. Angie randomly showing up. Something's gonna go down. I don't even know how he knows you're here. But I think he's planning something, something really bad, Lake."

"That much I've picked up on," I said. "And Brendon...I think I know how he tracked me."

"I've been thinking about that too. It must be --"

"Angie," we said in unison, and grinned at each other.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah. Because she hacked into my phone way back when. Obviously she could've hacked into yours and tracked it. And if she's buddy buddy with Connor..."

"Exactly."

Even though it does nothing to solve the problem, it feels good to have some sense of understanding.

Brendon stood up and offered me his hand. "You should probably be getting into work soon. We've got some cinnamon toast crunch in the pantry. You should probably eat something before you go."