Inquest

Inquest Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Found

After Lance stomps away to go clean himself off, Milo’s hand drops from my back and he does a little stomping of his own. Right out of the school. I’m confused, repulsed, and scared, but I know I have to follow him. My limping half-run hurts horribly. I push the pain away and barrel through the doors. Milo is halfway to the football field. I call out to him, but he doesn’t turn around. When I cross onto the grass the rubber tip of my crutches sinks into the soft soil, yanking the crutch out from under me and sending me sprawling to the ground.

The heated string of curses that flies out of my mouth is enough to stop Milo. He walks back to me slowly, but doesn’t help me up. Anger surrounds him like a storm cloud. Guardian or not, he could have passed for one given his build, stance, and murderous glare. I can’t help shrinking back into the grass just a little. He saw everything. There is no doubt in my mind that he saw the kiss. It’s a miracle he stopped at punching Lance in the face.

“Milo, look, I know you’re mad,” I start.

His face is impassive but he can’t fool me. “Don’t do that to me, Libby,” he demands. “Don’t sift through my emotions like game pieces you can twist and play with. You know I can’t block you. The least you can do is keep out of my head.”

Something about what he’s saying hits me as wrong. It will have to wait, though. “You’re pissed at Lance. I get that, but…”

Bitter laughter explodes from his chest. “Lance? Sure, I’d like to punch his pretty face a few more times, but…” He doesn’t finish because his jaw tightens too much to let any more words out.

Realization hits me right in the gut. “You’re mad at me?”

“What? You think I shouldn’t be?” he scoffs.

“I…” I didn’t ask Lance to do any of what he did. It wasn’t my fault. But I can’t make myself argue with him. Not with the guilt swirling around inside of me.

“What were you even doing with him, Libby? I get out of class to come find you and make sure you were able to take your pain medication, and you’re standing in the hall making out with your ex-boyfriend! Why the hell would I be mad about that?” His hands fly up then smack down on the top of his head.

“I wasn’t making out with him!”

Milo rolls his eyes. “Right, right, he kissed you. There’s a huge difference.”

His sarcasm infuriates me. I yank my crutch out of the ground and get myself back to my feet on my own. “He did kiss me! Did it look like I was kissing him back? You should know that if I’m enjoying a kiss I do a little more than stand there with my hands at my side.”

“Well, you certainly weren’t trying to get away from him,” Milo accuses.

“I was in shock, for crying out loud! The last time I saw Lance, he was glaring at me and trying to incite riots against me. He caught me completely off guard!”

Milo stalks a few feet away from me and hangs his head. “But you wanted him to say all that stuff, didn’t you.”

“Yes, I did,” I admit, “but I wanted him to say it the night of my Inquest. Now…it doesn’t matter what he says now. It doesn’t change the past few months.”

“You didn’t enjoy hearing him say he’s still in love with you and begging you to take him back? You can’t honestly tell me that didn’t affect you at all.”

Managing anything even remotely romantic while tethered to crutches is impossible, so I have to make do with limping over to him and laying my head on his chest. “The only part of me that enjoyed that conversation was the vindictive part that has been begging me to punch him for leaving me in the first place.”