broken // branded sequel // heathers au

four

Veronica's POV

"I need to talk to you." JD whispered in my ear as he walked away from Elody and Ezra. He headed towards our room and I followed him without another choice. The second I closed the door behind myself, he pounced on me. "You just let boys come through their windows!?" He asked loudly.

"No. Just Ezra because I thought him and Elody were only friends." I said, defending myself.

"That's cute, Veronica. If I recall, your parents called me 'Your Friend, JD' for the whole time we dated as teenagers." He replied and I knew he was trying to pick an argument.

"As if you didn't come in through my bedroom window." I replied.

"That's my point!" He shouted at me. "Our daughters are better than boys breaking and entering into their rooms!" He added.

I wasn't sure if it was the intent of his words, but I felt as though he was implying that I wasn't good enough for a boy to come through the door and meet my parents. That the only reason he entered through my window for so long was because I wasn't worth the front door.

"I'm not going to argue with you." I told him, turning to leave but he grabbed my arm and yanked me away from the door.

"I am talking to you." He said.

"Stop it, JD." I replied, my voice lowering. "Don't grab me like that." I said. I was surprising myself with how straightforward I was being about how he was bothering me with his behavior.

"I'm sorry." He apologized and like so many times before, I couldn't tell if it was genuine or just so I shut the hell up.

"If you want to talk about your opinions on Elody's boyfriend in a relaxed way, we can. But I'm not going to be screamed at." I said.

"That isn't what I was trying to tell you. It was what I was starting with." He insisted.

"So you have other issues with how I've parented?" I asked him.

"No. I was trying to tell you something about Elody." He sighed, clearly getting frustrated again as he sat down.

"What about Elody?" I asked him.

"She's having nightmares." He said as I sat beside him.

"Did she tell you about this?" I asked, shocked by Elody's openness about something. If my daughters were doors, Auden would be the open door. Elody would be a closed door.

"Not exactly. She told me what they're about though." He said, clearly preparing for me to get upset.

"And that is?" I asked.

"Giselle. She's living specific days of Giselle's life. She knows things she couldn't know. Like what Giselle wore when I met her." He explained.

"Oh my god," I muttered.

"She woke up last night screaming about why we won't let her die." He added.

"The day Giselle met you. She cut herself over pancakes." I reminisced, trying to find humor in that reason for self-harm. There wasn't any to be found. It was still a stupid reason as ever. I had chalked it up to the straw that broke the camels back. Giselle was so overwhelmed with everything that day that she was unable to handle it. So she handled it with a pair of scissors. I still don't know how she got that idea.

"No. According to Elody, Giselle was afraid you wouldn't love her if I was around." He told me. This made me feel so sad and somewhat tired. My daughter felt that way?

"How would she know all of this?" I asked my husband.

"Reincarnation? Chance? I don't know, Veronica." He replied, sounding more confused than I had ever heard him before.

"I should talk to her about this." I said, getting up to go to the door. He grabbed my arm and shook his head.

"Let her come to you." JD told me. While I wanted to argue and run to Elody to fix these nightmares, I knew that he was right in the end. She needed to tell me. I couldn't force her to speak.