A Boy I Used to Love(14)

I was in shock. I shoved the folder back at my father. "No. I'm not doing it!"

"Yes, you are," my father said.

"Lacey, it's something that's been on the table for months. Your father got the position. We have a realtor ready to go with this house here. It's good to have change."

"Tell me this has nothing to do with River," I said.

I stared into my father's eyes. He was kind but stern. He could never lie to me, either.

"You know how we feel about him," he said. "But we didn't make this decision based on some guy."

"But I'm sure it helped," I said.

"Yes," my father said. "You need to leave all this behind you. You're not going to get trapped with some dirty mechanic, struggling to make ends meet."

"He's going to college!" I yelled. "He's a good man."

"He's hardly a man," my mother said. "You're both too young."

"He's twenty-one!" I said. "I'm nineteen. We're adults. What were you doing at twenty-one, Dad?"

"I wasn't doing what he is," my father said.

"You said you went backpacking through Europe."

"I was figuring out my life."

"That's what he's doing," I said.

"No, he's not," my mother yelled. She stood up. "I'm tired of this, Lacey. You're our daughter and you do what we say."



       
         
       
        

"I'm an adult. I don't need to listen to you. Ever."

"You're going with us," my father said.

"No. I refuse."

"Then you'll be broke and homeless. We'll cut you off from everything."

There I stood, my father threatening me. Putting me in a corner. Tearing everything I loved away from me.

I slowly stepped back through the archway.

"You leave right now, you better be back," my father said. "That car is in my name. I paid for it. I will report it missing."

My jaw dropped.

"This is for your own good," my mother said in a soft voice, standing next to my father.

They really hated River that much.

I turned and stormed from my house.

There was no way I was going to leave. I couldn't survive without him in my life.

I got into my car and sped away.

There was only one place I could go.

I needed to find River …  so he could save me.





River





ALMOST TEN YEARS AGO





I was facedown in a busted engine when I heard someone whistle and call my name. I popped up and almost slammed the back of my skull on the open hood of the car. Mutty stood behind me, scarfing down a cheeseburger. He had ketchup on one corner of his lips and mustard on the other. He was a goddamn slob, his hands permanently black from working on vehicles, and he had no clue what really happened in the back of the garage and in the junkyard.

"Mutty, what the hell?" I called out. "I'm in the middle of a … "

"Girl's here," he said. "Pretty one. She's got tears running down her cheeks, man. I told her you were busy."

"Lacey?" I asked.

Mutty snapped his fingers and pointed a finger at me. "That's the one. What did you do to her, man?"

He smiled, mashed up burger and bun stuck to his teeth.

I ignored him and pushed by, slapping a wrench to his chest, making him take the tools. I grabbed a towel and wiped my hands as I bolted out of the garage.

I found Lacey standing at the hood of her car, her hand on the bridge of her nose. She was obviously crying and obviously trying to cover it up so I didn't know. Whoever hurt her was dead. Nothing could stop me from destroying anything or anyone that got in the way of the woman I loved.

"Lacey … "

"I have to leave," she blurted out.

"What?"

"My parents are forcing me to leave town with them. They're selling their house. I'm going to New York."

"Wait, wait, wait," I said. "Slow down for a second. Is this because of me?" 

"No," she said. "My father got a new job. He reenrolled me into a new college already. I can't go to school unless I go with them."

The words started to sink in, the crushing truth hitting me.

"You have to leave … "

"I told them no," Lacey said. "I swear. I love you, River. I want to stay. But everything is in his name. He'll take my car. I can't go to school anymore. But I could … " Lacey started to pace. Left to right, left to right. "I could get a waitressing job. Right? I could work and save money. I could take the stupid classes one by one until I get them paid off and save up enough … "