“Let’s get out of here,” I whisper in her ear and she nods once, her hair brushing against my face. She smells amazing, her cheeks are flushed and all I can think is how fast can I get her home so I can have her naked beneath me.
Taking her hand, I start to guide her off the dance floor, noticing a group of obvious sorority girls watching us as we go. Fable turns and flips them the bird, sticking her tongue out at them, and I yank on her hand hard to get her the hell out of there before she starts a fight.
“What the hell was that for?” I ask her as he walk down the back stairs and push open the door that leads out into the parking lot.
“They were giving me shit. Saying catty stuff about me. Next thing I know, you walk into the room, and they all flipped out.” She smiles and squeezes my hand. “They thought you were smiling at them but really you were smiling at me.”
I shake my head. “Who gives a shit what they think?”
“Me. I do. I’m always looked down upon. They’re practically creaming their panties over the fact that you show up and I loved knowing you didn’t give a shit about them. You came there for me.” She pulls me to her and lifts up on tiptoe so she can kiss my cheek. “Letting everyone know you’re mine makes me feel good.”
I feel exactly the same way. I entwine my fingers through hers, and we walk toward my truck quietly, my mind racing. How do I tell her I want her in my life for always? Should I even bring it up or would I scare the crap out of her? The last thing I want to do is put pressure on her.
But I don’t want to lose Fable either.
I hit the keyless remote and the doors unlock, both of us slipping inside the truck’s cab. Fable pulls her cell out of her pocket, a little gasp escaping her as she hits a button on the screen to make a call.
“Where are you?” she asks the moment whoever is on the other end answers. “What do you mean the place is empty?”
I watch her, see the worry and concern wash over her face, the way she white-knuckle grips the phone as she holds it to her ear. My skin prickles with uncertainty and I’m curious as hell over what’s happening and who she’s talking to.
Knowing whatever it is, it can’t be good.
“I’ll be right there. Yeah, I’m with Drew. I’ll have him drive me straight over, okay? So don’t leave.” She pauses. “Ten minutes, tops. Stop panicking, Owen. We’ll be there.” She ends the call and turns to look at me, her eyes wide with fear. “Owen’s at the apartment. He says it’s empty.”
I frown. “What do you mean, it’s empty?”
“Like almost everything is gone except some of our personal stuff. The furniture, all our things, the food in the kitchen, it’s all gone.” She nibbles on her lower lip, lost in thought.
“Were you guys robbed?” I could hardly wrap my head around what she said. It made no sense.
“No, no way.” She shakes her head and laughs, though she’s definitely not amused. More like she sounds distraught. “I think—I think my mom did it. I bet she packed up all her shit, had her loser boyfriend help her and moved everything out without telling us.”
I grimace as I pull out of the parking lot and turn toward Fable’s place. “Who the hell does that sort of thing?”
“My mother.” She leans her head back against the headrest and sighs. “I told you how I wanted to move out and take Owen with me, but I hadn’t gathered up the courage to tell her yet. Guess she took care of that, didn’t she?”
“But what you’re saying, it’s like she…abandoned you.”
“She abandoned us both a long time ago. I’ve come to terms with it. Owen hasn’t. He still believes our mom loves us and wants to take care of us. He’s young, he’ll figure it out someday.”
The bitterness in Fable’s voice makes me hurt for her. We both come from really screwed-up situations. With parents who don’t seem to give a shit about us, but in radically different ways. I wish I could help heal her heart. She may say the way her mother treats her and Owen doesn’t bother her, but I know she has to be lying. It probably hurts like hell.
My father’s indifference and neglect hurts me to do this day. My mom’s death—I sometimes feel like she abandoned me, and it wasn’t even her fault. That’s how irrational my thinking is.
And I can’t even go into what Adele’s done to me. I’m completely fucked from the mind games she played on me for far too long.
The moment we pull into a parking slot, Fable’s already out of the truck, running toward her apartment building. I follow behind her, taking a little more time, only because I want her to get in a few private moments with her brother first.