AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She sniffed, wiping her cheeks, and it killed me. Absolutely killed me not to hold her and tell her it would be okay. I couldn’t make any kind of promises to her right now, and I had the feeling if I tried to touch her, Elliot would toss me off the roof without even blinking.
“If you hurt each other, don’t bother coming to me afterward.” She pointed back and forth between us. “That’s for both of you. I will never forgive either of you if you do.”
I wouldn’t touch Elliot, but I had no idea where his head was. “I’ll see you as soon as I can.”
A shudder racked her whole body. She turned away from me, pressing a hand to Elliot’s chest.
“If you’re mad at him, you have to be mad at me too. Remember that.”
Then she left with her friends around her.
Bereft and confused, I sank into my original seat and picked up my drink. I needed to blunt some of tonight’s revelations. If I thought too hard about the dramatic change Elise went through between when I left for college and when I came back…
No.
I’d have to confront that later, when I could look at Elise and assure myself she was okay.
Elliot took the chair across from mine, his fingers curling around the arm so hard they were white at the tips, and his knees vibrated with tension.
He stared at me with a steady, level gaze. “I can’t decide who I’m more angry at, you or Miles.”
“You didn’t know what he did to her?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I knew she was teased and having a hard time. But our mother was unwell, our father was gone, I had moved away, so I didn’t…” He clamped down, turning away. “I should have known, but once I was gone, I didn’t want to go back. Not because of Elise. Never her.”
“I know.”
When I first met Elliot and he brought me home, the Levys were warm and bright. Their mom was eccentric, kind of off the wall, but in a lovable way their pragmatic father balanced out. They talked, laughed, hung out together. Even Elliot. And I had been accepted into their fold.
Things changed once their father died, but I was so far entrenched I stayed through the chaos and darkness. I stayed for Elliot and Elise, but myself as well, because no matter how shitty the Levy household was at times, it was always preferable over my own home.
“I need to know exactly what he did to her.” He rubbed his hands down his shaking thighs. “Then I’ll be able to decide what action needs to be taken.”
“I can deal with my brother.”
“I don’t know that I trust you to do that.” His gaze turned razor sharp. “Did you touch her when she was a kid?”
My head blew back like he’d physically hit me. “No.” That was all the denial he was getting from me. He should have known better than to even ask.
“When did it start?” he pressed.
“When she came back to Denver. But it’s been there for a while now, at least for me.”
“Whose idea was it to keep it from me?”
“It was mutual. We were planning to tell you next week.”
He angled forward. “It was Elise’s idea, wasn’t it?”
“It was mutual.”
He huffed something close to a laugh. “I know my sister as well as I know you. She considers everyone’s feelings when making decisions, while you make up your mind and act. There is no way on this planet waiting was a mutual choice. You deferred to Elise in this.”
I blew out a breath, letting my beer bottle swing between two fingers. “Does it really matter?”
“It does to me. I’ll forgive Elise for anything. You don’t have that luxury.”
I grimaced, knowing I could lose him, but I wasn’t going to say what he wanted me to. “The choice was mutual. The brunch Elise asked you to put on your calendar next weekend was when we were going to tell you.”
