Page 204 of Revv

“What you did tonight was fucking stupid.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You could’ve killed him.”

My jaw tightens.

“I know that.”

She exhales and looks away for a second, eyes shining under the bright lights.

Then she looks back.

“I don’t need you protecting me like we’re kids anymore, Rev.”

Nobody calls me that much anymore.

Not like she does.

Something shifts behind my ribs.

“It wasn’t really a decision.”

“That’s the problem.”

I look away.

She moves closer.

“You always did that.”

I glance back at her.

“Did what?”

“Made yourself the problem so nobody looked at me.”

My throat tightens.

She gives me a sad little smile.

“You’d start fights. Break something. Mouth off until everybody was pissed at you, instead. You thought if you were the difficult kid, maybe they’d leave me alone.”

“It worked sometimes.”

“Sometimes.”

Her face folds for half a second before she gets control of it again, and fuck, I’d almost rather she screamed at me. Lena pissed off I can handle. Lena calling me an idiot, telling me I should’ve left Travis bleeding harder, even blaming me for bringing his name back into her life—I could take all of that.

This look on her face? This fucking hurts.

“You were thirteen, Rev.”

“Didn’t fucking matter how old I was. I knew what was happening.”

“It mattered to me.” Her arms finally fall away from where she’s been holding them tight across herself, and she takes a step closer. “You were a kid sleeping outside my door because you were scared to leave me alone. You stayed awake listening for his footsteps, kept a knife under your pillow, told teachers and case workers until they started treating you like you were the problem instead of actually listening to you. None of that should’ve been yours to carry.”

I drag a hand over the back of my neck and drop my eyes to the floor because looking at her is getting harder by the fucking second.