Page 59 of Break Me

For a long moment, he doesn’t move. Then he closes his eyes. When he opens them, the distance is gone.

“Where have you been staying?” I ask. “I overheard Knox and Dad saying you weren’t at the motel anymore.”

“I found a place,” he says. “A small cabin outside town. It’s quiet and away from everything.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He hesitates just long enough to hurt. “Because it’s not safe.”

“For whom?” I press. “Me or you?”

His jaw flexes. “Raven⁠—”

“It feels like you're already saying goodbye,” I say, the words coming out steadier than I feel. “You just haven't walked away yet.”

“I’m still here,” he says quickly. “I haven’t gone anywhere.”

“You have,” I whisper. “Every day you’re disappearing a little more.”

He drags a hand through his hair, pacing once before stopping in front of me again. “I’m on probation. Every move I make right now is watched. I’m trying not to make this worse.”

“What about me?” I ask. “Am I supposed to sit quietly on the side while you build a life without me?”

“That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Then what are you doing?” I demand. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re preparing to lose me.”

“I’m trying to survive this without dragging you down with me,” he says. “I’m trying to make sure when this settles, there’s still something left for us.”

My throat burns. “You don’t get to decide what I can survive.”

Before he can answer, a presence shifts behind me.

“Raven.” Knox’s voice is low. Controlled. Dangerous.

I turn to find him standing a few steps away, his eyes darting from me to Samuel and back again. He doesn’t raise his voice. He doesn’t have to. “I’m ready to leave,” he says. “Now.”

I look back at Samuel, wanting to say a thousand things at once.

Go,” he says quietly. “Please.”

The word guts me.

I nod once because if I try to speak, the tears I’m holding back will start to fall.

As Knox turns, he throws one last look over his shoulder at Samuel. “Remember where you stand,” he says.

Samuel doesn’t move. Doesn’t answer.

As I follow my brother out of the garage, I don’t look back either.

Not because I don’t want to. Because I know if I do, I won’t leave.

Distance isn’t keeping me safe. It’s just teaching us how to live without each other.

And I already know how that story ends.

Samuel