Page 33 of Chasing After You

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Partial lie, but he didn’t need to know that. “And what do you mean by revenge? What would I even be taking revenge for?”

He whispered exasperatedly, voice raw, “I-Ikilledyourdad.”

I held in a laugh. “Josh…Josh, you saved my life. You didn’t even mean to kill him. You wanted to call 911 after, remember? God, I’m glad that bastard is dead. If you hadn’t killed him back then, I definitely would’ve taken him out myself. I’d have to be legitimately brainless to try to avenge him. He wasn’t a good man. You know that,” I soothed.

“But he was still your dad,” he murmured, voice small and pitiful.

“He was supposed to be your dad, too,” I replied briskly. Josh deflated in his seat, the despair pouring out of him. “You gave him the easy way out. I would’ve given him a long, drawn-out, painful death. He would have deserved it, too, the way he abused you for so long. Beat down an already traumatized boy.”

“He didn’t—I wasn’t abused!”

I closed the gap between our fingers, interlacing our hands together. “Angel.”

His mouth opened and closed in stunned silence. “Angel?”

“Mm.” I smiled, enjoying the light blush that colored his cheeks. “Like I said, you saved my life. Even if Daniel never ended up strangling me, you still would be my savior. Everything was so dull and pointless before you.”

“Y-you shouldn’t say stuff like that. People might get the wrong idea.”

“What do you mean?” I teased.

He tugged his hands away from mine, wringing them close to his chest. He was still blushing. He whispered, “It’s just that it… doesn’t sound very brotherly, that’s all.”

I grinned sardonically, deciding not to pushthattopic today. It would overwhelm him.

Changing the subject, I said, “You left without even saying goodbye.”

His face blanched, his pretty pink blush vanishing. He stuttered, “I-I-I—”

I softened my voice. “Shh, it’s okay. Victoria forced you to, didn’t she?”

His chin trembled as he answered, “Yeah.”

I nodded, my gaze gentle. “I knew you would never leave like that.”

“You—you didn’t hate me for it?”

“No,” I promised, itching to hold his hand again. I hated how broken he sounded. “Of course not. I’ve never hated you, Josh. But can you tell me what happened, hm? I got the gist of it from Victoria, but I want to hear your side.”

He flinched, biting his lip in worry. “Okay.”

“And,” I added, “I want to know about what happened to you after the gala that year. You disappeared, and then suddenly, you were there, hitting Daniel over the head. I knew they were lying about you being in a hospital. They refused to give me any details about what you were sick with, which hospital you were in, anything.”

“Oh… Yeah, no hospital. I was in my room.”

I frowned, not understanding. “The whole time?”

He exhaled, then whispered, “Most of it. I wasn’t allowed out at all for the first few weeks. Then they started to let me out to work, but only when you were asleep or out. Were you… Were you scared? I wanted to see you, I did. B-but Victoria said I’d only get to say goodbye to you on my birthday if I stayed awayand did all my chores. I couldn’t… She said I’d have to leave without talking to you—” Josh’s eyes filled as he clenched his jaw, as though holding the pain inside was the only way he knew how to protect himself.

Anger burned within me. I asked through gritted teeth, “They were planning to keep you locked up and hidden until your birthday? Then what? They were going to kick you out, weren’t they?”

“Yeah,” he sniffled.

I schooled my facial expression, not wanting him to think my anger was directed towards him. “Thank you for telling me.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice cracking.

“What? Josh, don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong. What they did to you is horrible.I’msorry that I didn’t realize you were there all along. I should’ve done something. Protected you.”