Page 40 of Mending Fate
“I know you’ve had a bad couple weeks, but that’s no excuse for being an asshat,” he said mildly. “I’m not here on her behalf. In fact, I have a feeling she’d be pissed at me if she knew I was here.”
“Then why are you here, Eoin?” I asked, irritated. “You clearly think something is important enough to interrupt me at work, so please, tell me what it is.”
He raised an eyebrow, and I suddenly felt as if he was the elder brother, about to chastise me for misbehaving.
“There’s a girl, a foster kid named Soleil–”
“I know who she is,” I interrupted. “She went missing the same day Evanne did. Lumen and I fought about it because she prioritized the girl over Evanne.”
“The more you try to make Lumen the bad guy here, the worse you’re going to feel when you finally let me finish what I’m saying.”
I glared at him but waved a hand for him to continue.
“Soleil did run away.” He held up a finger, stopping me before I could even take a breath to argue. “She went to see her mother’s boyfriend, a forty-something cop who’d convinced her that it was okay for the two of them to have sex even though she was only thirteen when it started.”
My stomach churned, guilt slamming into me hard enough to take my breath away. As Eoin continued to explain what had happened, it became difficult to breathe. I felt like I was suffocating. I didn’t consider myself a naïve person, but I hadn’t even considered the possibility that this girl had been assaulted, much less in that way.
“That’s where I come in,” Eoin said. “Lumen wants me to help her and her friends set up this cop, make it so he’ll be off the streets without Soleil having to go through a trial.”
The silence that settled between us was thick, and even though Eoin didn’t reiterate his opinion of my behavior, the weight of his gaze was enough to let me know the low opinion he had of me at the moment.
“She came to see me yesterday, asking how to get in touch with you,” I admitted. “I refused to tell her. I said it was because I didn’t want to give out your personal information, but that was a lie. I was jealous.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Aye.” I barked out a soft laugh. “That I am.”
He sighed. “Look, I’m not good when it comes to talking about feelings and emotions. Neither of us are. But I do have some advice.” He leaned forward. “Get your head out of your ass and go to her.”
“Do you think it would do any good?” I asked, the sick feeling in my stomach growing. “Wouldn’t it be too little, too late?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But one thing is for certain. If you don’t at least try to apologize, you’ll have lost her for good.”
He had a point.
I raked all ten fingers through my hair, frustrated to the core. “I don’t like being wrong.”
To my surprise, Eoin laughed. “No shit. You’re the same kid who used to lock himself in his room whenever someone was able to prove something you said was wrong. You’re also one of the most stubborn people I’ve ever met, and that’s a dangerous combination.”
“Nice to know what you really think of me,” I said dryly.
“As if those are personality traits you’re not already aware of.”
“That is true.”
“You haven’t changed much from when you were a kid,” he said. “I guess the question now is, what are you willing to do if it means salvaging what you and Lumen have?”
Just as I was about to say that I didn’t know, the real answer came through, clear as anything. It had always been there too. I just hadn’t allowed myself to see it.
I pushed the intercom button on my phone. “Tuesday, reschedule all of my appointments for the rest of the day. I’m leaving.”
Twenty-Three
Lumen
School today had beennice and boring. I followed my lesson plan exactly, and we’d had no drills or surprises. Just our normal schedule and basic lessons. The kids hadn’t been exceptionally good or exceptionally bad, just normal kids. A little talking, a little noise, but otherwise, good behavior.
After everything that had happened recently, it had been nice to focus solely on teaching. This was what I’d gone to school for, what I’d always wanted to do. It was nice to finally feel like I was finally getting the opportunity to prove myself.