Page 82 of Commit

The phone beeps, telling me to leave a message. “If you’ve hurt her, I swear to God, I’ll make what happened to you yesterday look like child’s play.” I hang up as Kenzo moves past me and goes into the bathroom.

I look around and watch as Atlas picks up her cell phone and taps the screen. “Missed calls from you, but that’s it.”

“She threw up,” Kenzo calls out, and I head into the bathroom.

“I figured that out myself.” But yeah, there’s a faint smell of vomit in the air.

I step forward and see something on the floor. I bend down to pick it up and find a razor blade. A million things run through my head, and none of them are good.

“What’s that?” Kenzo asks.

I hold it up for him to see, and he steps closer, taking it from me.

“There’s some blood on it, but it’s not fresh, and there’s no blood anywhere in here.”

I blow out a relieved breath. He’s right. Let’s not jump to conclusions.

“I think you should tell us everything from the beginning, Pete,” Atlas says from behind me. “If we can figure out what’s going on in her head, we might be able to work out where she went.”

I turn and nod, then quickly go check my room and bathroom just in case, but find nothing. I join Kenzo and Atlas, who have made their way down to the den. Kenzo has the liquor cabinet open but settles on grabbing us each a bottle of water from the mini fridge instead.

“Don’t know how the rest of today is going to play out, and alcohol won’t help us figure anything out,” he says, tossing me and Atlas a bottle of water.

I sit in one of the armchairs while Atlas takes the other, and Kenzo leans against the windowsill.

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“Start at the beginning. She hasn’t been here long. How much could there possibly be?” Kenzo snorts.

I scratch my head and start from the first moment I saw her asleep on Abbot’s lap at the hospital, to sending her upstairs to my bed when we got back from Vegas. When I’m done, they both stare at me.

“I’m no expert on women,” Kenzo begins, then stops. “Actually, I’ve got nothing.”

“You’re both acting like I don’t know what you did to Trix and Ivy. The things I know about are bad enough. I can only imagine how much worse the shit I don’t know about is.”

“We’re all a little fucked up, so why would dating be normal for us?” Atlas asks, looking generally confused.

“I’m not sure a little fucked up covers the lengths you went to. Either of you.”

“I guess, in the grand scheme of things, you’ve been pretty tame,” Atlas concedes.

“But we only had to manipulate Ivy and Trix into admitting how they felt. Ivy and I were attracted to each other right from the beginning.”

“Same for me and Trix.”

“Starling wanted me. The day of the wake, she was attracted to me, I could tell.”

Atlas looks from me to Kenzo.

“What?”

“She might have been attracted to you, but would she have acted on it while she had a boyfriend if you hadn’t forced the issue?”

I think back to our interaction. “No. She’s fiercely loyal.”

“That’s where your issues are. You’re not just fighting her feelings for you; you’re fighting her feelings for your son.”

“Does she love him?” Atlas asks.