Page 36 of Crash into me
“Nothing.”
He pulls his hands through his styled hair, racking his brain. “I know you remember. I know you remember Foster, your school, everything.” His eyes narrow. “Again, what does he have over you?” He looks angry, but not at me. His expression looks as if he’s ready to protect me from every monster that might slip through the cracks in my door.
When I don’t respond, Warren squares his shoulders. “If he expects you to be my wife, I’ll just go ask him myself.”
I allow him to walk to the door, only to gain the courage to do this. “He hurts me,” I whisper.
Warren nods his head once, his lips thinning into a straight line. “I’ll solve this problem immediately.”
I reach out for him, grabbing the air. “No, you won’t … Sophie.”
He stops, dropping his hand from the knob and walks over to me. The moonlight illuminates both of our faces, and I pray he can see the desperation in mine. “Is this Foster’s little sister that was in the hospital?” he wonders.
“How did you know?”
“I visited … a few times.” He frowns. “And Brett refuses to tell me. He says he’s got it handled.”
“Wait, you know Brett?”
He nods. “Met him while you were in the hospital. He wouldn’t tell me what’s going on with you, but I’m going to protect you, Skyler. I promise you.”
For a fleeting moment, his hand cups mine, and we still. Then, he pulls it away. I admit, “Yes, it’s his little sister. Foster doesn’t know, but my dad agreed to pay for her medical treatments—”
“As long as you came home like a perfect doll,” he finishes for me, his tone clipped. “You know I can pay for whatever you need.”
“I can’t ask that of you.”
He shakes his head. “You’re not asking. I’m offering.”
“This isn’t forever, and they’re going to wonder where we are. We have to go back to the party.”
He wiggles his eyebrows. “They can wonder all they want; they want us to get married anyways.”
We both laugh, and it feels good. I can’t believe all this time I thought he was a monster. Paranoia can do that. But that is how he acted. “Why did you treat me badly tonight?”
“Everyone around me is like me,” he explains simply. “I have to portray myself a certain way to keep my family happy.” He shrugs a little. “I was too nervous to let you out of my sight, so it came off bad.” He looks at me intently. “Eyes are always on us, Skyler. Everything we do matters.”
A sadness that I mistook for violence blankets his eyes.
“I can understand that.” Maybe we’re not so different after all.
“Skyler, I really can help,” he offers again.
“Trust me, I’ve been playing his game my whole life.” I nod towards my door. “I have the pieces exactly how I want them right now, okay?” A small laugh leaves my lips. “I promise you don’t have to marry me.”
He carefully grabs my arm as I try to walk past him, holding me in place. “Are you going to leave when the treatments are over?”
“I’m not sure … It will be a while; I’ll be able to move out by then, but everyone will have moved on, and Foster will never forgive me for acting like I don’t remember him.”
“I’m sure he’ll understand.” He sounds so hopeful.
Warren looks out the window, and I follow. Foster is pacing, sneering as he looks up and sees us. “I’m not fucking leaving until I can have a proper conversation with my girl.”
Warren doesn’t react to the hateful way Foster speaks to him. Instead, he looks to me pointedly. “Go,” he tells me.
“The party,” I whine.
“I’ll hold them off. Everyone’s distracted anyways since the auction starts soon.”