Keep From Falling (Markson Grove Series Book 1) (51 page)

He smiles but doesn’t answer my question. Instead he changes the subject completely, “Anyway, you don’t want to keep him waiting much longer, I bet. You better get going. I’ll be sure to tell Skylar you were here when she wakes up.”

“Yeah, fine,” I mumble. I walk out of the apartment without another word.

I don’t have the patience to put up with this guy. I don’t care how much Skylar loves him. I’ll never be able to be his friend.

I wait a few moments for the elevator to reach the top floor and once it opens, Spencer is standing before me.

“I didn’t know you were coming here,” he says. “I just saw Evan downstairs. He seems… concerned about how long you’ve been up here.”

“I just wanted to see if she was ok,” I reply angrily. Why do I have to keep defending myself about this?

“I told you I was coming.”

“I know. I needed to see her, though.”

He nods knowingly, not wanting to push it any further. He can tell I’m already annoyed. “Is she all right?”

“I’ll let Parker tell you.” I give him a quick kiss on the cheek before taking his place in the elevator. Once the doors close, I push the button to go down and lean against the mirrored wall, feeling completely deflated. Could this night possibly get any worse?

Evan

Spencer’s pity annoys me. Waiting outside of Skylar’s building for Bree to come back was already hard enough, but to see the look he gave me when I told him that Bree’s been up there for fifteen minutes now, was painful. I hate pity. Why am I always the guy that gets walked all over in situations like these? Because I’m way too nice for my own good, that’s why.

A minute after he disappears into the doors of the building, Bree finally reappears and climbs back into the car next to me. As she’s buckling herself in, I’m trying to decide if I should just come out and tell her how uncomfortable this whole situation is making me feel. Do I put my feelings out there, begging for some boundaries, or do I continue on like nothing is wrong and hope it all just goes away? The second choice sounds appealing, but I know it’s not going to help the way I feel. I need to talk to her.

“Sorry it took so long,” she says to me breathlessly, and all I can think is that she was up there that whole time making out with Skylar. What is wrong with me? Why can’t I trust her?

“Is she ok?”

Bree shakes her head and I see the tears well up in her eyes. “He beat her, Evan. He kicked her in the ribs, he hit her in the face, he held her down and hurt her over and over.”

I’m shocked. That wasn’t what I was expecting to hear at all. That fucking son of a bitch! I always knew he was a piece of shit, but I never thought he’d do something like this. I can feel the anger boil up inside of me. I wish he was here right now so I can kill him myself, that’s how much anger I’m feeling at this very moment.

“Parker was too late,” I say like it’s a fact, and she nods. Parker can’t always be there to protect them. This is exactly what I was trying to explain to Ellie. She could be next.

“Where is he now?”

“He’s upstairs taking care of her. He gave her morphine so she’s asleep. I didn’t get to talk to her.”

I don’t want to show how relieved I am that she wasn’t alone with Skylar, but I am. I’m not ready for that type of trust yet. There’s still too much between those two that hasn’t been dealt with. “You were up there that long talking to Parker?”

She shrugs. “He’s not so horrible anymore, I guess. I still don’t like him, though.”

I guess that’s how I’m feeling about him now too, oddly enough. It’s weird how so much has changed in such a little amount of time.

I turn the key in the ignition and before I put the car into drive I look at Bree. I think I’m just going to say what’s bothering me and get it out there. I can’t keep it in forever. If I try, I might just snap someday, and I think that might be worse.

“Can I ask you something?”

She glances at me uneasily. “I guess so.”

“Are you still in love with Skylar?” I ask, and before she has a chance to respond, I quickly go on. “Because I know you keep saying that you’re not, but your actions are saying that you are. You were really worried about her tonight.”

“I care about her and I care about what happens to her! It doesn’t mean I’m still in love with her! Why is it that none of you guys can seem to understand that?”

It’s pretty clear that I’m not the only one who has expressed these same opinions to her tonight. “Well, maybe everyone else is seeing something that you’re not.”

“Maybe what Adrienne did to you is making you paranoid,” she returns harshly. It’s a low blow, and she knows it.

“Yeah? Fine, tell me, Bree, who’s your roommate for the class trip next week?” I ask pointedly.

She avoids my gaze and looks to her lap. “It’s Skylar, so what? That was arranged months ago.”

“Have you considered changing it?”

“Why would I? It doesn’t mean anything. I’m with you now! Not her.”

“If it doesn’t mean anything, then switch rooms with Kelsie. For me.” I know even as I’m asking that she won’t go along with it. She doesn’t see anything wrong with what she’s doing.

“I don’t want to,” she returns loudly. “I want to have a chance for Sky and me to be friends again. I miss her Evan. I feel like there’s a piece of me missing since we broke up. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I’m with you and she’s with Parker and we can be friends without complications. I know that we can.”

She just doesn’t get it! She’s in denial about all of it. “What if I don’t want you two to be friends?” I ask.

“Then I’d say you’re not being fair.”

“
I’m
not being fair? Bree, listen to yourself. I can’t be with you if you’re friends with her. It’s too hard. And do you want to know why it’s too hard? Whether you believe it or not, it’s because you’re still in love with her! I know it, Parker knows it, Spencer knows it, and hell, I think Skylar even knows it. The only person who doesn’t seem to know it is you!”

Bree grows very quiet, her cheeks flush, and she turns away from me to look out the passenger window. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Drive me home, please.”

“Gladly,” I reply bitterly. I put the car into drive.

Once we are in her driveway I consider getting out and walking her to her door, but I’m pissed and hurt and I don’t want to, so I don’t.

“Please try to understand,” she begs as she’s getting out of the car.

“Just leave, Bree. You’re selfish, and I just can’t right now.”

“You can’t what?”

“I can’t deal with your confusion. Figure out what you want!”

“I want you!”

I shake my head. “You don’t know what you want.”

“Evan, please.”

“No,” I say, feeling worn out and emotionally drained, “just go. I’m not breaking up with you, but we just need space to sort this out. We’ll talk in a few days.”

She nods reluctantly and closes the passenger door. After a few moments of sadly staring at me through the window, she walks up the driveway and enters her house.

Once the door is shut behind her, I hit the gas and take off out of her yard hastily, causing the tires to screech. I do it on purpose, to show her how pissed I am.

Did I just make the biggest mistake of my life or did I finally make the right call for her? Maybe she needs to be forced into realizing what she wants. As much as I’m petrified of what that means for me, I can’t keep living with this jealousy and uncertainty, it’s turning me into a person I don’t even recognize and I hate it.

Skylar

I stay in my bed for days after the attack and only wake for a few minutes at a time. But each time I do, Parker is lying right next to me, squished to me in my tiny twin sized bed with his arm draped loosely over my midsection. Every part of my body hurts so much each time I come to, I can’t help but whimper in pain. The instant I make a sound, Parker drags himself out of bed, fills a syringe with what I'm later told is morphine, and injects it into my veins. At the time, I don't think too much about what it is he's giving me, I am just so happy to be getting something to take the pain away.

I don't remember any type of conversation or interaction in those first few days, but I do recall the comfort I felt each time I woke and heard Parker's steady breaths next to me.

At one point, I recall waking up and seeing Cecelia walk into my room. Her face is stern, but I can’t seem to understand what it is she’s saying to me. I am so tired, and I don’t even care to try to figure out her words. Parker gets out of the bed and hurries over to her. I can tell by his movements that he is moving fast, but my fuzzy mind processes the action in slow motion. I see he's only wearing boxers, I like that he's only wearing boxers. I see my name written in Greek peeking out from the waistline of his shorts… it makes me happy. Then I slip back into a fuzzy world of unconsciousness for another twenty-four hours.

On the third day, I wake with a lot less pain and I’m finally able to sit myself up. I feel starved, but oddly enough not very dehydrated. I learned soon after, that Parker and Spencer had both been taking turns waking me every thirty minutes over the last three days to make sure I drink some water, even throughout the nights. I don’t remember any of it, but I have no doubt in my mind that they did it. Because that’s what they do, they take care of me, no matter what.

Apparently Spencer had brought in the couch cushion from the living room and made himself a bed on the floor of my room, which he had slept on every night. He and Parker bonded over their concern for me and have become sort-of friends in the process.

Spencer makes it clear that he thinks Parker might actually be meant for me. He tells me so while Parker is in the kitchen making me something to eat.

“What?” I ask in surprise. I’m incredibly weak and I want to laugh but I can't do much more than let out a sorry excuse of a chuckle instead.

“Parker is your perfect fit. He's exactly what you need in your life, and I think you're exactly what he needs too.”

That's a surprise. What the hell did these guys talk about over the last three days?

“What made you change your opinion about him so much?”

“Let’s just say that I got to know the Parker you know over these last few days and I see why you love him like you do.”

This time I actually do manage a small laugh. “You falling in love with my man, Spenc?”

He winks at me at the exact same moment that Parker walks into the room with my food. “What's not to fall in love with?” he jokes, having heard everything Spencer just said. He hands me the plate of food.

Wow, what three days can do. They are friends now, and joking around with each other like the best of friends! I'm in complete awe.

After that, the next four days are like heaven. Parker basically moves himself into Cecelia’s, rarely leaving my side. We sleep together, we shower together, we eat together, and we watch TV together. I even introduced him to
The O.C.
, and like I’d suspected, he’s a fan.

Aside from having to slip away to take care of some issues with his ‘job’ and presumably some issues with Tris as well, he barely leaves the apartment at all.

By the time the morning of our senior class trip rolls around at the end of those four days, we couldn’t feel any more close to one another. He tells me more about himself in those four days than he’s ever revealed to me in the two years I’ve known him. It's as if he's finally broken down that last bit of brick wall his soul was hiding behind, and he’s ready to finally let me completely in.

He tells me how his mother died in a car accident and that he believes it to be all his fault. He tells me about his addiction to painkillers after the accident, and how his father can’t even look at him anymore since his expulsion for getting caught dealing drugs on school grounds.

He tells me about taking Colton under his wing the first day he was introduced to him. How Colton’s relationship with Ellie reminds him of our relationship, and that he wants to protect them as much as he wants to protect me. I love that. Parker's turning out to be so much more loving and caring than I ever imagined he could be. It makes me that much more certain that I've made the right choice in being with him.