He hadn’t come down from his room all night, and Mae hadn’t given Milo a tour of the upstairs. Like they were purposely trying to keep them apart. Then my heart pounded painfully when I realized that Peter might actually be dangerous, and maybe it wasn’t the safest place for Milo to be hanging out. I considered saying something to that effect when my phone rang.
“Hey, sorry, I didn’t call you sooner,” Jack said when I arrived. Just hearing his voice made me elated, but then I realized there was a tightness to it.
Something was bothering him. “I ended up having a really late night last night, so I just woke up.”
“Sorry. I hope none of its my fault.” But I knew it was my fault. I had done something wrong last night.
“No, it’s not,” Jack reassured me warmly. “It was just … a little family crisis, I guess.”
“What happened?” Anxiety gripped me, and Milo shot me a confused, concerned look, but I just shook my head at him. I couldn’t explain it now, and maybe not ever.
“Um… I’ll tell you when I pick you up, okay? Will you be ready soon?” He was definitely keeping something from me.
“I’m ready now.” I was really glad that I had gotten up and gotten ready before he called. If I had heard this when I first woke up, I would’ve rushed to his house in last night’s clothes with greasy hair.
“Good. I’ll be there soon.” He hung up, probably to prevent me from asking more questions, so I flipped my phone shut.
“What happened?” Milo’s worried expression mirrored my own, but I was too frazzled to really answer him. Hurriedly, I slipped on shoes and grabbed my dark blue cardigan to throw on. “Alice?”
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me.” Why did I have to feel like crying? I swear, I didn’t really cry this much. Most of the time, I was a really sane, normal person. But something about Jack and Peter made me want to burst into tears all the time. My emotions just seemed to be on overdrive. It was like I had lived my whole life using just the bare minimum, and now this family had switched them into max and I couldn’t get a handle on them.
“Is everyone okay?” Milo leaned over the back of the couch, watching me rush about. I probably had everything I needed, but I kept feeling like I was forgetting something, then running back to make sure I had it.
“I don’t know, Milo!” I snapped. “He didn’t tell me anything!”
“Sorry.” He sounded hurt, and I wanted to apologize, but I didn’t have time. Jack would be here “soon,” which could mean anywhere from five seconds to fifteen minutes in his time. “Do you want me to come with?”
“Not today.” I finally managed an apologetic smile, and he slumped down in the couch. “Another time, I promise. Just… not today, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, just go.”
“Sorry. I’ll talk to you later.” And with that, I was out the door. I know I should’ve said more, but I couldn’t even wait for the elevator today. I pushed the call button, and when the doors didn’t immediately open, I ran down the stairs. It didn’t feel right to sit still anyway. My mind was reeling about the possibilities of what a family crisis could mean for them.
Even in the rush I had been in, Jack had still managed to beat me outside.
He’d driven the Jeep, and I practically dove into it. Then I looked at him expectantly, and he just smiled grimly at me.
“What happened?” I demanded as we pulled away from my apartment building.
“And a ‘how do you do’ to you too,” Jack replied dryly.
“Jack!”
“Sorry.” He stared out straight ahead but kept taking sidelong glances at me. “So… last night, after you left… Peter left.”
“What do you mean ‘left?’” My heart had already started pounding and my stomach twisted in knots, and Jack just groaned. “Jack? Where’d he go?
Why’d he leave? Because of me?”
“You have to calm down,” Jack sighed. “This is why I didn’t do it over the phone, but maybe I should’ve.” Then he looked at me somberly, his eyes pleading with me. “Please calm down.”
“I will if you just tell me what’s going on!” Just the same, I tried to slow my breathing and the frantic beating of my heart.
“We don’t really know where he went.” He had waited for me to calm down a bit, but he kept his eyes fixed on the road, like he was trying really hard not to be distracted by me. His knuckles had gone white from the way he gripped the steering wheel. “Ezra has some ideas because…” He trailed off and rubbed his temple. “He left because of… You can’t take this wrong way. I know that you will, though. You always take everything the wrong way. If I said, ‘hey you look nice today,’ you’d say, ‘and what I don’t look nice everyday?’”
“Jack, please focus.” I wanted to yell at him and make him just hurry up and tell me what was going on, but I thought that would just drag out the process even more.
“Yeah.” He quickly glanced at me, but I didn’t understand what he meant so I just stared at him. “Yes. Peter left because of you. Because of what happened, well, almost happened yesterday. But its not because you did anything wrong, or there’s anything wrong with you. Peter’s just going through his own thing and I don’t know. I think he’s just being an ass, but Ezra says…”
He trailed off, probably realizing that he hadn’t really said anything but he’d almost said too much.
My eyes had welled with tears. No matter what Jack said, Peter left because of me, because of something that I had or hadn’t done, and it was devastating. Everything about me craved him, and the fact that anything about me drove him away was completely unforgivable.
“What did almost happen yesterday?” I asked quietly.
“Well…” Jack laughed hollowly, and his hand gripped the wheel even tighter. “What do you think happened yesterday?”
“I don’t know. Honestly, it’s hard to remember. When I try to think about it, I just remember being in his room and feeling this incredible pull towards him and this… yearning.”
I tried hard to focus on what had sent me in a tailspin, but it felt so foggy.
I could remember Peter’s eyes and the way he smelled and wanting him so much it hurt. My heart was racing, throbbing painfully, and I had gotten short of breath. Just thinking about Peter caused a psychosomatic reaction.
“Stop, Alice,” Jack whimpered, and he was in total agony. His blue eyes had gone almost translucent, and they had that hungry look that was very reminiscent of the one that Peter had given me last night.
“Stop what?” I asked breathlessly. He groaned and looked away from me, and I was about press him further, but then the Jeep started skidding horribly across the road.
“Ah, hell.” Jack gripped the wheel and tried to correct it, but I felt it start to tilt to the side, and he gave me a frantic look.
Before I could really understand what was happening, he lunged at me, wrapping his arms tightly around me and pressing me against him. I closed my eyes and buried my face in his chest, and I felt his body curl protectively around me. There was the sensation of moving and I felt cold wind whip through my hair. The sound of crunching metal and shattering glass and this sickening thud filled my ears, but I could barely hear anything over the pounding of my heart.
Then I finally felt Jack’s arm relax around me, and I lifted my head, looking at him in the face. He was worried and scared for me, but there was still that underlying hunger.
“Are you okay?” Jack asked, pushing the hair from eyes to inspect for wounds.
“I think so,” I nodded. I felt dazed and scared, but nothing really hurt.
“Good. Then I need you to get away from me for a minute,” Jack said, not unkindly.
I hurried to do as he asked, pushing myself off of him and standing up. He jumped up quickly and took several steps back from me. For the first time, I looked around. We were on the shoulder of the highway, and there were bits of broken glass and metal all over the road. Another car had been crushed against the cement divider in the middle, and there was an SUV farther down that looked like it had some minor damage. Headlights of stopped cars blinded me.