He Promised Me A Home And Gave It To Her Chapter 01

After Mom ran away, Dad started screaming at me to get out of his house instead.

I was only ten, and all I could do was huddle in a filthy drainage ditch beneath an overpass until he fell asleep.

Three boys from the next block over were the ones who found me there.

Orion Lowe was the first to give me a key to his apartment.

Jace Chandler gave me a key to the apartment above his family’s grocery store, and Julian Sheridan gave me one to his family’s old Victorian house.

They swore that all three places would always be my home.

I threaded the keys onto a cord and wore them around my neck for eight years.

Then Vivian Linden transferred back to our school. Her family had been close to theirs for years, and everything changed.

My boyfriend, Orion, said Vivian was a light sleeper and told me to stop staying over.

Jace said she was nervous around people she didn’t know, so I shouldn’t use the grocery store’s back entrance anymore.

Julian said she needed peace and quiet to paint, so I had to move my spare clothes out of his house.

I did everything they asked. I worked every shift I could get and saved enough to pay tuition at Kingswell University, where all three of them were going.

I thought that if I could just hold on until college started, I’d still have a home.

But the night before tuition was due, Dad took every dollar I’d saved.

I escaped with one hand pressed against my bleeding forehead and ran through three blocks, trying every key. Not one of them would open a door.

Finally, Orion stuck his head out of his apartment. I could hear the other three laughing behind him.

“Elena, we’re all adults now. Can’t you respect our boundaries?”

“These are our places. You can’t keep barging in without warning. You’ll scare Vivian.”

“Just go back to your dad’s for one more night. Once we’re at Kingswell University, I’ll spend every day with you and make it up to you. Okay?”

My fingers slowly loosened around the keys.

Of course. Those places belonged to them.

But Orion, my money was gone. I couldn’t afford Kingswell University anymore.

I wiped the rain off my phone screen and tapped to accept a full scholarship from Westhaven University.

If those three doors were closed to me, it was time to find a home of my own.

…

After the police took Dad away and I got my forehead treated, I spent the rest of the night at a convenience store.

The air conditioning was blasting, and my soaked clothes felt icy against my skin.

The clerk had refilled my cup with hot tea twice.

The third time she passed by, she glanced at the dried blood on my forehead and quietly asked, “Would you like me to call the police?”

I shook my head.

I’d already called them last night.

Before the police took Dad away, he was still standing in the rain, pointing at me and cursing.

He said I was his child and I’d never be able to get rid of him, not for the rest of my life.

But after sitting there thinking all night, I realized Dad wasn’t the person I was having the hardest time letting go of.

A little after seven, the convenience store door flew open.

Orion was the first one through it.

His clothes were badly rumpled, and his hair was still damp. The strain of a sleepless night showed on his face, but the moment he saw me, his expression darkened.

“Elena Shaw.”

He came toward me and reached for the injury on my forehead, then stopped himself.

“Where have you been?”

“Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been? We’ve been looking for you all night!”

Jace bent over with his hands on his knees, struggling to catch his breath. He was already cursing.

“Your dad hit you again, didn’t he?”

“I’m going to find him right now.”

Julian grabbed his arm.

“We need to get Elena to a hospital first.”

“I don’t need to go.”

I lowered my eyes.

“I had it treated last night.”

Orion took hold of my wrist.

“Why didn’t you call me last night?”

His eyes were bloodshot.

I looked at him for a long time before answering quietly.

“I went looking for all of you.”

All three of them fell silent.

Orion slowly let go of my wrist.

After a long pause, he crouched in front of me. His voice was much softer when he finally spoke.

“It was Vivian’s birthday last night.”

“She only just moved back. It was the first birthday we’d gotten to celebrate with her since we were reunited.”

“I was afraid you’d get the wrong idea if I told you beforehand. I wanted to wait until her birthday was over, then explain everything.”

His voice grew quieter with every word.

“I had her presents at my apartment. Jace was hiding some art supplies for her at his place, and Julian had set up a projector at his house.”

“We didn’t keep you out because we didn’t want you anymore.”

Jace crouched beside him, running a frustrated hand through his hair.

“How were we supposed to know your dad would actually hit you?”

“When he got drunk before, he’d just yell at you.”

“We figured you could put up with him for one night, and we’d come get you today.”

Julian didn’t try to defend himself. He simply draped his jacket over my shoulders.

“I’m sorry.”

“We shouldn’t have assumed you’d be okay.”

The three of them stood in front of me, and I could tell their concern was genuine.

Orion even lowered his head and rested his forehead against the back of my cold hand.

“Elena, just hang in there for one more summer.”

“Once we’re at Kingswell University, we’ll get a place together.”

“You’ll never have to go back to that house again. You won’t have to walk on eggshells around anyone.”

He looked up at me, his eyes red.

“I’ll protect you.”

He’d made that same promise when he was sixteen.

One night, Dad had gotten drunk and kicked me out into the apartment hallway.

Orion had climbed fences and crossed two blocks to come get me, then carried me on his back the whole way.

As he carried me, I asked, “What if I never have a home?”

Through clenched teeth, he said, “Then I’ll give you one.”

I believed him for years.

Even after none of my three keys had opened a door the night before, hearing that promise again gave me a glimmer of hope I knew I shouldn’t have.

Jace snapped the lid onto a paper cup of hot chocolate and pressed it into my hands.

“Come on, don’t look so miserable.”

“We’re about to start college. We should at least make some good memories this summer, right?”

Julian opened the Notes app on his phone.

“We could go to the beach, go camping, retake our graduation pictures, and spend a day at an amusement park.”

Jace laughed at him.

“What, are you going to make us hold hands on a school field trip, too?”

“Elena likes amusement parks.”

That was all Julian said.

I held the cup tighter as tears stung my eyes.

He remembered.

When I was twelve, we’d passed an amusement park on the bus.

I stared out the window for ages, then pretended I was just stretching my stiff neck so the boys wouldn’t notice.

Afterward, the three of them saved their allowance for six months and promised to take me there.

But Dad took the money, and we never talked about going again.

My phone rang.

It was Vivian.

Orion put her on speaker.

She sounded close to tears.

“Did you find Elena?”

“Is she mad about what happened last night?”

“It’s all my fault. It’s been so long since we celebrated my birthday together. I got so excited that I forgot she was still outside.”

Then she asked hesitantly, “You guys are going on a graduation trip, aren’t you?”

“Can I come, too?”

“We’ve been apart for so many years. I really thought we’d get to spend the whole summer together.”

Jace was the first to laugh.

“Of course you’re coming.”

Julian agreed.

“You were already part of the plan.”

Orion looked over at me.

“Elena, it’ll be more fun with one more person. You don’t mind, do you?”

They were all waiting for my answer.

It reminded me of when we were kids and there was one last slice of cake. They always asked me first.

But the moment I said I didn’t mind, that last slice would naturally go to someone else.

I lowered my head and took a sip of my hot chocolate.

It had gone cold.

“No, I don’t mind.”

Jace immediately started a new group chat.

What was supposed to be a graduation trip for four had suddenly become a “Summer of Five.”

Messages began flooding the chat.

They talked about what to wear to the beach, what to pack for camping, and what kind of place they’d rent together once they got to Kingswell.

No one asked why I hadn’t slept all night.

And no one noticed that the confirmation email from Westhaven University was still sitting at the top of my phone screen.

As their messages kept coming, I quietly dismissed the notification.

It felt like tucking away a goodbye letter none of them was supposed to see.