He Promised Me A Home And Gave It To Her Chapter 04

Two days before we were supposed to leave, Dad was waiting outside the café where I worked part-time.

Somehow, he’d heard about my scholarship and assumed the university had already deposited the money into my bank account.

“Hand over your debit card.”

“They haven’t sent the money yet.”

He slapped me across the face.

I stumbled into the glass door, my ears ringing.

One of my coworkers was so frightened that she ducked into the kitchen and called 911.

Dad grabbed a fistful of my hair and dragged me toward the alley beside the café.

“Your mother ran off with another man. Now you’re trying to run away, too?”

“I’m the one who raised you! What’s wrong with me taking some of your money?”

I managed to pull out my phone. My first instinct was still to call Orion.

He picked up almost immediately.

“Elena?”

Before I could answer, Dad snatched the phone out of my hand and smashed it against the wall.

Just before the screen went black, I heard Orion calling my name over and over.

For a moment, I wasn’t quite so scared.

He’d heard.

He knew Dad was hurting me.

He would come.

On my eighteenth birthday, Orion had slipped a ring onto my finger, looking as solemn as if he were making a vow.

“Wherever you are, just call me. I promise I’ll be the first one there.”

Clinging to that promise, I curled up in the alley with my arms over my head and waited for ten minutes.

The police got there first.

Even pinned to the ground, Dad kept screaming that I was an ungrateful brat.

A broken beer bottle had sliced open my arm. The wound needed five stitches.

After the shattered screen was replaced, my phone barely powered on.

There were more than a dozen missed calls from Orion.

The moment I answered, I could hear the panic in his voice.

“Where are you?”

“How badly are you hurt?”

“Have the police gotten there?”

“I’m at the hospital.”

“I needed a few stitches, but the cut didn’t reach the bone.”

He let out a long breath.

“Okay. That’s good.”

There was a lot of noise on his end.

I could hear Jace urging a doctor to hurry up and Vivian struggling to hold back her sobs.

After a brief pause, Orion explained in a low voice.

“Vivian suddenly started having heart palpitations. She was having trouble breathing.”

“We’re in the ER right now.”

“I was already on my way to you, but she couldn’t catch her breath in the car. She kept grabbing my shirt.”

“Elena, I couldn’t just leave her on the side of the road.”

I stared at the neat row of stitches on my arm.

“I know.”

I heard the relief in his next breath.

“Your dad was just after money.”

“I figured you could get back inside the café, where there were other people, and call the police.”

“You’re always calmer than Vivian. I knew you’d be able to handle it.”

Apparently, you had to cry for someone to rush over and hold you.

And because I’d always been so good at keeping it together, even my safety could wait.

“Elena, I’m sorry.”

“Give me an hour.”

“As soon as Vivian finishes getting checked out, I’ll come stay with you.”

“Okay.”

Once again, I believed him.

I waited all afternoon, until it was dark outside.

The hallway lights came on, and the nurses changed shifts.

Orion never showed up.

Vivian had to stay overnight for observation.

All three boys stayed with her.

The next morning, Orion texted me.

Orion: [Vivian’s okay now.]

A few minutes later, another message arrived.

Orion: [Elena, you’ve always been so understanding. You’re not going to blame me, are you?]

I stared at it for a long time before replying.

Me: [No.]

He wasn’t wrong to put someone who might be having a heart emergency first.

But I finally understood what he’d meant when he promised to always protect me.

There was a condition he’d left out.

He’d protect me as long as Vivian didn’t need him.

I went back to Orion’s apartment and slipped the last key off the cord around my neck.

I’d worn the ring for so long that a pale band remained on my finger.

I had to tug a little to get it off.

I put the key and ring into an envelope, along with a note.

[Orion, thank you for the home you once gave me.]

A tear fell as I finished writing, smearing the last word.

I thought about writing it again, but decided not to.

Let him see it.

Let him see that I was hurting, too.

I just couldn’t keep waiting.

On the day we were supposed to leave, the airport was crowded with families seeing their kids off to college.

After checking my suitcase, I spotted Orion and the others through a glass partition.

They’d saved a seat for me near the Kingswell departure gate.

Jace had bought five drinks and tucked my hot chocolate into an insulated bag to keep it warm.

Julian had brought motion sickness pills for the flight and placed a soft travel pillow on the empty seat.

Orion kept checking the time.

“Where is Elena? Why isn’t she here yet?”

Jace grumbled, though his eyes kept drifting toward the entrance.

“She’s probably running late again.”

“When she gets here, I’m giving her an earful.”

Julian was scrolling through a Kingswell travel guide on his phone.

“When we get there, let’s take Elena out for some authentic New England clam chowder.”

“She’s never been to New England, and she’s always wanted to try the real thing.”

Vivian immediately looked up.

“But Kingswell’s even more famous for its lobster rolls!”

“I’d rather get those first.”

Orion hesitated for only a moment before smiling.

“Then we’ll get lobster rolls first.”

“We can take Elena for clam chowder at the next meal.”

Jace chimed in.

“We’ve got four whole years. There’s plenty of time.”

Standing behind the crowd, I looked at the empty seat they’d saved for me.

My hot chocolate was waiting there, along with the motion sickness pills and the pillow they’d thoughtfully set out.

But tears kept falling onto my boarding pass.

It wasn’t that they’d forgotten about me.

They could always get me the food I wanted at the next meal.

They could make up for hurting my feelings some other time.

Even when Dad dragged me into an alley, helping me could wait until Vivian was safe.

They always thought we had all the time in the world.

So every time, they could afford to put me last.

The final boarding call for Westhaven came over the speakers.

I wiped away my tears and gave that empty seat a small smile.

When I was ten, I’d made those three boys my whole world.

Now they’d made their choice.

I couldn’t blame them, and I didn’t want to fight for my place anymore.

It was time I started living my own life.

I turned and went through the boarding gate.

Behind me, Orion finally grew restless.

He stopped Ms. Lee, our high school counselor, who’d come to see us off.

“Ms. Lee, have you seen Elena?”

“She’s supposed to be going to Kingswell University with us. Why isn’t she here?”

Ms. Lee looked surprised.

“Elena Shaw?”

She checked the list in her hand, her expression growing more troubled.

“You three don’t know?”

All three boys immediately got to their feet.

Orion’s smile slowly disappeared.

“Know what?”

Ms. Lee looked toward the Westhaven gate on the other side of the concourse, where boarding was coming to an end.

“Elena turned down Kingswell University.”

“She accepted a full scholarship from Westhaven University.”

Orion whipped around.

At that moment, his phone buzzed.

It was a message from the manager of his apartment building.

Building manager: [Mr. Lowe, the cleaner found an envelope on your desk.]

Building manager: [There’s a key and a ring inside.]