He Promised Me A Home And Gave It To Her Chapter 07

They stayed near campus for three days.

Orion came to see me every day.

He brought breakfast in the mornings and waited outside after I finished work at night.

When I came out of the library that evening, he was standing beneath a streetlight again.

He was holding an oat-milk chai latte, the drink I’d always loved.

“Warm, not too sweet.”

“I remembered.”

I didn’t take it.

“If there’s something you want to say, just say it.”

He pressed his lips together.

“We looked into what happened.”

“The security cameras at the café caught everything your dad did that night.”

“Jace found a lawyer. We’ve got enough to put your dad behind bars.”

“He won’t be able to hurt you again.”

I nodded.

“Thank you.”

“Elena, don’t thank me.”

Orion’s eyes reddened.

“You never used to talk to me like a stranger.”

“I always thought you’d be there to protect me,” I said.

“But when I needed you, you weren’t.”

I looked at him.

“I can’t keep waiting for you to finish taking care of everyone who’s more important before you finally come to help me.”

He rushed to explain.

“Vivian really couldn’t breathe that day.”

“I know.”

“That’s why I don’t blame you.”

“But just because I don’t blame you doesn’t mean I have to come back.”

Orion opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Jace and Julian came over from across the street.

Jace held out the black backpack.

“I packed all of this for you.”

“Just take it, okay?”

I opened the bag.

The glucose tablets, jacket, and motion sickness pills were all still there.

At the very bottom was a small container of vanilla ice cream.

It had long since melted into liquid.

Jace stared at it, his eyes turning red.

“I was supposed to get you one that day.”

“When we came back looking for you, I forgot it was in there.”

He swore under his breath.

“Damn it. Why are we always too late?”

Julian handed me the graduation scrapbook.

There were three new lines on the last page.

[Elena, we’re sorry.]

[It wasn’t that you could handle everything. We’d just gotten too used to you putting up with it.]

[Could you give us one more chance?]

I closed the scrapbook.

“Julian, do you remember why you gave me that key when I was ten?”

“I remember.”

“Because I had nowhere to go.”

“Well, I do now.”

I gestured toward the residence hall behind me.

“So you don’t need to rescue me anymore.”

Jace couldn’t help interrupting.

“Since when is some crappy dorm room a home?”

Just then, Summer came out of the building.

She tossed me her keys.

“Elena, hold these for me.”

“I’m going to grab us something to eat. Want yours spicy?”

“No, thanks.”

“Got it. Don’t lock me out, okay? I’ll grab you some yogurt, too.”

And with that, she took off.

I caught the keys.

Hanging from the ring was the little cartoon charm we’d bought together.

Jace stared at it, whatever he had been about to say dying in his throat.

My new life wasn’t much to look at.

I had a hard bed, an old key, and a roommate I’d known for less than a week.

But when Summer went out, she reminded me not to lock her out.

She knew I’d be there when she came back.

Orion finally spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Elena, is there really no way for us to go back to how things were?”

“No.”

I handed the scrapbook back to Julian.

“Those three places are your homes.”

“This one is mine.”