Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
“I missed you,” Alli told me suddenly, tears in her eyes. I gave her a small, sad smile. “I missed your words of wisdom. You always gave me something to hang on to. I should have never stopped calling you and confiding in you.”
I reached out and brushed a tear off her cheek as it fell down her face. “I will fly out and visit you every single weekend, Alli,” I promised her.
“That’s so expensive,” she breathed, shaking her head.
A small smile tilted my lips. “Julian will make sure I’m here every Wednesday to see you.”
“Mom and Dad?” she asked me, hope in her eyes. I hated to be the one to kill that hope.
I clenched my jaw. A little over a month later, and I still hadn’t spoken to them. I just shook my head at Alli. “I’m a bit pissed with them at the moment for neglecting you, Alli,” I told her honestly. “Besides,” a smirk tilted my lips, “Julian is basically family now.” I laughed. A small smile tilted her own lips. “Trust me, he’ll make sure I’m here.”
“Can he come see me, too?” she asked.
I looked over at Dr. Gresham. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully before he focused his gaze on me. “Did he come to town with you and Meghan?”
I nodded. “He took her to go visit his parents,” I informed him. “We’ll be here for the next couple of days.”
He looked over at Alli. “Can you tell me why you want to see him?” Dr. Gresham asked her. She clammed up, and I knew why. The reason she was close to Julian was unknown, even to me. She wouldn’t ever tell me, and Julian always told me it was up to her to tell me, so I eventually just left it alone.
I just always figured he looked at her as a little sister.
“Alli?” Dr. Gresham coaxed.
Tears slid down her cheeks. “He found me cutting myself,” she whispered.
My eyes widened in shock. “When was this?” I asked her. She flinched. “Alli, sis, I’m not angry.” But fuck, it hurt she hadn’t trusted me enough to tell me this. “You were hurting. Everyone copes in different ways, even if those ways are harmful.”
“Right before you guys left for college. I was upset because you were leaving, and I didn’t know how to cope with it. He came to ask me if I wanted to go grab food with you guys, and he found me cutting my thighs.”
“Good job,” Dr. Gresham praised her for opening up to me, giving her a warm smile. “Confessing that is a step in the right direction towards healing. He can come see you.”
Alli looked over at me. “I’m sorry for letting you down, Axel.”
I shook my head at her and got up to wrap her up in my arms. I kissed the top of her head. “The only way you’ll ever let me down, sis, is if you don’t use everything this center offers to try to heal.” I squeezed her tightly as she hugged me back. “I’ll be back next Wednesday, okay? And I’ll go talk to Julian about coming to see you.”
“Tell Meghan I’m sorry,” Alli told me.
“Maybe one day soon, you’ll have the opportunity to say those words to her yourself,” Dr. Gresham told her. She pulled back from me and swiped at her cheeks. “Come on. It’s time for your medicine.”
“See you later, sis,” I told her softly, knowing we never said, ‘goodbye.’ It felt too final to us. We always said, ‘see you later.’
She gave me a small smile. “See you later, Axel.”
44
Julian
* * *
I nuzzled Meghan’s neck. She shoveled a spoonful of peanut butter into her mouth, her eyes focused on the TV in front of her. Axel was sitting on the floor at the table in front of us, working on doing research for yet another damn paper.
I didn’t see how he didn’t absolutely detest his professors by now.
I hated his professors, and I wasn’t even the one suffering through it.
Axel sighed and tossed his pen down. Meghan looked down at him at the same moment I did. He reached up to rub his temples. “I hate this fucking professor,” he complained.
I laughed. “I was legit just thinking how much I hated them on your behalf.”
He rolled his eyes at me and looked up at Meghan. “I’m going to order something to eat. Want something to eat, sweet girl?”
She held up her spoonful of peanut butter. “Nope, I’m good,” she told him as she shoveled yet another spoonful into her mouth.
Axel grabbed his phone to find somewhere to order food from. “Alli wants you to visit her before we go back to Massachusetts,” Axel informed me. Meghan tensed in my arms. I rubbed her belly and pressed a gentle kiss to her neck. I knew how she felt about me being around Alli, but Alli would never be anything more than a little sister to me.