I break off panting, wondering where that came from. But I don’t feel bad. I must have stuffed everything down more than I thought and now, I erupted.
“I… I owe you an explanation.” He nods to himself, looking sad and annoyed. “I should have been honest with you right away.”
“Th… this is my fault too,” I stammer back. “I never asked, and I should have asked. I just… I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know. I still don’t.”
“Maybe you should take a seat.” He points to the chair opposite him, making me even more anxious. He looks so serious, that I’m sure whatever I’m about to hear will be even worse than what I imagined, or Alex warned me about. “I will tell you everything.”
“Okay.” I whisper, absolutely terrified as my ass hits the couch. “I’m listening.”
Ted doesn’t say anything right away. He stares at me, like someone who is about to lose everything. I stare at him with the same fear in my heart.
“So, six years ago, when Stix came to pick me up,” he tells me something that I already know. “And I made the worst decision of my life. I decided that helping my family was the most important thing in the world and I walked away from you. I wish I hadn't, I have regretted it ever since, but I can’t change that now.” He sighs heavily. “And I was sucked into a world that I didn’t want to be a part of. I never got too deep, I think Stix and my uncle knew that I really didn’t want to be a part of what they had going on. So, they basically had me running errands like a little bitch… in a gang, I suppose. Not that they were a gang. At least, I was never under the impression that they were.” His head falls into his hands. I can’t help but notice that he’s talked about the ‘gang’ in past tense which is oddly unnerving. “I lived in a shitty apartment with my drugged-up cousin, watching him bring a string of prostitutes in and out of his bed…”
“Woah.” I can’t help but interject. I knew that Stix was trouble, but drugs and women who sell their bodies? That’s not what I thought was going on at all. “And you?”
“No, no,” he reassures me instantly “None of that was ever me. I kept out of it as much as I could…”
“I see.” I don’t see. I’m starting to see Ted in a different way. He’s a stranger to me, not the kid I knew all those years ago. I told myself that he lived a separate life but now I know it was so much worse than I thought it was.
“So, I wasn’t a great person. I might not have been the worst, but I wasn’t the best either,” he continues. “I scarified college and my future and everyone who cared about me. I feel like an idiot, especially saying it to you, but I fucked up. I have known that for a long time, I just wasn’t sure how I could get out.”
Oh God, my pulse is racing. I don’t know if I want to know this answer, but I have to ask. “So, how did you get out?”
“This is the part that is going to be hard to hear.” Is it me or he is going pale? “My cousin and my uncle were involved in some stuff that I didn’t know about. Things that were worse than I knew.”
Every horror film I have ever seen comes to mind. You know this is going to end badly, but I can’t stop paying attention. “Like what?”
“I don’t know what exactly.” He shrugs helplessly. “But it got them both killed.”
The room falls silent. I’m pretty sure that Ted is waiting for me to say something, but nothing is coming out.
“Your uncle?” My hand claps to my mouth. “Stix? They’re dead?”
“Stix was killed while I was in the apartment. There wasn’t anything that I could do but run…”
“Oh my God.” I rise to my feet. “Oh my God, Ted.”
That’s why he crashed like he did, that’s why he ended up here. Shock. It has nothing to do with me or fate bringing us back together. He put me at risk because he was looking for something familiar, something safe. But doing that, put me in danger.
Who is this? I don’t recognize him anymore, I can’t breathe.
“I know, and I’m sorry, Chloe. I shouldn’t have kept this from you. It’s dangerous. I shouldn’t have stayed.”
“So, you’re going to drop that on my lap then leave?” I stare at him in utter disbelief. “Are you really running out on me again? I can’t believe you, Ted. This is just... I have no words. Your family was awful, and now they’re dead. Are you next?”