Letting You Go (Stone Lake 1)

“You two assholes cut down the racket. A man can’t even enjoy his drink around here anymore. Keep this shit up and you’ll find yourselves on the street. It’d serve you right. You’re getting too old to depend on me for a roof over your head. That’s not the way the world works.”

I hate him.

I. Hate. Him. That’s all there is to it. He hasn’t paid one bill on this place in so long that I can’t remember the last time he did. The only groceries he buys would be alcohol and maybe the stray loaf of bread. That’s it, but yet he acts like we owe him everything. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know that whatever it is, I want it to be far away from him.

I wasn’t lying when I told Luna my kind and hers don’t mix. This is just more proof.

He turns away from us and walks out of the room, staggering.

That’s dear old dad in a nutshell.

I loosen my hold on Atticus’s shirt and shove him away from me. He goes, not bothering to keep fighting, and I’m glad.

“You should have left her alone,” he mutters as we’re picking up the shit that fell to the floor while we were fighting. I’ll have to find some cardboard to put over the window. Tomorrow I’ll find a piece of wood. There’s no way in hell my father will repair it—that much I know.

“I know, but I couldn’t,” I respond, knowing I shouldn’t.

“Because of me,” he accuses.

I let out a deep breath wishing like fuck I could leave Stone Lake behind tonight.

After graduation.

I have to keep reminding myself of that. Soon, I can leave everything behind. The odd thing is now when I think of doing that, Luna’s face flashes in my mind.

“Because I couldn’t stop myself,” I tell Atticus, flopping back on my bed after retrieving my baseball. I should shut up, but instead here I am talking to my asshole brother and sharing more than I should.

“You won’t keep her, even if you have her right now. She’s too good for you, Gav. There’s no way you can keep her,” he says, and I can hear the pleasure in his voice. The dumbass thinks he’s getting to me by telling me that shit. I throw my ball up in the air, ignoring him. I already know I can’t keep Luna. I already know she’s not mine to keep.

No matter how much I might want to.

Chapter Nine

Luna

Walking through the halls of school, it feels like everyone is staring at me. I don’t know why they would, but it still feels that way. I tried to smile at a few people, but they would jerk their heads away and look in the opposite direction, almost as if they were ashamed to be caught gawking at me.

It’s making me self-conscious. I don’t know what’s going on. Part of me is hoping it’s mostly in my head. I make it to my locker and breathe a sigh of relief when I can hide behind the metal door. I sift through my books to find the one that I need for my next class. I’m so nervous that I fumble the book in my hand, and it falls to the floor. I close my eyes and take a breath, needing to get control and calm myself.

I know what’s wrong—well, besides the fact everyone is acting strange. It’s that the day is half over, and I’ve not seen Gavin once.

Not once.

I thought maybe he was absent, but Jules has study hall with him in first period and she said he was there. I waited like a fool in front of my locker this morning, hoping against hope he would show up looking for me. He didn’t and I shrugged it off, figuring he had no real idea where my locker was. As the day moved on and I never saw him—not even in passing, not even standing by the water fountains where he usually was—this uneasiness just kept growing in my stomach.

I feel… stupid.

Obviously, Friday night, which meant so much to me, didn’t mean anything to him. Maybe he was only lonely. Maybe it did have to do with his brother. Jules apparently thinks it does. She keeps urging me to flirt with Atticus to keep Gavin’s interest. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted, but I don’t want to do that. Atticus has been really nice to me, but I don’t like him—not like he wants me to. I wouldn’t want to use him either. That’s just not right.

“Hey, Luna.”

I jerk up when I hear Larry’s voice.

Here I was thinking today couldn’t get any worse.

I finish putting things into my locker and getting what I need out before closing the door.

“Larry,” I respond, turning to look at him.