Letting You Go (Stone Lake 1)

“You were with your father. That would have been rich, right? The secret boyfriend calling for help because his drunk father waylaid him with a shovel.”

“He did this with a shovel?” I growl.

“I wasn’t conscious through most of it, but when I woke up there was a shovel on the ground beside me, so…” he shrugs. “Luna, just let it go. Your parents will be wondering where you are and—”

“My parents can go to hell,” I mutter as I help take his weight and we hobble over to the blanket.

It takes some work, but we finally get him sitting. He cried out in pain a couple of times and each noise broke my heart. There are tears falling down my cheeks and my hands are shaking, but I’m doing the best I can to hold myself together. I help him out of his tennis shoes and carefully remove his jacket, followed by his shirt.

When I see the dark colored skin that has already set in bruising, I lose it. I know that it will only get worse and tears run down my face unchecked.

“I hate him,” I murmur, kissing the worst spots as lightly as I can.

“Join the crowd,” Gavin hisses as I kiss the largest bruise which is on his chest and moves along his collar bone.

“I need a first aid kit.”

“I don’t think that will help, Luna,” Gavin says with a dry laugh that immediately causes him more pain.

“Do you think anything is broken?”

“Maybe a rib, but no. My hand is sprained pretty bad, but I’ll be okay.”

“We need to—”

“I’ll be okay, Moonbeam. This isn’t the first time, it’s just the first time in a while.”

“What do you mean?”

“I let my guard down. I was distracted. If I’d been watching, he never would have got me.”

“You were distracted because of me.”

“Luna, it doesn’t matter. I was just—”

“Thinking about our fight,” I finish for him.

Gavin’s good hand comes up and he moves a finger across my lip.

“Let it go, Luna. My father is a bastard. This is not your fault and I don’t want you blaming yourself. Dry up your tears, please,” he adds, wiping a couple away. “He doesn’t deserve them.”

“I love you, Gavin.”

“I love you. I always will,” he says, and I can feel the truth in those words all the way to my soul.

Chapter Forty Two

Gavin

“I thought you left,” I whisper, my voice sounding like someone else.

“You thought wrong. I did borrow your truck though.”

“Where did you go?”

“First to Jules’ house because I have some stuff and money there. Then, I went and picked you up some things.”

“Moonbeam, I hurt too fucking much to eat.”

“I get that, Baby. I do. But I got some pain pills and if you’re going to take one of those, you have to eat a little something.”

“Tylenol won’t hurt on an empty—”

“It’s not Tylenol. I got you the good stuff from when I had my wisdom teeth out.”

“You—”

“I had a few left and I keep them at Jules’ for when I’m there and my monthly crap gets really bad.”

“You have that much trouble? I’ve never noticed.”

“I keep that hidden from you, Gav. I don’t want you to see me like that.”

“Don’t do that anymore,” I mutter, taking the water she hands me and downing a couple of the pills.

“Do what?”

“Hide things from me. If you’re hurting, I want to know. I want to help.”

“There’s not much you can do in that case, Gavin.”

“Maybe not, but I can try. I can be there,” I add, then stop because I start coughing and son of a bitch if that doesn’t hurt like hell.

“Stop growling at me, it’s causing you pain.”

I want to argue with her, but I can’t. “You should probably head back home. Your parents will send out a search party for you soon.”

“My parents can go to hell.”

“Luna, you don’t mean that.”

“I do,” she insists and then she starts cleaning the cut near my mouth with some alcohol. I hiss from the burn of pain. “Sorry, Baby,” she murmurs, blowing on the wound. Even in pain, it feels nice. I can’t remember anyone ever giving a damn about me. This with Luna… it’s good.

Really good.

“Three babies in one night, I’ve hit the motherlode,” I joke.

Her face looks confused for a minute, but then she understands and shakes her head at me.

“You’re crazy. Anyway, I’m done listening to my parents. They’ve been lying to me for months. All this crap about wanting someone good for me, someone that will treat me good and not even giving you a chance.”

“Luna—”

“And it was all lies. Especially from my father. How can he preach about me finding a good man to treat me like I deserve when he’s cheating on my mom and practically living with another woman?”

“Fuck. That’s rough.”

“That’s one word for it.”

“Your mom must be a mess.”