Drake didn’t know what to say to her. He felt the panic rise up.
They both froze as there was a knock on the door.
“Come on, you two. We can’t let you stay in there forever. Hurry up,” her father said.
His anger once again rose to the surface. He couldn’t protect either of them from inside a bathroom. “How can they even call themselves your parents?”
“Drake, they can’t do anything.”
“Don’t justify their actions. Not to me. Not right now.”
“I’m not trying to. I’m really not. This is so hard, watching them as your parents talked to me like that. Other than you, no one has ever treated me like that. I…” She stopped talking and he watched her return to crying.
It broke his heart to see her like this. “Please don’t cry.”
“We’ve got no way of winning this. No way at all. I don’t know what we’re going to do,” she said.
“You keep repeating that.”
“Because it’s the truth. What can we do?” She rubbed at her chest. “I feel like all of this is hopeless. We’re on our own. No one is ever going to help us.”
He couldn’t bear to have her like this. It hurt him to see her sound so helpless.
What can you really do?
Your parents are going to destroy every single kind of happiness you have.
He pulled her to him, kissing the top of her head and just breathing her in.
“You know there’s nothing we can do. We’re all alone,” she said. “I can’t believe they called me a slut.”
“You don’t listen to them. Not ever.” He pulled away, cupping her face. “Look at me. What I did to you before, I want you to forget all of that. My parents, they don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re fucking idiots.”
“But…”
“No buts. Don’t listen to them. They want to get inside your head and destroy who you are but we’re not going to let that happen. You and me, we’re going to stay strong.”
“You were right, Drake. We can’t win this. You’ve got to let me go.”
His parents had taken everything away from him, and it seemed they weren’t done with ruining him even more. Any kind of happiness, no matter the size, they were always there, set to ruin it for him, and he couldn’t handle that. Not anymore.
Gritting his teeth, he shook his head. “No, I’m not going to let you go. Not now, not ever.”
“Drake, we both know there’s no use in fighting this. They’re the ones who will win in the end.”
“Not if we fight back.” He didn’t know why he was having such a huge change of heart over this, only that he had to do something now.
“Drake, there’s no point,” she said. “It’s fine. We both knew this was going to happen in the end. It only stopped now, rather than later. It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” he said.
Her parents were still waiting, and he couldn’t think with them close, willing to take Pru away.
“This isn’t over,” he said. “Tell me you don’t want to leave me, leave us.”
Tears fell down her face and he tried to wipe them away but they just kept falling.
“Please, don’t cry.”
“I can’t help it. I don’t want this to end between us but I don’t know how we can save this. It’s so hopeless.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“What?”
“I don’t believe what we have is hopeless. Do you trust me?” he asked.
She frowned at him. “What are you going to do?”
“I need to know if you trust me.”
“Yes, of course I do.”
“Good. I’m going to make this work. I promise you. I just needed to know you trust me and that you’re with me.”
“Always. I love you, Drake.”
“And I love you.” He pressed a kiss to her lips. “Always. Never forget that.”
Chapter Twenty
What is the plan?
Driving home with her parents was the worst thing Pru could ever think of doing. They were silent and even in their refusal to speak, she knew they were judging her. She couldn’t blame them for being angry. They had always asked her to stay away from Drake, but she hadn’t heeded the warning, and now look where they were.
Soon, she was back her home with parents who wouldn’t speak to her, and she hadn’t heard from Drake, which scared her. She didn’t want him to be punished.
Her birthday weekend had gone from fun to crap within minutes. How did they know they were there? Who knew? She hadn’t told a soul about her relationship with Drake, so how did anyone know? None of this made any sense to her.
They’d been so careful.
She stared at her cell phone.
Her parents were downstairs, talking in whispered tones. Running a hand down her face, she tried to clear her mind, but it wasn’t happening. She had to confront her parents so she knew exactly what was going on.