Pretty When She Cries - Black Mountain Academy

I burrow deeper into the comforter, hoping it will protect me from flinging myself at him the way I want to. “I don’t think there’s anything left to talk about between us. All we do is hurt each other.”

“I know.” He rests his open palm between us. “But that’s why it’s so important. I’ve realized something—”

The bedroom door flies open, startling both of us. My mom and Theo rush into the room in their pajamas with matching expressions of concern.

“What’s going on here?” Theo’s eyes move back and forth between us.

“Shit,” Landon groans.

“We had a silent alarm installed.” Theo tugs the hem of his tee shirt down, and I can tell he’s packing his handgun.

“Kail, are you alright?” my mom asks.

“I’m fine.” I offer her a reassuring smile. “Landon just came back home. He didn’t want to disturb you guys, but he wanted to say hello. He’s leaving now.”

His face falls, but I tell myself this is how it has to be. We’ve been at war too long. We’ve both flung poison arrows, and we hurt each other repeatedly. But Landon crossed the line from fair play when he went to Audrey and shattered me. There are just some things you can’t come back from.

I can feel his eyes on my face. He wants me to look at him, but I can’t. Eventually, the silence lingers too long, and he has no choice.

“Yeah,” he says, woodenly. “I just wanted to give Kail her birthday present.”

He slides a small velvet box onto my nightstand and gets up reluctantly, glancing at me one last time.

“Great.” Theo gestures for him with a stern expression on his face. “Then you won’t mind having a word with the two of us downstairs.”

They leave, and my eyes dart to the box several times. I consider shoving it into the drawer so I don’t have to look at it, but I don’t know who I think I’m kidding. I have to look at it.

I open it up to find a rose gold anatomical heart necklace. It’s morbidly beautiful in an unusual way, and I can’t help tracing my fingers over the fine details. There’s a small, folded piece of paper beneath it, and when I pluck it out, I’m not sure my own heart can take it if I look at what he’s written inside. But I do. And I was right.

This belongs to you.

I may have locked you out, but you’ve always had the key.

Happy Birthday, Kail.29KailaniThe next morning, my mom wakes me up early to eat breakfast, but I know she really just wants to talk to me. As I suspected, when I get dressed, she’s waiting for me downstairs with a smoothie bowl and a smile that betrays her motives.

“Thanks, Mama.” I take the bowl and sit down at the counter.

“Did you sleep okay last night?” She busies herself at the cutting board, chopping up some fruit for herself.

“Pretty good.” I shrug.

Truthfully, I don’t think I slept at all after Landon left. All I could think about was him getting an earful from my mom and Theo before they sent him on his way.

“So…” She wipes her hands on a towel and tries to act casual. “Is everything okay with you and Landon?”

“Yep.” I shove a spoonful of fruit into my mouth.

She frowns at my one-word response.

“Honey, can I ask… is there still something going on between you two?”

She looks worried, and I know she’s probably torn because she doesn’t know how to handle this situation. My mom cares about Landon—that much is obvious—but she doesn’t want to hurt me either.

“There’s nothing going on anymore,” I tell her. “I don’t know if there ever really was.”

“Oh, okay.” She sounds a little disappointed by that revelation. “Well, I just didn’t know if you wanted him here for dinners anymore.”

I pause with the spoon halfway to my lips and stare at her. “Landon loves you and Theo. And I know you guys love him. We’re not going to tear each other’s throats out, I promise. You don’t need to banish him from the house or anything like that.”

She releases a tiny, almost inaudible sigh of relief. “Alright. I just want you to be comfortable in your own home. That’s the most important thing.”

“I am.” I polish off the bowl and carry it to the sink. “But I’d like to move back into the pool house soon if that’s okay with you.”

“I don’t know, Kail.”

“It’s all secure now,” I remind her. “Nobody can get in unless I let them in.”

“I’ll think about it,” she says. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off at school?”

“I told you Jared is picking me up.” I grab my backpack and double-check that my homework is in there. But as I’m doing that, something else catches my eye. Something I was not expecting to see again.