Page 27 of Wicked Promises (Fallen Royals 3)
While half are from Riley, the other half are random people from school asking if Margo is okay. My lacrosse team, some of the nicer cheerleaders…
“I notice Amelie and Savannah don’t give a shit,” she mumbles.
She types out a text, then sets the phone down. “Matt had an alibi.”
I squint. “What?”
“What if I’m misremembering everything? Like my brain just put in a person who didn’t really make sense—”
“You don’t trust yourself?”
“How could I?” She stares up at the ceiling. “I forgot that my own mother cheated on Dad with yours.”
“It was traumatic,” I say. “For us, yes, but… I wasn’t allowed to forget.”
She sits up. Her head tilts. “What do you mean?”
I could give her this. A little bit of my side.
“After Dad died, Mom couldn’t stand to be in the house. She was self-destructing.”
“Not as bad as mine,” she whispers.
I crack a smile. “No, Mother didn’t turn to drugs. But she did think she couldn’t parent me anymore, so she carted me off to my aunt and uncle’s house.”
Margo freezes. “No.”
“Uncle David is Dad’s brother. He was… not happy. And all I wanted was to get you back.” I sit beside her. “He was the one who did his best to turn me against you. And I hate to say that he was successful, but he was. It was easy to blame you for everything that happened.”
She bites her lip.
Everything is so fucking fragile right now.
“I’ll let you sleep,” I eventually say. I don’t know how to talk to her. What to do to make it better.
I’ll figure it out, though.
She lets me go. I half expect her to call me back, but she doesn’t.
And all of a sudden, energy burns through me. It twitches my limbs. Fuck Matt and his alibi, and whoever else was with him. I bang on Eli’s door, shoving it open without waiting for an answer.
He’s at his desk, chewing on the end of a pen.
“Homework?” I ask.
“Yeah. How’s Margo?”
“I don’t know. I need to get out of here.”
He chuckles. “Yeah, I could use some exercise.”
We both change into running gear and meet at the front door.
“A mile?” he suggests.
I roll my eyes. “Five.”
“You’re trying to kill me right out of the gate, huh?”