Last Glimpse

Chapter 19

"Trust is something you earn, not something that is given freely. Earn my trust first, then we'll talk." He spun on his heel, leaving the kitchen without another word.

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I stared after Kody, my heart feeling heavy. He seemed - no, he was, more disappointed then he let on. But for some reason, he was hiding what he actually wanted, what his actual reasoning was for wanting to know so bad. I also had a feeling that he wasn't going to say anything about the drink I had regardless. I brought my arms up and held them around my body, suddenly feeling...more alone. I wanted to tell him, I wanted to tell him so bad, but I couldn't. He would hurt Peter, and probably Kody himself, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened. I turned around and stared at my glass, grimacing. I felt awful, but I knew that I did the right thing. Right?

An hour later I hadn't moved, still staring at the now lukewarm water in the glass. I shifted, bones popping from staying in the same position for so long. I had heard Kody pass by the kitchen behind me a few times, but he didn't say anything. Around the fifth time he passed by he paused, and it sounded like he was going to say something, but he continued on after a second. I couldn't suppress the disappointed feeling that crept up when I heard him walk away each time.

After another while of Kody walking past behind me - it was weirdly hypnotic - I stood, stretching my back and shoulders, grimacing at the loud cracks, and walked into the living room. I could sense Kody's gaze on me the entire time, but I didn't bother looking over. He knew that I was aware of his stare, and his reasons for continuing were his alone.

I plopped down heavily onto the couch, staring at the wall disinterestedly. I fell onto my back with a huff, slowly counting each of the dots on the popcorn ceiling above me. My thoughts began to wander, and I clenched my fists when I replayed my "conversation" with Alexander in my head. He knew that I was too afraid to say anything, he should know that. But supposedly something happened, and now he was blaming me. Kody wasn't being a help by sticking his nose in where he shouldn't trying to dig up dangerous information. To top it all off, Alexander had bugged me, and I hadn't noticed until Kody mentioned it. I rolled to my side, brows furrowed as I wondered when he had seen Alexander bug me. Had he seen our little interaction in the doorway? Or had he been observing me like the little creep he is? Then another thought came to me and I sat up in a rush. Had I said anything that would make it seem like I had actually said something? I had been pretty out of it last night, and I couldn't remember if I had said anything out loud that would make it appear that way.

I rubbed my forehead tiredly as I thought back, trying to remember. I stayed like that for almost five minutes before I gave up, dropping my head into my hands. It was no use, there was no way I was going to remember anything. I groaned loudly, biting down on my lip hard. The taste of copper filled my mouth and I hissed, hand flying to my lips. I prodded gingerly at my lips, pulling away to see blood. Great, so now it was like I was self-harming as well as drinking. Just wonderful.

As I tried to drag myself out of my little pity-party, I thought back to the bug that Kody had found. He had taken it off of my jacket, but I couldn't remember what he had done with it afterwards. As I got up to grab a papertowel to stop the bleeding on my lip, I thought back to my conversation with him. I had been distracted at the time, wondering how I had managed to not notice Alexander bugging me, so I could mainly remember my thoughts at the time, but as I thought deeper back, I remembered something. I thought I had seen him slip it into his pocket while we were talking, somehow making it seem like a casual movement.

I wetted the cloth and pressed it to my lip, hissing again when when a sharp pain ran through my mouth. I leaned on the counter again, thinking back farther. I had seen him put it in his pocket, but had he done something with it after that? While we were talking, he kept his hands steadily at his sides, occacionally bringing them up to rest on his hips. But..