"I need you to pick me up from jail."
I nearly dropped the phone in disbelief when I heard Linc say that. "I'm sorry, what?"
The Brit sighed heavily, almost as if he were exasperated. "I need you to pick me up from jail, Ms. Palmin."
A sort of anger welled up in me, in the very pit of my stomach. How dare he insult me, hit me, disappear for an entire week, and then! then decide that it would be a good idea to call me to bail him out of jail? How. Freaking. Dare he?
"No." I answered simply, placing my finger on the 'end call' button.
"Wait!" he shouted, his voice desperate. "Please. I really do need you to pick me up."
"Have your sister do it." I responded bitterly, putting as much venom in my voice as I possible could. "At least you don't hit her."
Silence reigned on his side of the line, so I continued, intending to end the call right then and there.
"Just... Just leave me alone, okay?" My voice sounded more tired than poisonous with that sentence and I heard Linc sigh.
"Please, Aislyn..." Stupid Brit. How did he manage to make my heartbeat like that when using my first name even after all he had done? "Please. All I ask is that you pick me up from the San Francisco police department, and I can explain everything." He paused, contemplating his words. "I promise I will leave you alone afterwards if you still wish it."
There was a moment of quiet between the two of us as I considered his offer. Finally, I conceded.
"Fine. I'll pick you up, but don't expect anything more from me."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
With that, our conversation ended, I peeled myself off the face of the couch, and I was out the door and on my way to the San Francisco PD.
When I pulled up to the building, Linc wasn't waiting for me outside as I had expected him to be. What? I thought. Does he expect me to bail him out too? Grimacing, I quickly hopped up the short flight of steps to the main entrance and pulled the glass door open, a swift, cool breeze hitting my squarely in the face as I did so. I stepped inside and there was still no sign of the stupid Brit.
The older man at the front of the station looked up at me curiously as I walked cautiously inside. The entry-way only had one bench on it, and sitting there was the man I had unwillingly come for.
He was still dressed in the same clothes I had seen him in a week ago, though they were considerably more rumpled now than they were then. His hair, usually gelled perfection, was in a dark disarray and his green eyes were offset by dark circles under them. When Linc saw me, there was only a faint flicker of recognition on his face before it melted into the same emotionless mask it had been the very first time we met.
Wordlessly, he stood and followed me out to my car. When we got in, however, I refused to start the engine.
"Begin explaining," I demanded, my keys clenched in my fist.
Linc was quiet for a few moments. "Where would you like me to begin?"
"Wherever you think would be best," I replied.
"Then I suppose you had best begin driving," he sighed, "it may take a while."
I started the car while the dark-haired man beside me gathered his wits about him. Pulling out of the parking lot did not take long, and we had hit two stop-lights by the time he chose to speak.
"I'm going to assume you know that Callie and I are half-siblings, and that you know which parent we share," he began. His voice was carefully composed, showing no traces of emotion. "My father... was not a faithful husband. Lucy was not the first woman he had had an affair with, nor do I believe the last. She was, however, the only one that is known to have carried his child... But that's not on subject.
"As I said, my father was not a faithful husband, nor was he a gentle one. I did not realize until I was older that the bruises on my mother's arms were not from bumping into walls. He never laid a hand on me, though--Mother would not allow it. Nevertheless, he and I never got on well.
"When I realized what Gale, my father, was doing, I tiny seed of loathing was planted in me that continued to grow within as time went on. When we moved here to America in 2004 and I met Calphurnia the reality of his infidelity hit me harder then it ever had. Before it had only been a faint awareness. A useless fact stowed away in the very back of my mind. Now I saw the evidence of it right in front of me, and the small seed of hatred began to grow into a tangled mess." Linc sighed and ran his hands over his face, then turned to stare out the passenger-side window. "As soon as I turned eighteen, I moved out of my father's house and into the apartment I live in now. I checked in with my mother from time to time, to make sure she was okay. I hated the idea of leaving her with that... pig. But I couldn't stand being around him any longer."
"One day, whilst I was visiting with my mother, Gale came home in a monstrous fit. He thundered towards my mother, his steps drunken and uneven, with his fists raised."
I flinched in my seat, and he must have noticed because he paused there for a moment before continuing.
"I stopped him; but messed up my shoulder in the process." As if to demonstrate, he started to roll his shoulder, but then winced and stopped. "I took my mother away from him that day and had her live with me. In 2009, as you know, she died from breast cancer. It's not entirely logical, but I blamed Gale for my mother's death and that only served to drive us further apart than we already were.
"The night of Pierre's party--the night you first saw me drunk--we had gotten into an argument. He had come to my apartment, and asked for my mother's necklace. Needless to say, I refused him and turned him away."
Linc had kept himself facing away from me the entirety of the time he had been talking, but he suddenly decided to look at me.
"A week ago, the night we were supposed to go to dinner, I came home to my apartment and found him rifling through her old things..." He chuckled a little bit to himself. "The sound of his nose cracking under my fist was highly satisfying, but it wasn't enough to ebb away the rage I was feeling. I should have--I should have called you. Canceled. Something. But I didn't. I never intended to hurt you, Ms. Palmin. Please understand that." Sighing, he turned away from me again. "I know this is not enough to make up for my actions, but I cannot help myself from asking your forgiveness."
I kept my eyes carefully trained on the road ahead of me as I replied. "I... I understand..." I said the words slowly, thinking each one through carefully before it left my mouth. "But I can't forgive you... not yet."
Linc nodded mutely beside me. The rest of the car ride to his apartment complex was spent in uncomfortable silence.
~~
The week before I left for college was a busy one. Between finishing up work for Pierre and buying supplies for my semester, I was rarely at home. Mom insisted that I get all new furniture for my dorm room, and I swear she bought enough to furnish the room for my roommate as well. She tried to buy me new clothes but I resisted that, citing the fact that the clothes I had now were perfectly fine.
At the agency, I rarely saw Linc. Pierre called for him once in a while, but every time he was conveniently working on something else. When we did see each other, only brief nods of recognition passed between us. It almost seemed as if he was purposefully avoiding me--much like I was avoiding him. It was as if an understanding had passed between us that day. He could explain all he wanted, but that would not change what he had done. I didn't want to speak to him, and he knew it.
Callie, on the other hand, was very much involved in my last week in San Francisco. Unlike my mother, she ignored my protests that I didn't need new clothes and spent two days buying me an entirely new wardrobe. By the time she was done, I had to buy myself three more suitcases just for the extra clothing. She couldn't see me off the day I was to leave, so she hugged me goodbye on my last day at the agency.
"Just remember, Ais," she whispered in my ear. "All those people... they're wrong."
I didn't have to ask her what she meant. I knew she was referencing one of our first conversations.
Gavin and I couldn't spend much time together, so the only time I saw him during that hectic week was the day I was to leave. All my bags were packed, and loaded into my car for the long drive to my out-of-state college.
He hugged me tightly as we stood by my car, squeezing the air from my lungs.
"Gav... Gav... it's not like you're never going to see me again," I gasped out, patting him on the back awkwardly.
"It's for a freaking year, Ais," he replied, hugging me tighter. "That's close enough."
I pushed myself away from him and poked him. "You better call me from your college, bucko, or you're totally losing your best-friend status."
"Same goes for you, loser," Gavin retorted, flicking my nose.
Sighing as I turned away from him, I placed my hand on the door-handle and pulled. The tall boy waved at me sadly, his other hand in his pocket, as I climbed into the car and started the engine. Slowly, I pulled out of the driveway and straightened out the car on the street. Waving one last time, I drove away from Gav and my mom.
The silence was boring, so I turned the stereo on to fill it. I had only been driving a few minutes and was in the streets of San Fran when I saw a familiar Brit driving down the opposite side of the street. He lifted one hand in greeting and I did the same.
Neither of us looked back.
///
Oh my dear goodness... It's been thirty days since I updated this! D:
Anywho. Guess whattttt! This. is. the last. chapter! :D Woooo! LtbB only has an epilogue left. O.O
So I have a question for ya'll: Do you want it now or in a week? It's really your choice. As soon as I post this, I'm going to write it. :P