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Dylan shook his head. “Please stop apologizing. I’m not mad. Not really. You’re grieving and hurting, and I get why you didn’t explain. You were so worried about my fragile feelings that you couldn’t be honest about your own. That’s not fair to you.” Dylan pushed up from the ground. “I-I need a sec.” He braced an arm against the couch and took a few deep breaths before moving toward the door.
Derek stopped him in the entryway. “Please…” The depth of Dylan’s emotion hit him like a brick wall. “None of that is true. Can you please let me—”
“No, I won’t.” Dylan twisted around. “Derek Chang, I’ve watched you take care of everyone else around you at the expense of your own happiness. Over and over and over again.” He gestured to the apartment. “You did all this just to give your sister a break.”
“I shouldn’t have though.”
Dylan locked eyes with Derek. “I’ve worked too hard on not hating myself to be with someone who thinks they need to protect me or rescue me or manage me from knowing the truth. I’m not a broken thing you need to fix. And if you think I am, this isn’t going to work.”
There was nothing but silence.
The words mirrored what Michelle said. Derek couldn’t reply. He’d screwed up enough people already, hadn’t he?
Dylan opened the door, and Derek let him walk upstairs alone.
Chapter 48
Dylan sat on the floor of Uncle Sean’s apartment as more banging came from the front door. One of the last things he had done was re-key the lock since he had no idea how many people Sean had given keys to. He’d given the extra keys to his dad for the Realtor.
Felicity seemed pissed her key wouldn’t work. She banged on the door again. “Just let me in.”
Why couldn’t everyone just leave him alone?
He’d be out of here in less than twelve hours. He’d spent the day moving the bigger stuff. He’d loaded as much as he could into his Jeep yesterday, making several trips when he knew Derek was working. Derek never took back permissions for Dylan to view his Google calendar. It was a little like reverse stalking. Today, Derek was not at work, so Dylan would be doing the brave thing. Hiding the entire day in this locked apartment.
It was like the Parakeet Karen calendar.
Dylan needed to be back home. He knew this was ADHD burnout. He’d been through it before. The weeks in California out of his comfort zone had already nearly wrecked him, and then…
“Open this damn door, Dylan Gallagher, or I will propel my height-deficient self through it, and if I break my shoulder, it’s on you.”
More banging.
“If that Karen calls the cops again, they’re definitely going to arrest me this time, so open the goddamn door.”
“Everything okay?” said a different voice outside. It took Dylan a second to place that voice. He’d only seen Joni, Derek’s doctor friend, a couple times since that first day after the incident when she’d bandaged his hand and checked out his ribs like some ethereal medical sprite. “Sorry to intrude, but I heard you yelling and just wanted to make sure everything’s okay. Are you Dylan’s sister? I’m Derek’s friend.”
“This jackass won’t answer his phone. And I think he changed the locks because Uncle Sean’s selling the apartment, but I’m freaking out.”
“You think something’s wrong?” Joni said.
“I don’t know. He’s gone radio silent before, but not usually from me.” She kicked the door this time. “Can you just open up?”
“If you’re really worried, we could call someone,” Joni said, a note of growing concern in her voice. “When did you last hear from him?”
“A week ago.”
“We could call the non-emergency line, and—”
Dylan wrenched open the door. “Jesus Christ, Felicity, I’m fine. I just want to be alone.”
Both redhead’s mouths fell open.
“What the hell happened to you?” Felicity asked, probably taking in his unshowered, disheveled appearance. She pushed inside. “You should come in too. We need to find out what the hell is going on between these two.”
Joni frowned at Dylan. He gestured to the couch, resigned to his fate and unable to suppress his need to know how Derek was. Joni sat next to Felicity, and Dylan shut the door behind them and locked it.
Felicity pulled out everything edible in the fridge and put it on a plate and then pushed it in front of Dylan. “You look like garbage. If you don’t eat, I’m taking you to the hospital.”