It hit like a spear through my heart, Eli telling me to leave. But I had news for him. I was not going anywhere. Not that easily. I had been furious that these two buffoons with me had not told me sooner he had been in hospital. He was not going to just dismiss me. I cared for him, whether things had been difficult between us of late or not. If he has been struggling with addiction, that could account for the changes in him, and I wanted to make sure he did not go through that alone now I knew about it.
The squeeze on my hand before he spoke his words told me they were not meant in a nasty way, and the way his finger traced a pattern over the skin of my hand too meant he wasn't being harsh in his words. I think he failed to consider that motion. I know he is trying to protect me. But the
