"Thank you, Charles," I said softly, looking over at him as he dropped my heavy bag by the door. "Seriously. Thank you for coming to get me, and for offering me a place to stay. I don't know what I would've done."
Charles turned around. The calm facade he'd kept up in the cab was gone. "Don't thank me, Eli. I'm just glad you're out of that house"
Charles snapped, with an anger he'd been holding in for hours. He stepped closer, looking at me fiercely. "I mean it. The way that asshole put his hands on you yesterday?" He took a deep breath, pointing a finger at me to emphasize his point. "I want you to promise me you won't have anything to do with the Donovans ever again."
My eyes widened.
"Cut them off completely!" He continued. "Don't take their calls, don't answer their texts, and if you see them at school, you walk the other way. They are dangerous, Eli. They think they can play with lives like toys. You stay away from them."
I stood still in the middle of his living room.
