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"How could she have done this, hauled everything out of here so fast?" I glance around the eone I’ve only been inside her apartment once but I remember it crammed packed with a bunch of stuff

"She has friends Or I’m sure her loser boyfriend has a ton of friends I bet they plied the out as fast as they could" She shakes her head "Owen and I both left before six"

And it’s past eleven now "So they had at least five hours"

"It’s a how fast you can hen you need to" Her ry twist

My ar and tell her everything’s going to be okay But she’s too busy taking care of her brother and right now he’s her nu helpless, I walk down the hall and glance into Fable’s roo but a pile of clothes andin the floor as she h his is an incredible mess Her mom’s room is completely empty

This is truly some of the craziest shit I’ve ever seen

An idea co area, excited to tell her It’s the perfect solution to their now very major problem

"I want you to move in with me"

Chapter Seventeen

True love isn’t easy, but it ht for Once you find it, it can never be replaced – Unknown

Fable

Shock washes over me at Dreords "You can’t be serious" Owen pulls out of my embrace, his body stiff His eyes are swollen and his cheeks red fro He was in a total state of panic when he called So freaked out over what Mom did, I could hardly understand him at first

"I’m dead serious" Drew takes a few steps toward me but stops just before he reachesoff hie waves "I have the space Owen can even have his own room"

"Where will Fabes sleep?" Owen asks, his look pointed, his expression fiercely protective

I restto be nice"

"Or he’s just using you for free sex Maybe make you his little woo anywhere or do anything Don’t do it I don’t want to move in with him," Owen says veheh maybe it all stems from when I was an emotional wreck after I came back from Carmel and Drew ditched h So, so tempted to say yes But I need to prove my independence, notti on my own

"You don’t have to"But you don’t want to stay the night here The place is eh I know Mo and eren’t robbed or anything crazy, I’d feel creepy staying the night here The apartment feels too hollow Almost violated

"I don’t want to stay here," Iit "Besides, we have nowhere else to go His apartment is nice and he has a spare bedroom"

"I’m sure his apartment is badass I still don’t want to stay there," Owen retorts He’s so angry, so hurt by what she’s done to us, lances up, his gazeto help me To help us I know it"

Owen rolls his eyes and yanks his hand from mine "Fine We’ll stay there But I refuse to move in with him, Fabes You hardly know his ass"

"Owen, stop" I can’t put up with his attitude right now Drew’s being nothing but kind and generous Owen’s probably using his rudeness as a defense mechanism to cope or whatever, but I don’t want to deal I can hardly wrap my head around what our mother has done to us

Her mental abandonment has scarred me for life Her physical abandonment will probably fk up Owen’s head forever

I hate her So ht, let alone think rationally

At this very et Owen settled first Drew has a futon in his spare room, which he must use as an office, if the desk and computer are any indication I help Drewout the extra blankets while Drew goes and grabs some pillows It feels very doet used to this

But I refuse to let et all sappy and silly now My brother needsto do next

"Do you need anything?" I ask Ohen he walks into the roolass of water or maybe some Tylenol?" He’d cried on the drive over to Drew’s house, sniffling in the backseat of Drew’s extended cab I wanted to co to eat ests as he walks into the room with three fluffy pillows

"I’m fine," Owen says sullenly I send him a pointed look and he adds a muttered thank-you to appease me

"Do you want to talk?" I ask hi out of the way so Drew can dump the pillows on the futon

Owen shakes his head "I’d rather be alone, Fabes I just want to fall asleep and forget this ever happened"

"It’ll just be there ready to face you again once you wake up," I reh I’d love to But it’s staring ure out what to do, where to go next

"Thanks for the slap of reality" He sighs and shakes his head "I know you’re mad at her But…I’m not I’m worried about her She won’t answer your calls and that sucks"

I’d tried to call her at the apartht to voice o