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“I know, baby,” I assured him

I heard a gasp behind us, but didn’t need to see who it was

“I’ll stand guard outside,” I heard Mav say

“Caleb,” Eli cried out, and as I released Caleb, I saw Eli turning to get some paper towels from the dispenser

“I’m sorry,” Caleb told his brother

“It’s okay,” Eli said, his voice shaky as he gently pressed the paper towels to the wounds

Caleb let out a rough sob and then he was pushing into Eli’s arainst Caleb’s arm as his brother held him and just let hiently pulled hiot him to the sink and Eli held onto Caleb as I quickly cleaned the cuts Fortunately, they weren’t deep

“I’ll go tell the prosecutor we’re not doing this today,” Eli said as he wiped at his brother’s face

“No,” Caleb said, grabbing Eli’s arm before he could leave “Please, I need to do this now I’ll… I’ll be okay” His eyes fell to his own ar at me “Jace, please, I have to do this”

“We can talk to the judge… try to explain”

Caleb shook his head “If he finds out about this,” – heHe’ll believe my father’s story that I made all of it up”

Part of ht, but the other part of et hilances with Eli and could tell he was just as reluctant as me to let this continue But Caleb did seeone about it, I couldn’t take this from him – he’d never be able to move on with his life if his father walked

I finally nodded, and when Caleb looked at Eli, he said, “If you have to stop at any time while you’re in there, you just tell the prosecutor and that’s it No arguments,” he said firmly

“Okay,” Caleb said solemnly “Promise”

As he and Eli talked, I covered the still-bleeding cuts with some more paper towels and used e to his arm, much like he had the day he’d hurt himself e’d boarded Dalton’s boat Luckily, there wasn’t any blood on his shirt Eli helped hiet his jacket back on and then I took his hand in e’s cha time and whispered in his ear that I’d be there the ainst me, but didn’t speak

My gut was screa hio

For once, I hated that my instincts were usually spot-on