Page 57 of When You Stayed
“Oh my freaking gawwwwwd.” Taryn practically shrieked behind me.
I turned around and found her looking inside of Ford’s top dresser drawer.
“Taryn,” I snapped, “that’s such an invasion of privacy.”
Her fingers plucked up a tiny bundle of photos while a huge smile stretched over her face. Her eyes were huge like she’d discovered the juiciest secret. I moved closer, now curious.
“What is it?”
In her hand were wallet-size pictures with blue backdrops.
“Wait.” I slid the top picture off the pile. My blond hair was curled to perfection, my lips were a glossy pink and my eyes had blue shadow, too intense for my skin tone, but I hadn’t listened to Taryn when she told me.
“That’s me, junior year of high school.”
Taryn made a victorious humming sound as she slid the next picture off the pile in front of me. “And here’s you, sophomore year.”
My hair was shorter and straight. I had braces on, but I hadn’tsmiled with them showing, it was one of the few times I didn’t show my teeth when smiling.
She slid the next one in front of me. “And freshman year.”
There was only one person I had given every single school picture to, and that wasn’t Ford. I snatched them out of her hand and sifted through each one.
Eighth grade year. Seventh. Sixth. Fifth. Fourth. Third.
My fingers moved, seeing all the various years of my life flash literally before my eyes. Each and every one was of me.
Why did he have these?
“He must have others in here,” I said, shifting in front of where Taryn had been standing. She had an infuriating smirk stamped across her face.
He had a gun in the drawer, a roll of cash, a bag of weed, a tea bag for a sore throat, a video game, and more pictures. Then my fingers froze when I came across three flimsy thongs, all pink…and…mine.
My brows curved as I pulled them free. “I left these at Connor’s house. I know because?—”
My sister was watching me like she was watching a murder documentary. My curiosity regarding her and Connor was officially piqued, so I did something reckless. I didn’t want to hurt her; I just wanted to see if she’d have a reaction to what I was about to say.
“Connor would pocket my panties whenever he’d slide them down my legs, and we’d…”
Taryn quickly spun around and moved to the closet before I could catch her reaction. I had no clue if she cared or not, but I decided not to push it.
Dropping the panties and the pictures, I migrated to the closet with her and inspected inside. There, on the top shelf of his closet was a simple, brown box.
Standing on my tiptoes, I yanked it down, and my confusion only worsened. A long-sleeved shirt, a few swimsuits, more framed photos. Chapstick, nail polish, and a few hats.
“This is my stuff. Everything I had at Connor’s. I had assumed it was tossed when he left.”
Taryn gently tugged at the sleeve of the shirt inside the box. “Why does Ford have it all?”
Searching the contents of the box, that anger swirled and amplified as I tried to come up with a reply. My sister seemed to understand my struggle and took over for me by shutting the box.
“Well, if this is all yours, then let’s take it back, I brought your old Jeep because I thought we were stealing Gus.”
I nodded, battling the burning in my nose.
He had no right to have these in his possession, especially after being so cruel to me. I scooped up every single picture he had of me and shut the drawer.
“I don’t care about Gus anymore, I just want these.”
