Free Mutual Release by Liz Crowe

dim. But when she held out her arms he leaned into her, let her hold him. When she spoke, her words surprised him.
    “Remember when we were nine and Mom made us finally split up into separate rooms?”
    He nodded. “You cried. But I told you that you had to get your pink stuff out of my room. That I wanted you to go.” He pulled away from her and watched as she bit her lip. “You know I didn’t mean that, right? That I only said it so you wouldn’t feel bad – so you’d be mad at me and want to move into your new room.”
    “No, I didn’t.” She said as a tear slipped down her cheek. “But I do now, thanks.”
    Panic gripped his gut again as images of her, beaten and destroyed by a man he knew was capable of such brutality, ghosted through his brain. He grabbed her arms tight, making her protest. “Listen to me, Olivia. I love you. You are too important to me to just drop this and pretend nothing is wrong, like our parents always do.”
    She started to speak, but he gave her a small shake and put on his best Dom voice, praying like hell she would listen just this once. “The minute – no, the second – you feel afraid of Damian, get as far away from him as you can. Do not let him apologize if he hits you and begs your forgiveness. Do not trust him, for any reason. Please… Liv… for me?” He pulled her close, put his forehead against hers. “Promise me, Twin Promise?”
    He held out his forefinger. She touched hers to it in a childish display of solidarity they’d made up once upon a time. Evan was beyond desperate at this point and would do anything to get her to at least know he was there and would help her if she needed it.
    “Twin Promise, brother.” She smiled, kissed his nose, and jumped up, grabbing his milk glass and drinking half of it before heading up the back stairs, humming to herself. Evan watched her go, his heart heavy, then turned to watch the sun rise on his last day living in this house.
    A few hours later he packed his car, accepted a check from his father to start his bank account in East Lansing, and drove away, eyes dry, with a soul so dark he wondered if he would ever see the light of day again.

Chapter Eight

    “Why in the hell would I do that?” Evan barely glanced up at the woman handing him coffee. He re-shouldered his heavy backpack and forced his way through the gaggle of fellow law students angling for table space.
    For the past five and a half years he had managed to completely sublimate everything he believed he wanted to the great god of higher learning. It wasn’t too hard, when he put his mind to it. Maintaining decent grades while working nearly thirty hours a week took all his energy. He’d made a few friends, mostly out of convenience in classes he needed help in or that required group activity. And now one of those study buddies was trying to convince him to move into a house for the summer semester before their next year at Northwestern Law School. The damn guy would not take no for a fucking answer.
    “I told you, Gordon, I’m on a tight budget and my fellowship pays for housing. Why would I…?”
    His newest friend, a tall, handsome, full-on pussy magnet named Jack Gordon, winked at the girl behind the counter, making her blush bright red. Evan rolled his eyes. Everything in him had tried to resist befriending the guy. It brought out something in him he wanted to bury, to never face again, and he couldn’t figure out why. But the man would not give up. Finally he ran a hand down his face and looked over at him.
    Everything about Jack Gordon oozed control. Evan was jealous of him, truth be told, but any man would be. Jack clapped his shoulder and pinned him with an earnest blue gaze. “Dude, we will work it out. You need this, I’m telling you. Remember what we talked about last weekend?”
    It was Evan’s turn to blush. He’d made the mistake, the weak misjudgment, of getting high with Jack and his current roommate. And they’d talked, and drank,