“Well, Ellie does,” he said, even though his brain perked up a bit, feeling that Angel had a point, even though it didn’t soothe the raging flood of guilt which had been running through him the past two days. “She even said it, I left and then she ended up dating Lawrence. I knew she was vulnerable. I knew she had a crush on me. And I just let things drift away because being in college was more interesting than a high school girl with a crush on me, no matter how cute she was. But we’d been friends and I should have -“

“Nope, stop.” Angel waggled her finger this time and a new emotion finally poked through Michael’s self-reproach. Annoyance. “You left for college. People’s high school friendships rarely hold through the first year of college. That’s normal and natural. It was not why she was raped any more than being at a party or any of her choices were why. The only reason she was raped is because Lawrence was a rapist. Period.”

Michael wanted to flinch every time she said ‘rape’ and both Patrick and Michael looked uncomfortable too. Uncomfortable and slightly murderous, so at least he wasn’t alone in his feelings.

“I agree with Angel,” Lexie said. “And I am ninety-nine point nine percent sure Ellie absolutely does not blame you. She blames herself.”

“She didn’t do anything wrong!” Michael snapped, glaring at Lexie. Only for a second though, because Patrick shifted closer to his girlfriend, giving Michael a warning look. Feeling a little ashamed, Michael looked away, although at least Lexie didn’t look upset at his outburst.

“No, she didn’t,” Lexie said serenely. “But she feels like she did and it messes with her... sound like something you might be able to relate to?”

When Michael didn’t answer after a long moment, his head tumbling through the points Angel and Lexie were trying to make to him, Angel clapped her hands together.

“Okay. You’re going to shower and shave, while we make dinner for you, because I can hear your stomach grumbling from here, and then you’re going to eat. After that, you’re going to call Ellie, and hopefully she’ll pick up for you when she hasn’t for any of us.”

A mutinous response was on the tip of his tongue, but one glance at Adam and Patrick and he swallowed it down. It was pretty obvious what army Angel was going to use to enforce her will upon the proceedings, and Michael knew he would definitely be the loser in that two-on-one scenario.

When her phone rang and it was Michael, Ellie almost picked up.

Because she craved him. Because she wanted to hear his voice. Because she wanted him to tell her everything was going to be fine.

But what if he didn’t?

What if he was calling to cancel their contract?