Текст книги "Twisted Ties"

Автор книги: K. A. Robinson

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

Chapter Twelve: Jesse

I felt like he’d just punched me in the stomach.

“I thought you said that you two weren’t together? Didn’t I just see a half-naked woman leave your apartment twenty minutes ago?” I asked.

“We’re not together, and we never have been together. It was a one-time thing.”

“So, you just slept with her and sent her on her way, like you always do?”

I felt rage boiling up inside of me. He’d used her and then tossed her aside like garbage.

“What? No, of course not! It was an accident.”

“How do you accidentally sleep with someone?”

“It was right after you left. She drove to your house and parked outside. I felt bad for her, so I went over to talk to her. I knew she was really upset, so I invited her over to my house. We started drinking, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up with Emma beside me in my bed. Both of us regretted it, but there was nothing that we could do. We never meant for it to happen, I swear. Emma was hurting, and I just wanted to make her feel better.”

“It looks like you did a good job. I don’t know if I want to hit you or kill you at this point.”

“It was two years ago. We’ve been friends ever since, and nothing else has happened. She’s too hung up on you to notice anyone else, and I don’t think of her that way. You have nothing to worry about when it comes to me. I don’t plan on settling down for a long time.”

“I was a complete jackass to her earlier tonight. I thought that you two were together, and I know I hurt her.”

“There’s nothing you can do now, except apologize. Emma loves you—a lot. You just have to be honest with her and then give her some time to process everything. She’s spent the last year and a half searching for you, only to find you with Ally and a kid on the way. She’s hurting.”

“I need to go. I’m going to talk with Ally first, so hopefully, she’ll come visit you tonight. You two have a lot to work through, too. She’s pretty messed-up because of everything that happened to her. She’s hurting, too, because she loves me, and I flat-out told her that I don’t feel that way about her. She blames Emma, but Emma has nothing to do with it.”

“I figured out how Ally felt about you a while before you left. I just never told you because I didn’t want you to change the way you acted around her.”

“I wish you had. Maybe if I had known how she felt before everything had blown up, things would have been different.”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Andy sighed.

“Are we cool?”

He nodded. “Yeah, we’ve been cool for a long time—with the exception of when I thought you knocked up Ally. I could never find you before to tell you that we were okay.”

“I’m glad. I’ve missed having you around.”

“Likewise. Go talk to Ally, and then get Emma back. I’m tired of seeing Emma miserable all the time.”

“Let’s see if she’ll give me the chance to make her happy again.”

* * *

I prepared myself for the fight I knew I would get into as I unlocked my front door. Ally was going to be angry with me, but I’d had to do what was right for me. I just hoped that she would understand eventually.

I walked in and set my keys down on the table. “Ally?”

When she didn’t answer, I started walking from room to room, trying to find her. I knew she was home since her car was outside. I checked the kitchen first and then her room. I looked in my room next even though I knew she wouldn’t be in there. That left the bathroom. I walked to the door and knocked gently. Light was coming out from underneath the door, but Ally didn’t answer.

I opened the door and stuck my head in, just to make sure she was okay. I didn’t see her by the toilet, so I pushed the door open further. She was standing at the sink in her bra and a pair of shorts with her earbuds in her ears. That explained why she hadn’t answered me. I didn’t want her to think that I was staring at her while she was nearly naked, so I quickly backed away and started to close the door.

But then, something caught my eye on the sink, and I stopped. It took me a minute to process what I was seeing. Once it hit me, I threw the door open and stormed in.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I shouted loud enough for Ally to hear me over the music coming from her earbuds.

She jumped and turned to face me. As soon as she saw me, she grabbed a shirt and held it over herself.

“Jesse! I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Obviously not. There’s no need to cover yourself. I already saw.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I saw your stomach, Ally. It’s flat. There is definitely no baby in there, and I’m guessing you’ve been using that”—I pointed to the band-type contraption on the sink—“to make it look like you are pregnant.”

“Jesse, let me explain.”

“Explain, what? The fact that you’ve been lying to me about being pregnant? Tell me the truth, Ally. Was it all a lie? Were you even raped in California?”

Tears fell down her cheeks, but I wasn’t buying it. I couldn’t believe that she had done this to me.

“Jesse…”

“No, answer me. Was it all a lie?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

I turned and punched the wall, leaving a hole in the drywall. “Get the fuck out of my house. I can’t even stand to look at you.”

“Please, let me explain. I did it for you!”

“How the hell did you do this for me? You lied to me! You’ve been lying to me about everything since you came back into my life!”

“I knew Emma was looking for you! I knew she was planning to come here to look for you, so I left first. I wanted to find you before she did, so I could protect you from her. She’s a horrible person, Jesse! She doesn’t deserve you! She doesn’t love you like I do!”

“You don’t love me, Ally. With everything that you’ve done, I’d say you’re obsessed with me. This isn’t healthy, Ally. Think about it.”

“You’re wrong. I do love you. I’ve done all of this to protect you! I’ve loved you since we were kids. We’re meant to be together!”

“I can’t even stand to be in the same room as you. Why the hell would you think I love you? I told you from the beginning that I would help you, not that I loved you. I even sat down with you and explained how I felt.”

“I thought if I gave you time, then you might start to love me. I know you do even if you don’t realize it.”

“Ally, get out of my house, or I’ll call the police on you. I can’t believe that I let you live here. You nearly destroyed everything for me. I almost lost Emma again because of you!”

“You’ve already lost her. She’s with Andy now, and he told me that they’re going to get married soon,” she said triumphantly.

I laughed. That was all that I could do. If I hadn’t laughed, I might have strangled her. “Try again.”

“Why are you laughing? How could you think this is funny? You lost her, Jesse. She belongs to Andy now, and you can’t do anything about it.”

“You’re a lying bitch. I talked to Andy tonight. I know everything that you told me about them isn’t true.”

Her eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re lying.”

“No, actually, I’m not. I had a nice conversation with Andy, and we managed to get a lot cleared up. I know why they’re here.”

“She slept with Andy! I saw it with my own eyes! I’m not lying about that.”

I shrugged, trying not to show how much that hurt. “I know.”

“And you don’t even care? You’re still going to take her back after she slept with your best friend?”

“We all make mistakes. You living in my house is proof of that. I can forgive Emma for what happened. But you? I will never forgive you for what you’ve done. I want your stuff packed, and I want you out of here in the next half hour. Once you’re gone, I never want to see you again. If you ever come near Emma or me again, you’ll regret it.”

“Please, Jesse, give me another chance. I swear, I won’t lie ever again. I just want to be with you.”

She threw her shirt to the ground and ran over to me. Before I could stop her, she was kissing me. I felt bile rise in my throat as I shoved her away.

“Stay. Away. From. Me.”

“Jesse, please!”

“Get the fuck out of my house!” I roared.

I’d had enough of Ally to last a lifetime. I turned and walked to my room. I made sure the door was locked behind me before I lay down on my bed.

I couldn’t believe that this Ally was the same girl who I’d grown up with. What kind of person lies about being raped and then about being pregnant? I didn’t know if she’d always been this way and I’d just missed it or if something had happened to her to make her change, but I didn’t care. I never wanted to see her again. There was something seriously wrong with her to have fabricated everything that she’d told me. If she thought that was what it took to make someone love her, she needed some serious mental help.

I remembered the hatred I’d seen in her eyes before, and I wondered just what she was capable of. I hoped that she packed her things and left not just my house but Morgantown as well. If she stuck around, I would have to make sure that Emma was around either Andy or me at all times. I didn’t want Emma to get hurt because of me. If she didn’t want anything to do with me, I would still make sure that she was safe. She just wouldn’t know that I was there. I knew my plans seemed like I was going to become a stalker, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to keep Emma safe.

Ally started beating on my door as she sobbed and apologized, but I didn’t care. She could beat on that door until she died as far as I was concerned. There was no way I was coming out of this room until she was gone.

Ally finally gave up after almost an hour. I could hear her sobbing in her room as she threw things around. I hoped that she was packing her shit. If she refused to leave, I would sneak out of my damn window if I had to.

Maybe if I called Andy, he could get her out of here.

“You’ll regret this, Jesse! I’ll make sure of it!” she screamed outside of my door, making me jump.

She hit my door one last time before I heard the front door slam shut, and then the house went silent. I refused to get up and check to see if she was really gone. There was no way that I would fall for any more of her tricks.

My eyes started to grow heavy after about an hour of waiting. Unable to fight sleep any longer, I closed them and drifted off. My last thought was of Emma’s expression when she slammed the door in my face. I had to get her back.

Chapter Thirteen: Jesse

I opened my eyes to see that the sun was starting to rise. I sat up slowly, trying to remember why I was so pissed off. The night before came rushing back to me, and I jumped out of bed. I had to get to Emma and talk to her. I had to explain everything that had happened. I didn’t know if she would believe me when I told her about Ally, but I had to try.

I grabbed my keys and ran out of my house. I knew it was still early, but I hoped that Emma was awake. I doubted that she was though. She’d never been much of a morning person when we were together. I stopped to think as I sat down in my car. I glanced at the dash. It was barely past seven. Maybe I should give her some time to wake up, so she doesn’t bite my head off. I didn’t want to piss her off before I even got started.

I seriously doubted if Ally would go straight to Emma anyway. Ally probably knew that I would go to Emma as soon as I could. Besides, for all I knew, Ally might have left Morgantown already. She had to know that Andy would come after her once I told him what she had done to me.

I made a split-second decision and headed toward Andy’s apartment. He wasn’t much of a morning person either, but I didn’t care if I pissed him off. It wasn’t like I hadn’t dragged his ass out of bed at ass o’clock before to go surfing.

There wasn’t much traffic this early in the morning on a Saturday. Morgantown was a college town, and most of the students were either sleeping in or sleeping off their hangover from Friday night.

I made it to Andy’s within ten minutes, and I hurried inside. I had to beat on the door for a few minutes, but he finally answered.

“Do you have any idea what time it is? Some of us like to sleep, you know.”

“You can sleep later. We need to talk,” I said as I pushed through the door and walked to his couch to sit down.

“I think we did enough of that last night. I really don’t need anything else dumped on my lap at the moment,” Andy grumbled as he closed the door.

“Have you talked to Ally since I was here last night?”

“No, but Emma stopped over right after you left. Do you have any idea how hard it was to pretend like nothing had changed? She kept asking me what was wrong with me.”

“Why did she come over so late?” I couldn’t hide the jealousy from my voice. I hated the fact that Emma had gone to Andy when she needed someone to talk to. I hated that he was the one she leaned on now instead of me.

“She mainly wanted to talk about what an ass you are. I started to tell her the truth, but then I thought that you might want to be the one who told her what was going on.”

“Thanks for letting me do it. What else did she want to talk about?”

“She wants to leave West Virginia.”

“What?” I nearly shouted.

She couldn’t leave yet. I needed to explain to her what had happened. I had a chance to get her back, and it was probably my only chance. I wouldn’t let her leave until I explained everything.

“Relax. She’s not leaving until the semester is over. You have more than enough time to tell her everything.”

“Don’t scare me like that. Look, I’m going to head over to her dorm in a few, but I wanted to talk to you first. Something happened last night with Ally.”

He held up his hand to stop me from continuing. “I swear to God, if you tell me you slept with her, I’m going to kill you.”

“Definitely not. I surprised Ally when I came home last night. I saw her without her shirt.”

“Dude, really? Why do you need to tell me something like that? She’s my sister.”

“Let me finish. I saw her without her shirt. She’s not pregnant.”

Andy froze at my words. “Wait—what? I’ve seen her, Jesse. She is definitely showing. Emma saw her, too. Emma said that Ally made sure to show off her stomach as she said that she was having your kid.”

“Ally had some kind of band thing she was using to make it look like she was pregnant. I saw it on the sink.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I wish I were. I got into it pretty bad with her last night. She tried to lie and say that you and Emma were getting married soon. She wasn’t happy when I told her that I’d already talked to you, and I knew that you weren’t with Emma. She lied about everything, Andy. She wasn’t raped, and she sure as hell isn’t pregnant. It was all part of a plan to keep me away from Emma.”

“Are you sure, Jesse? This is my sister we’re talking about here.”

“I know it is. That’s why I came to you. I kicked her out of my house last night, and I’m hoping that she’ll just leave town. If she doesn’t, I think you’d be the best one to deal with her. I can barely stand to look at her at this point. She’s convinced that it’s all Emma’s fault that I don’t want to be with her. I seriously think that she’s lost her damn mind. Who the fuck lies about being raped?”

“Ally has always been a little strange. You never saw it because you didn’t live with her. I never thought that she’d do something like this though.”

“Neither did I. I don’t even know what to think about all of this. She destroyed my relationship with Emma before, and Ally did everything in her power to keep me away from Emma this time.”

“Ally has been in love with you for most of her life. That’s a long time to love someone and end up being rejected—twice.”

“That doesn’t give her an excuse to go batshit crazy.”

“No, it doesn’t. I’ll go out and look for her today, but don’t expect much. If Ally wants to disappear, she’ll disappear. She’s always been that way.”

“Let’s hope she leaves. I don’t want her anywhere near Emma.”

“I don’t know if Ally will stick around or not. She has always been a wild card.”

“Until we’re sure that she’s gone, I want one of us around Emma at all times.”

“Don’t you think you’re overreacting here?”

“She lied about everything, Andy. Until I know that she’s going to leave, I’m not willing to take a chance.”

“All right, all right. We’ll drive Emma nuts by babysitting her.”

“I don’t care if we annoy her. At least we’ll know that she’s safe. I’m going to go and talk to her now. Hopefully, she’ll give me enough time to catch the door before she slams it in my face.”

Andy laughed. “She’s feisty when she’s mad, and you definitely pissed her off. Good luck. You’re going to need it.”

“Thanks.” I waved as I walked out of his apartment.

Then, I headed back down the stairs. I barely paid attention to where I was going as I walked to my car. All I could think about was Emma’s face yesterday. I’d hurt her so bad and I wasn’t sure if she’d ever forgive me.

As I drove to her dorm, I kept going over what I would say to Emma when I saw her. I’d screwed up royally last night, and I hoped that it wouldn’t ruin my chances of getting her back. Surely, if she had come all this way to find me, she would listen to what I had to say. I couldn’t lose her now that I had the chance to win her back.

I still couldn’t wrap my head around everything that Ally had done. No matter how I looked at the situation, I had no idea how she’d thought her plan would work. What would she have done when it was time to have her baby? She had to know that she would get caught eventually.

I remembered the little girl I’d met so long ago. She’d looked so sweet and innocent as she’d watched Andy and me playing together outside of her house. It had taken weeks after they’d moved into the trailer park for her to finally talk to me. Their mom had moved them to the park after their dad died in a car crash. As I had gotten older, I’d come to realize that their mom wasn’t much of a parent. She’d spent most of her time drinking, leaving Ally and Andy to take care of their house.

I knew her mom’s lack of parenting had to have affected Ally in some way, but this was ridiculous. Andy had grown up in the exact same situation, and he hadn’t ended up batshit crazy. Sure, Andy had done the typical teenager stuff, like fighting and drinking a lot, but that hadn’t been nearly as bad as what Ally had done.

I pulled up in front of Emma’s building and shut off my car. I smiled as I remembered the time she’d fixed this very same car. When I’d first moved here, Mark had offered to buy me a new Jeep. I’d declined, not wanting to give up one of my few reminders of Emma. She’d barely known me then, but she’d still helped. That was what Emma did—she helped others. She was such a good person, and Ally had put Emma through hell repeatedly.

I opened my door and stepped out. I still had no idea what I was going to say to Emma. I would just have to wing it and hope for the best. After trying to figure it out all the way over here, I would have thought that I could have come up with something halfway decent to say.

The dorm was silent as I walked in and climbed the stairs. It was still too early for any college kid to be up on a weekend. I hoped that Emma was awake, but I doubted it. I would just have to deal with the grouchier version of her. After yesterday, I deserved it. I walked up to her door and knocked. A minute later, I heard the lock clicking, and the door opened.

She frowned when she saw it was me. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Can we talk?” I asked as I looked at her.

It was obvious that she’d been in bed. Her hair was rumpled, and it was sticking out around her head. I couldn’t help but smile at the princess pajamas she was wearing. They were so her. She was a real-life princess to me.

“I think we did enough of that yesterday,” she said as she started to close the door.

I reached out and caught it just in time. “Things have changed.”

“What? Are you a bigger douche canoe today than you were yesterday?”

“Look, I said a lot of stupid shit yesterday that I didn’t mean. I talked to Andy last night, and he cleared up a lot of stuff for me.”

Her eyes widened. “You talked to Andy?”

I nodded. “I did. He knows that I’m here now. He thinks that we need to talk, too.”

“What about Ally? I’m sure she wouldn’t be happy if she knew you were talking to me.”

“Ally is one thing I need to talk to you about. Can I come in?”

She eyed me warily. “I really don’t want to see you right now, Jesse. I think you made your opinion of me very clear yesterday.”

“I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I regretted everything as soon as the words left my mouth.”

“I’m sure you did. Just go, Jesse, please.”

She tried to shove the door closed, but I held my hand against it.

“You need to hear what I have to say. It changes everything,” I said.

“Everything has already changed. I did a lot of thinking after you left yesterday. I was stupid to come here and think that everything could go back to the way it was. Once this semester is over, I’m leaving. You’ll never have to see me again.”

“I don’t want you to leave,” I said softly as I pushed the door open enough to step inside. “Just hear me out.”

She sighed as she closed the door behind me. “Fine, but you can wait until after I shower.”

“I’ll wait for as long as you want me to.”

She rolled her eyes, and then she grabbed a shirt and pants from her closet. “I’m sure you would.”

I sat down in the chair next to her desk as I waited. At least she hadn’t kicked me out. I knew she’d wanted to, so I considered myself lucky. I watched her walk into the bathroom, and then I heard the water turn on a few seconds later. I concentrated on the desk in front of me to keep from picturing her naked. If things were different, I’d be in there with her right now. Showering with her had been one of my favorite things to do when we were together. Seeing her naked and wet wasn’t something that I could ever forget, not that I ever wanted to.

She reemerged from her bathroom a few minutes later. She looked amazing without any makeup on and with her wet hair hanging around her face.

“You look beautiful,” I said before I could stop myself.

She blushed furiously. “Tell me what you came here to say, so you can leave. I have stuff to do.”

She refused to look at me as she grabbed her brush off the dresser, and then she started dragging it through her hair. I tried to focus on what I needed to say as I watched her.

God, I’ve missed her so much.

“A lot has happened since I talked to you yesterday.”

“I’m waiting,” she said as she sat down on her bed and looked at me.

“After I left here, I drove around town for a while, and I ended up at Andy’s apartment. He wanted to kill me at first, but we managed to talk without hitting each other. Well, I did hit him, but I thought I was doing you a favor.”

“Why did you hit Andy?” she asked incredulously.

“Because I thought he was cheating on you. When I showed up, a girl was walking around his place, wearing only his shirt.”

She laughed. “I’ve walked in on that a time or two. Andy always has a girl over there.”

“I’m glad you find it funny. I didn’t. I had no idea that you two weren’t together, so I punched him. After we both calmed down, he told me that you two were nothing more than friends.”

“And now, you’re here because you feel like an ass for saying all of that to me yesterday. Well, guess what? I don’t care. I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen. You just wanted to make me feel as bad as possible.”

“I feel horrible for what I said, but I’m not here for that. After he told me the truth, I realized that Ally has been lying to me—a lot.”

“Why do you seem so surprised? That’s what Ally does—she lies.”

“I know that now, but she was my friend. When she came to me this summer, I tried to ignore the fact that she’d lied to Andy about me sleeping with her. She needed help, and I couldn’t turn her away.”

“Why did she need help?” Emma asked.

“When she came to me at the beginning of the summer, she told me that she’d been raped back in California. She’d run away because she’d discovered that she was pregnant, and she was afraid that the guy would hurt her if he found out, so I took her in.”

“Wait a minute—she told me that the baby was yours,” Emma whispered.

I could see the hope in her eyes even though she was trying to hide it.

“I agreed to tell anyone back home that it was mine, so no one would find out that she’d been raped.”

“Oh my god. All this time, I thought you two were finally together and that the baby was yours. She made it seem like that was what had happened.”

“We’ve never been together, and we never will be. The only girl I’ve ever cared about is you, Emma. The minute I saw you, I knew that you were something special.”

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“I was angry with Ally for lying to me about you and Andy, so I went home to confront her. She didn’t know I was home. I surprised her and caught her without her shirt.”

Emma raised an eyebrow.

“Let me finish before you say anything. I saw her without a shirt, and she’s not pregnant. She lied about everything.”

“Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack. Once she realized that she wasn’t going to get away with it, she came clean, and I kicked her out.”

“And she just left? I don’t see her doing that. If she did all of that to hang on to you, she wouldn’t just leave.”

“She didn’t leave without a fight. We got into it pretty bad.”

“I don’t even know what to say.”

“I know what you mean. She even tried to tell me that you and Andy were planning to get married. Imagine her shock when I told her that I’d talked to Andy.”

Emma laughed. “Oh my god. I don’t even know why I’m laughing, but I can’t help it. I fucking hate that bitch, and it makes me so happy to know that she finally got caught. Maybe Andy will believe me now.”

“About, what?”

“The other night, I went to the restaurant where she works with my friend. I got so sick afterward that I felt like I was dying. Andy had to come over and help me. When I told him that I thought Ally had poisoned me since she was my waitress, he didn’t believe me.”

“I bet she did. After everything else she’s done, it wouldn’t surprise me. I wish I could have been the one to take care of you.”

“It’s not your job anymore,” Emma said quietly.

“I want it to be. I’ve missed you so much, Emma. I could never get over you, no matter how hard I tried. If I’d known that you were looking for me, I would have come back. I thought you hated me.”

“I did hate you for a long time, but I couldn’t let you go. I kept hoping that you’d come back just so I could see you again. Once Ally had told Andy that you hadn’t slept with her, we started searching for you.”