A Proscriptive Relationship (34 page)

“
Hypocrite,” he said, smirking. “I always—”

“
Know when I’m lying,” I finished in a snippy tone. “I know. But I’ve never lied to you because you catch me in the lie before I can get away with it.”

“
You’re just easy to figure out.”

“
Whatever.”

He grinned. “Should we get back to my story?”

I nodded, drawing my knees up to my chest. “Continue.”

“
It was my senior year when I met Haley,” he started, drumming his fingers along the arm of the chair. “So Jeremy showed you the picture of us in the yearbook?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“
We weren’t dating then,” he told me. “We were going to different colleges, so we thought it was best not to get into a relationship. But we still saw a lot of each other because of Jeremy.”

“
Because they’re cousins, right?”

“
How do you know?”

“
Jeremy told me that too,” I admitted.

 “
Okay. Anyway,” he continued, stretching out his legs. “Haley ended up transferring to my college halfway through my third year at college.”

“
Is that when you started dating?”

“
No,” he responded slowly. “At the time she was dating someone else.”

“
Who?”

“
Shawn.”

My eyes widened, and I stared at him in shock. “No way!”

He nodded. “I guess they started dating right after graduation. Which is probably one of her reasons for not wanting a relationship with me senior year.”

“
But if she was his girlfriend then how did you—?”

“
Slow down,” he commented, but sounded amused. “I’m getting there. Haley was in just about everyone of my classes, and she didn’t really know anyone, so she basically talked only to me. I’m sure I don’t have to say that I still had feelings for her from back in high school. But as I began to like her more and more, I began to notice things I hadn’t noticed before.”

“
Like what?” I questioned.

“
Like the bruises that would appear on her arms every time she had a fight with Shawn.”

I gasped, bringing a hand up to my mouth, knowing immediately what Mr. Heywood meant. “Shawn abused her? But how did you know?”

“
Haley and I were best friends, she told me about the fights she got into with him. She didn’t know about the gang thing,” he explained. “So she didn’t realize Shawn and I knew each other.”

“
So what did you do?”

“
There was nothing I could do at first,” he said. “She was a proud person. I didn’t want to injure her pride but bringing up the subject. But one day she came in with a broken wrist. That’s when I demanded that she tell me what was happening.”

“
And did she?”

He nodded. “Everything. Shawn was basically forcing her to stay with him, and she was scared of him. After a while I convinced her to break up with Shawn.”

“
How?”

He smiled wryly. “I told her I’d protect her.”

I stayed silent, waiting for him to continue, but he didn’t. He was staring off into space, a frown on his face. I let him be, figuring he was reminiscing.

“
She came back to class after she broke up with him with more bruises than ever before,” he suddenly said, interrupting the silence. “I couldn’t protect her then, but I still promised her I’d protect her in the future. She believed me.”

“
And Shawn?” I asked.

“
At this point, Shawn still didn’t know I went to the same school as her, let alone knew her, so there was no connection between us. Haley didn’t trust guys though, so it wasn’t like I could start dating her right away. I spent half a year having what I thought was an unrequited love.”

“
Half a year?” I repeated, my eyes widening. “Really?”

He smiled. “Holly, have you ever been in love?”

Surprised by his question, it took me a moment to respond. My face flushed and I quickly avoided my gaze. Have I ever been in love? The man I was in love with was sitting in front of me!

“
Have you?” he prodded.

I cleared my throat. “Y-yes.”

“
Okay, now picture the one you love not being able to love you back for some reason or another.”

A wry smile made its way into my face. Was he purposely describing my situation? “Okay.”

“
Would you give up on that person while they’re still by your side?”

I shook my head vehemently. “No. Never.”

“
There you go. It just so happened I had to wait half a year, which is basically nothing. It could have been worse.”

“
Yeah, could have,” I mumbled, glancing up at him. He smirked back.

“
One day she randomly asked me out,” he said, going back to his story, an amused tone to his voice. “Really, it was out of nowhere. But I accepted right away. Everything was great for about two months.”

“
What happened?”

“
I don’t know how Shawn found out, but he did, and this is where the story gets to the climax.”

“
Already?”

“
You sound disappointed,” he commented.

“
No, I’m not!” I responded quickly, waving my hand. “I . . . just, go on.”

“
Shawn first came to me,” he told me. “I have to admit, he put up quite a fight. I had to get stitches for one of the cuts on my back. However, there was a reason I was gang leader. Even he couldn’t take me out.”

“
So you beat him up?”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course I did.”

I scowled at his cockiness. “Is that why he wants you dead? You stole his girlfriend?”

“
That’s a large part, I believe,” he confessed, grimacing. “But there’s more.”

“
What else? Did Shawn do something else?”

“
Shawn went after Haley next.”

“
You’re kidding!” I cried, my eyes widening. “What happened?”

Mr. Heywood sighed, running his hands over his face. “It was really late at night when I received a text message from Haley, telling me she was downtown by herself and she was in some trouble. So I quickly went downtown to go see what was wrong. I searched for her for about a good twenty minutes, since she never responded to any more of the text messages I sent her.”

“
She wasn’t actually there?”

He shook his head. “No she was. I eventually found her, along with Shawn and a few of his followers. She was lying motionless on the ground.”

My pulse started to increase and I swallowed nervously, waiting for him to continue. He was rubbing his forehead with a hand, shaking his head.

“
This was the second time I had failed to protect her,” he said with his mouth pressed in a tight line.

“
What happened?” I whispered.

He looked up at me. “You can’t figure it out?”

I stared at him in shock, surprised by his sudden hard tone. I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out. He continued to glare at me for a moment, until he snapped it out. “Sorry,” he muttered, looking away.

“
It’s okay,” I told him quickly.

“
I just can’t stand it,” he suddenly snapped. “I told her I’d protect her. When I didn’t the first time, she still trusted me to. And I failed her twice.”

“
But that’s not your fault—” I started, but was cut off.

“
Yes it is,” he said brusquely. “I should have known Shawn would be so low as to go after her. I should have known that!”

“
But you didn’t know, so it’s not your fault.” I argued.

“
Holly, she almost died because of me. It is my fault.” he nearly shouted, making me jump.

“
But—” I said in a quiet voice.

“
No, let me finish before you say anything else,” he interrupted, his tone calm again. “You wanted to know what I did the year between college graduation and the job I have now, right?”

“
Yeah,” I responded, biting my lip.

“
I was in jail.”

I stared at him for a second before laughing. “Mr. Heywood, please. Save the jokes for later. Jail? For a year?”

“
I’m not joking, Holly.”

I immediately sobered up, staring at him with wide eyes. He gave me a flat look, his eyes slightly narrowed. “Y-you’re not?”

“
No,” he stated solemnly.

I was speechless. The only thing I could do was stare at him. I felt like such a jerk.
He was in jail?
 

“
I almost murdered three people that night,” he admitted. “I was so close . . .”

I swallowed nervously. “What happened?”

He closed his eyes. “I didn’t even have a chance to speak before the three people who were with Shawn were after me. They probably had everything planned out. They all had knives. I wasn’t surprised. I was prepared this time too. I had brought a knife just in case.”

I stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. It seemed like he was thinking about what to say next. I figured he wanted to spare me the details—and I wanted him to as well.

“
His followers were a piece of cake,” he finally said. “I did more damage to them than I should have. But they deserved it. Shawn was the one that deserved the most though. I would have killed him. I was so close too, but the cops came. We both tried to run, but obviously we were caught.” He laughed without humor. “I got eight months in prison for civil unrest. They thought it was just a street fight. Shawn got fourteen months for the same, but extra months because he was the instigator. It was just a warning though.”

“
What about Haley?”

“
That bastard lied and got away with it,” Mr. Heywood said angrily. “He said he’d found her like this and he blamed what happened on one of his followers, who’s still in prison to this day. Officially, Shawn wasn’t connected to what happened to her in any way.”

“
He put the blame on a friend?” I asked in disbelief.

“
Follower, not friend.”

I frowned, taking all of what he said in. A realization hit me and I gasped. “But you know the truth! Is that why he wants you dead? Because you know the truth?”

“
Yes, that’s another part of the reason.”

“
So just tell the police!”

“
It’s not that simple,” he told me. “Holly, I was in serious trouble after that night. When I got out of jail, they told me if I got involved with the gang again, I’d be going back and for longer than eight months. They dropped that case after Haley told them to. I can’t bring it up again because of what’s happening now without getting Haley involved again and getting myself thrown back in prison.”

“
Hold up,” I said slowly. “Haley dropped the case?”

Mr. Heywood nodded. “She has kept quiet about the fact it was Shawn’s fault, not that follower who got blamed, so once the follower was blamed, she dropped it. She didn’t want anything to do with the gang anymore.”

“
But what about you?”

“
She didn’t want anything to do with me anymore either. Before I went to jail, she dumped me,” he responded, a smile on his face. My stomach clenched uncomfortably and I clenched my fists. Anger surged through me.

“
Stop smiling!”

His eyes widened a fraction of an inch in surprise. “What?”

“
What’s to smile about?” I cried, glaring at him. “She broke up with you, after you went through all that to protect her? And what’s worse is that you had to go to jail and she broke up with you before you were locked away? That’s not something to smile about, Mr. Heywood!”

“
Holly, hold on,” he cut in, but I didn’t stop.

“
I don’t even know who this person is, but I hate her! Why would she do something like that? It’s not fair! And you loved her!”

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. Cursing myself silently, I lowered my head so he couldn’t see my face. I blinked rapidly, determined not to let any tears spill.

“
Damn it, Holly,” I heard him curse.

I kept my head down as I heard him get off the chair. His shoes appeared in my line of vision, but I refused to look up. He placed a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him, blinking when I realized his face was only inches from mine.

“
Stop crying,” he ordered, tightening his grip on my shoulder. “Why do you always cry over me?”

“
I’m not crying!” I said stubbornly. “I’m just angry!”

“
Obviously.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t like Haley. She dropped you just like that! If you really love someone, I think you should be able to handle a problem like that. Or at least try to talk it out.”

“
Holly, she was injured really severely, I can’t blame her,” he responded, straightening himself out. Instead of going back to his chair, he took a seat beside me on the couch.

“
That’s an excuse,” I pointed out, frowning.

“
Tell me, Holly,” he started, his eyes piercing into mine. “Remember what happened at the rock pier? What if I hadn’t come? And what if what happened to you  was the fault of the person you loved?”

“
I wouldn’t care,” I stated boldly. “The person I love means so much to me that nothing could ever make me stop loving him.”

He smiled. “He must be a lucky guy.”

It’s you, you idiot!
My mind screamed, but I just managed a half-smile at him. “If he’s lucky, then Haley is also lucky for having someone like you love her.”

“
Everyone I love gets dragged into my problems and then gets hurt, so I don’t think it’s luck,” he responded, his expression softening.