Exposed: Book One of The Love Seekers Series (21 page)

              Her sharp fingernail dug into my shoulder. “This is your punishment for doing something evil in your life. You must be a skank or something to have this happen to you. Maybe you should pray for healing, but then again, a girl like you won’t ever repent. You deserve this and more.” She took a step closer and hissed, “Nobody wants you here. Chad is only being nice because you’re a pity case of Mel’s. Fuck, even she doesn’t really like you and only keeps you around because she feels sorry for you. So why don’t you do everyone a favor by crawling into a hole and dying. I’m sure your family would feel better because they won’t have to deal with you any longer.”

              This wasn’t the first time I’d heard something like that, but this time it cut more than ever before. I knew Mel and I were genuine friends, and this girl probably lashed out at me because she felt jealous of something. I assumed it had something to do with Chad sticking close to me and helping me most of the afternoon. And when he stepped away, I noticed this woman trying to cling to him like a second skin only to have him push her away each time.

              But what scared me and made this more real and hurtful was the pure unadulterated hate in her eyes. She didn’t only despise me. She hated me with her entire being. I had seen fear, confusion, and even uncertainty when people told me stupid shit before, but I had never experienced a hate of this magnitude.

              Her words were still ringing in my ears. In the past, I used to question why I had been picked, why I got sick. Out of everyone in the universe, why me? I prayed for healing. I prayed for answers. I got nothing except silence. It took me a long time before I realized that this wasn’t a punishment. Far from it. And yet, even though I accepted that, I still hated my body for a long time. Sometimes I still did. When I wanted it to go left, it wanted to stay put. When I wanted it to stay put, it wanted to fall to the ground. This was MG. My control had been stolen, but I still had my pride and strength. And prejudice people like this woman weren’t going to tear me down or make me feel like nothing. I was worthy of this life.

                            “Cory!” Chad bellowed. “It’s time for you to leave. Lose my number and forget where I live.”

              “You don’t mean that,” the woman tried to argue.

              “Oh I do. Now leave.”

              “If anyone needs to leave, it’s this ugly, fat abomination!”

              “Either you leave, or I’ll physically throw your fucking ass out the door and then call the police and tell them you were inciting violence. Don’t think I won’t do it because I will.”

              I stood there paralyzed. My throat wouldn’t work. I couldn’t scream at her. I had no way of defending myself. If I looked down, would I find blood? The wounds she inflicted felt physical as well as emotional.

              “Mark, you and Ingrid help Emma lie down,” Chad ordered.

I pressure of someone pushing me out of the kitchen, but I barely remembered walking to the bedroom. I was in shock. How long did I lay there hearing the echo of those words? When the initial shock wore off, I asked to be left alone, and then I cried myself to sleep. And when I woke up, the sun had already set. Did I have to get up? Did I have to leave the room? I wanted to bury myself in the blankets and hide from the world.

Knock knock.
Someone tapped at the door. “Yes?” I called out. My body stiffened ready to fight, or face whomever walked through that door.

Chad opened the door a crack and when he saw I was awake, he came in and sat down on the end of the bed. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed. “I’m sorry about her. She’s been asking me out since my girlfriend and I called it quits a couple weeks ago. My girlfriend didn’t want to leave behind baggage while she was deployed with the marines.”

I sat up in bed, pulled my legs toward me, hugging them without saying a word.

“I guess Cory thought if she got rid of you, I would be hers, but that wouldn’t happen no matter if you came or not. I’m not even sure how she got the invite. She goes to my gym and I think one of the other trainers invited her.”

Nodding, I searched his eyes and could see nervousness and an apology, but no pity.

“You shouldn’t listen to her. This is not your fault. No one knows why some people get certain diseases and others don’t. If you are an abomination, then so is my sister, and trust me when I say, I have probably done more shit in my entire lifetime than both of you combined. My older sis is probably the saint out of the three of us.”

“She sounds nice.” I hadn’t heard much about her, but I could tell from his tone of voice that he loved and revered his sister.

He snorted with laughter. “She would slap the back of my head if I misbehaved, and then use me as her test dummy to see which Nair product worked the best. But she also had my back and would fight anyone that messed with her younger siblings.”

“How much older is she than you?”

“Megan is five years older. I also have a younger brother. He’s only younger by a year though.”

“When was she diagnosed?”

“Two years ago. She started having some issues and when they did the MRI, they found the lesions. Her husband has been great though. You would have met them today, but he surprised her with a trip to New York for their anniversary.” He paused and then asked, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m all right.” I gave him my typical answer for times like this. Many people who have chronic conditions have learned to smile through the pain and say, “I’m fine. I’m okay. I’m all right.” It was usually one of the three.

“So how are you really?”

I narrowed my eyes and frowned.

“Megan tries the same thing. So tell me how you’re really feeling.”

Hesitating, I sat there for a moment before I said anything else. “Hurt, tired, done.”

“Better. The party is still going on, but all the assholes have left. We were going to pop some popcorn and watch a movie. You want to stay?”

“I don’t know.”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you left now, but I promise nothing else will happen to you and I’ll let you pick the movie. Whatever you want to watch.”

“I think—” The sound of the front door opening followed by Mel’s voice stopped me. It didn’t take long before I heard the heavy sounds of her stomping down the hall and then she appeared in the doorway.

“What the fuck happened?” Mel’s hands were on her hips and her anger was directed at Chad.

He got up to defend himself. “I took care of it.”

“What did you take care of?”

“Mel, it wasn’t his fault.” I spoke up in hopes it would give him a helping hand, but it didn’t.

Her eyes narrowed into tiny slits and her face turned red. When she spoke, she did so low and slow. “What exactly wasn’t your fault, Chad? What did you have to take care of? And why the hell does my friend look like she’s been put through the ringer? And before you say she hasn’t, I can tell when Emma’s been crying.”

“Mel.” I tried again.

“Chad?” Mel prompted.

“Cory happened.” He finally answered, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

She released a string of curses. When she ended her tirade, she snapped, “What the fuck was she doing here?”

“I think one of the other trainers invited her, or she overheard us talking and showed up on her own. You know how she is.”

“Yeah, and you would’ve thought she’d learned her lesson after the last time.”

Confused, I inserted myself back into the conversation. “Last time?”

Smirking, Chad chuckled when he turned to me. “Your friend Mel here, didn’t like how Cory tried to hit on me or how she grabbed Luke’s dick through his jeans at my last party. So she dragged Cory outside by pulling her hair, threw her onto the ground right into a huge mud puddle, and proceeded to kick her ass. Mel fights dirty when she wants to win. I think Cory wound up with a mouth full of mud with Mel stepped on her hand and Cory screamed. When her mouth was open, Mel grabbed handful of mud and shoved it in Cory’s mouth.”

“And she ran away like a scared little rat with her tail between her legs.” Mel sounded awfully proud of herself and I snickered. The anxiety and pain from the afternoon had not completely melted away, but this helped. And picturing Cory getting her ass handed to her by Mel was the icing on the cake.

“You look like you’re feeling better. How about that movie?” Chad asked hopefully.

Mel pushed Chad off the bed and sat down in his place. “Hey, Chad. I’m sure Luke is famished and so am I. Go heat up some food.” She waited until he left and the door closed before she pounced. “You okay? Do I need to kick his ass? What really happened?”

My head started to spin as she fired off one question after another. I felt like it needed to be sitting at a table in a dark room with the only light shining down on me like on those old crime dramas and cartoons.

“Hey. You okay?” Concern and worry laced her voice.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I... It’s been a rough day.”

“Rough because of Cory, or even before?”

“Cory mainly, but she wasn’t the only one.”

“Tell me.”

I did. I opened up and told her everything that happened from the time I arrived to when Chad came in here to talk to me. By the end of it, she seethed and wanted to know names and descriptions. Even if I could, I wouldn’t have given them to her. But by the time the whole Cory drama had ended, faces and voices melded together into one.

And after I confessed everything, she scooted closer to me, pulled me in for a hug, and whispered, “I know what we’ll do. We’ll invite everyone to a party in an abandoned warehouse, lock all the doors, and set it on fire.”

“No, you wouldn’t.” I giggled as I sniffled and wiped my eyes on my shirt.

“I wouldn’t, but it got you to smile.” She sat there for a minute more and said, “People are asshole and you can’t let them get you down. You’re a better human being than they are.”

“Maybe.”

“No maybe about it. You are. How are you feeling?”

“Better. Thanks. What happened to you earlier?”

“We had to help Luke’s mom move something and then we got a flat tire, and I had forgotten to get my other tire fixed, so we had to wait for a tow truck. Do you know how long it takes for one to show up?”

“What did Luke say?”

“We got into a small fight, but we went home to change and take a shower after standing out in the heat for a couple hours, and we made up.”

“Say no more.”

“You going to stay for the movie? Luke and I brought over
The Ugly Truth.
There are others, but that one will make us laugh and make the guys suffer a little.”

Laughing, I wiped my eyes again and agreed. “Sounds perfect.”

After the afternoon had ended horribly, it felt good to laugh and hang out with people I felt comfortable with. Most of the guests had left and the only ones that remained were people that had either ignored me completely or had treated me kindly. I could deal with those people. Watching the movie together, I was able to almost forget the ugliness of the afternoon and focus on the good things that happened.

***

Much to my surprise, I wound up staying at Chad’s until almost eleven. My time at his house started well, the middle was awful, and the night ended with a few laughs with friends.

And now that I was home, I had a report to make to Bryan. Truthfully, I wanted to forget about certain aspects of my day, and that meant I didn’t want to talk about it at all, but I had a feeling Bryan wouldn’t let me get away with an “it went all right.”

Turning on my computer, I opened up FaceSpace and before I could get my fingers in place over my keyboard, he pinged me.

Bryan:
Where the hell have you been?

What the fuck? I was pretty sure—100% to be exact—he knew I had gone to the party because he arranged the whole thing.

Me:
BBQ. Chad. Ring any bells?

If he wanted to give me attitude, I knew how to be snarky too.

Bryan:
You were supposed to be home hours ago.

Me:
You could have messaged me earlier. I did have my phone with me.

Bryan:
I didn’t want to bother you.

This threw me for a loop. He didn’t want to bother me, and yet, as soon as I logged on, he attacked me.

Me:
Bother me? Listen here Mother Hen. You were the one that set this whole stupid thing up. If you were that concerned about me, you should have pinged me earlier. Or do you not trust your friends?

Bryan:
You said you didn’t want to go, so I assumed you wouldn’t stay long.

Me:
You know what happens when you assume?

Bryan:
yeah, yeah. WTFE!

Me:
Butthead.

Bryan:
Butthead? I’m sorry. Are we in jr. high?

Me:
Haha.