Misplaced Trust (Misjudged) (10 page)

Closing my eyes and trying to prepare myself for whatever
it is he needs to tell me, I take a deep breath before reopening them.

"Brandon, it can't be any worse than the things I've been imagining
, or how it felt when you left,” I say quietly, and from the words I’ve just spoken, I can see his lips turning into a frown. “You can tell me anything.”

“Your mom …
” he sounds frustrated as he climbs off of the bed, pacing the floor in front of me and breathing heavily. “Shit!”

I wasn’t expecting it to
be those words that came out from his mouth. Fine, I know now that it was my mom who had been working on his case, and for whatever reason he didn’t tell me this before, but he’s right, I am scared. I’m petrified he’s about to tell me that it was him who had broken into my father’s house last week.

“I don’t think her death was an ac
cident, Alexis,” his voice is strangled, and I see a single tear falling from his eye as he speaks the words, his eyes and face draining of any color that was previously visible in them. “I’m so fucking sorry!”

Oka
y, now that was not what I was expecting to hear.

“No, no, it was … It was a drunk driver … It was … Why would you even say that? Why would you try and hurt me like this?”

I’m not accepting this. I won’t. I can’t.

“Beautiful, they only said that because they didn’t know
. My lawyer, he came to visit me on that same day. He told me a cop that had been working on my case had evidence to prove I was innocent of everything, that same cop … that same cop, your mom, Alexis … she never came. She never came because she lost her life that day,” he strides over and kneels by the bed, grasping at my hands and clutching them tightly.

“If that were
really the case then they still would have cleared you! You’re lying!” I scream at him, not being able to take in anything he’s trying to say. Is it really his main objective to hurt me more than he already has?

Refusing to believe any of this, I
rip my hands out from his and head out into the living area, “Alexis, you need to listen to me. As soon as they found the drugs at my place, they pulled each and every cop away from the case and wrapped it up. As far as they were concerned, I was the one who did it. Holly, the dealing, everything! Your mom though, your mom didn’t believe it, she didn’t believe that I did it.”

Struggling to breathe and fighting to keep myself from being violently sick, I wipe the tears that have begun to fall from my face with the back of my hand
, and head over to the main door.

“Alexis, please?”

“Get out!
Just get out and don’t ever come back!” I scream through the pain. My heart hurts too much that I’m surprised I’m still able to speak.

Hearing a door opening up, Ryan appears from his room and as soon as he sees me and Brandon, he hurries straight over, with Alyssa following
right behind him.

“What the hell is this?” Alyssa asks, her eyes widening when she sees the state I’m in. Wrapping her arm around me, I watch as Ryan goes to stand beside Brandon, with a look of confusion spreading into his eyes and over his face.

“Dude, you’re back?” Ryan asks, his eyes still glancing between the two of us. “The cops won’t stay away bro. What the fuck did you do?”

Opening the door wide, I step towards him and grab his a
rm, pulling him towards it so he’ll just leave, “I said get out!”

“I left for us, I left because they
threatened me, Alexis. I had no fucking choice!” Brandon’s voice has raised as he pleads with me, clutching my face in his hands as he tries to keep me from looking away from him.

I close my eyes and will for the pain to stop. For everything to stop.
I just want the life I had before back, where nothing was complicated.

“Brandon?” Neil questions, still wearing the same clothes as he was last
night, so it’s evident he’s only just arriving home. “What’s going on?” keeping his eyes held on Brandon, he doesn’t look my way, not even once.

“I need Alexis to understand why I left, why I came back and—“

“Whoa, wait a second,” his eyes dart over to me for a moment, before he averts his attention strictly back to Brandon. “By the looks of things, you both need to calm the fuck down.” Neil says, placing his arm around Brandon’s shoulders as he leads him over to his room. “Come and explain what the hell has been going on, bro.”

Brandon glances over his shoulder, his gaze fixed firmly on me as Neil leads him over to his room.
He looks so frustrated, so upset. He looks so hurt.

“If you don’t believe me, Alexis, I may as well give up the fight and let them throw away the key. You’re the only person I need, the only person I want. If I lose you, I lose everything
that has been keeping me going each and every day through all of this,” Brandon’s voice is laced with sadness as he says the words, and I can see the pain in his eyes, the desperation.

Before I have a chance to think of anything to say
back to him, he turns away and disappears through into Neil’s room.

Maybe Neil’s right. We need to rationalize things.
If things weren’t adding up before, they most certainly aren’t making any sense now.

“Here,” Alyssa says, handing me a cup of coffee as she comes to sit beside me on my bed. Nodding and accepting the drink from her, I sit up, feeling more tired than I ever have before.

“Alex? Can I come in?” It’s Ryan. “Alex, Brandon just left.”

Letting out a deep breath, I stand and walk over to open the door, my eyes feeling sore and my head pounding from everything that has been happening, “He’s gone?”

Shrugging his shoulders, he throws me a sympathetic smile as he steps through to join me and Alyssa, “I know it’s a lot to take in Alex, but well, I believe him. I believe every goddamn word he just told
both me and Neil.”

In a way, I want to be able to believe him too, but that would mean having to admit that my mom’s life was taken in pretty much the same way as Holly’s. The fact that her death was caused intentionally, rather than caused by a tragic accident.

If it’s true then I want to find out who did this to her. Who did this to my father. Who did this to me.

“He asked me to give you this,” Ryan tells me, holding up a piece of paper. Taking it from him, I see it’s a cell phone number,
and not the same one as he had before.

“Do you
really think that he’s being set up again, Rye?” I ask, my voice shaky as I wonder why anyone would be so callous as to destroy someone’s life like this.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, Alex,” he answers me, holding his hand out for Alyssa to come over and join him. “
You really need to hear him out.”

Smiling sadly over
at the both of them as they make their way over to the door, hand in hand, I glance back down to the piece of paper that I’m holding in my shaking hands.

Grabbing my cell phone, I dial his number, not entirely sure what I will even say to him.

“Alexis,” his voice is a hoarse whisper as he answer, “I’m so—“

“Where can I meet you?”
I ask, my voice flat as I cut him off from speaking. “I want,
I need
for you to tell me everything, no holding anything back, not if you want me to be able to trust you.”

***

He never gave me a place on the phone, he just told me to be ready and waiting outside the campus grounds, and to be sure that there were no cops in sight.

Well, I’m here and waiting, but I’m not so sure if I’m ready
for this.

After standing on the sidewalk for around ten minutes, a black SUV,
the black SUV
, pulls up at the side of the road, stopping right in front of me.

Glancing around the area
one final time, I walk over to the passenger side and open the door, seeing a pair of dark brown eyes looking right at me as I climb inside.

“Seatbelt,” he demands, before pulling away and heading towards the I
-5. “Maybe I should formally introduce myself. I’m Zach, Brandon’s cousin.”

“Cousin?” I ask, feeling confused
, but then I guess it makes more sense. It seems as though he has been working with Brandon, rather than against him, and they do look similar. Very similar.

Hitting the pedal as we make it onto the main highway and head out of the city, he smiles,
but keeps his eyes firmly glued on the road ahead. I notice him glancing through all of the mirrors every couple of minutes, but I don’t think it’s just for the simple reason that he needs them to be able to be a good driver. He’s making sure that we’re not being followed.

“Cousin,” he repe
ats, not saying another word as the music cuts out and his cell phone begins to ring. Taking the call, I hear his words, but not the person on the other end of the line. Earpiece. He’s wearing an earpiece, of course he is.

“Around ten minutes or so … Sure… Yes, she’s wearing her belt,” he snickers, throwing me a smile and rolling his eyes over in my direction. It’s obviously Brandon
who he’s speaking with. The way he just reacted makes it a little more comfortable to be in his company. He seems less intense than when I’ve seen him on all the other occasions.

Once he ends the call, I notice his smile as he turns towards a
narrow trail to our right, “Where exactly are we going?” I ask, looking out of the window and only being able to see that we’re heading towards water.

“Some place you and Brandon can be alone together,
with no worries of cops showing up or people bothering you,” he answers, his voice softer than when he was speaking on the phone. “He’s been one hell of a fucked up mess ever since you followed me the other night, actually, he’s been messed up ever since he called me the day he left you.”

My eyes land
over on him because of the words he’s just spoken, making my stomach twist and a feeling of nausea begin to sweep through me. He’s been a mess? Well, that makes the both of us.

“Was it you who
slipped that note into my pocket last night?” I turn to ask, knowing that it’s most probably a stupid question to be asking him. Of course he did, who else could it have possibly been?

He begins to tap his fingers on the s
teering wheel, his jaw clenched, and I notice his breathing becoming increasingly heavy, “Yes, although I thought it may have been a little more difficult to do so,” he answers, his voice curt. “Maybe I should thank your friend for his distraction method, you didn’t appear to notice, after all.”

Shit …
Neil. Zach was there when Neil kissed me.

“Have you told Brandon? About what happened I mean?” I feel sick just wondering how he’d react, knowing
that his best friend and his girlfriend, if I am still his girlfriend that is, did something together that was more important to him than sex. “Neil kissed me, not the other way around, I tried to fight him off of me.”

“Oh, I know,” he nods, his voice relaxing some as the car begins to slow down. “That’s why I haven’t mentioned
any of it to Brandon. I’d say he’s been hurt far too many times in his life to have to go through it even once more, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Neil’s going through a few things, he was drunk … It was a complete misunderstanding,” I tell him, because that’s all that it was. A misunderstanding, and although I would never think about acting the way he did, people handle
their hurt in different ways.

Zach doesn’t answer me, he just keeps his eyes focused ahea
d of him as he continues to drive me to my unknown destination.

Gazing
back out of the window, the car begins to slow down again, until finally stopping in front of a small wooden cabin. I’m meeting with him here?

Zach climbs out
and I watch as he walks around to open my door, but I don’t climb out right away. Standing at the top of the steps on the porch, I see Brandon. His head is hanging low, with his shoulders slumped even lower.

My heart feels as though it’s
stopped beating when I see him bring his gaze slowly over on the car. I notice his chest expanding a couple of times, through taking deep breaths, before slowly making his way over to us.

“Thanks, man,” his voice is low. He knocks knuckles with Zach, before Zach helps me out and onto the stony pathway. “I’ll call you.”

“Nice to officially meet you, Alex,” Zach tells me, and throws a wink in my direction, before climbing back into the SUV and starting the engine.

“You came,” Brandon says
, with uncertainty within his voice, “I was really scared you wouldn’t.” he lifts his head up, and that’s when I see the redness around his eyes. He’s been crying. Seeing him like this makes me hurt more. I hate seeing him like this.
I hate it.

Without saying another word, he takes my hand in his and leads me towards the cabin steps, turning around on
ce and giving me a small, sad smile before we walk inside.

“I almost didn’t, but I need to know the truth … I need to know the truth about you, about me … about my mom,” I begin to say, watching as he turns to face me, with a look of understanding spreading over his features. “Brandon, I need to know
—”

“Anything, I’ll tell you anything you want and need,” he answers, nodding and stepping closer, so we’re only a foot away from each other.

“Was any of it real?” I watch as his face drops at my question. “You and me. Did you feel anything for me at all, or did you only need me to help you out with clearing your name?”

The grave look crossing into his eyes, and the way his lips are beginning to quiver
, isn’t making me hopeful that I’ll get the answer I so desperately want and need to hear.

“You’re
doubting my feelings for you?” he asks, looking mystified. “Alexis, how could you ever think anything else? I’m in love with you. I’m so fucking in love with you that when I left that day, I felt like I’d died inside, worse, worse than that—“

“I don’t know, maybe because you tore away my necklace, the same way you ripped out my heart?” I snipe, instantly regretting what I just said when I see his eyes appearing glazed again. “If you love me as much as you say you do, t
hen why did you leave me?”

He closes his eyes and does that same thing I
was so used to seeing him do before. He runs a hand through his hair, shakes his head and drops his gaze, “It wasn’t by choice, beautiful.”

Turning away from me, he heads towards what I assume to be the kitchen and so
I follow him, determined to get the answers I’ve been craving for, for so long, “Then why?”

“Wine?”

“Yes, wine … Brandon, stop avoiding this!” The frustration is evident in both my voice and tone as I step in front of him, taking the bottle from his hands and placing it down on the countertop behind him. “Please?”

“I didn’t
, I mean, I couldn’t be the one responsible for your life too, Alexis, I couldn’t,” he says, sounding completely defeated, clenching his eyes shut and lowering his head once again. “That day, do you remember when I left your place to go and grab my things? Well, when I got back to my dorm, there was a note on my bed … It said … It said that I needed to leave if I didn’t want you taken away from me. Taken away from me in the exact same way that Holly was.”

I feel like I’ve been sucker-punched really hard in the chest at hearing his words, “What?” I blurt out uncontrollably,
with my mouth beginning to dry up.

“I guess I got too close to finding out who did it, who took Holly and … and then I
got a text message, Alexis. It was of a photograph, a photograph of you. They knew who you were and they said if I didn’t leave my cell, the file I had on the case, my keys, my ID, if I didn’t leave everything behind and go within the hour, they would take you away from me,” his hands are shaking and I can see the tears forming in his eyes.

“So that’s why you left,” I mumble,
lifting my hand and using my thumb to wipe the tear that just landed on his right cheek away. “Zach, Harry, shit I’m so confused …”

Inhaling a deep breath, Brandon nods and places his hands on my waist. Looking up and
gazing into his eyes, I can tell that he’s being truthful with me, “Let me get you that wine,” he insists, before turning around and grabbing the bottle from the side and then reaching into one of the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen, taking two glasses out from the top shelf.

Tilting his head over to the side
, summoning me join him, I make my way over and walk through a double doorway into the large living space, “This place is nice,” I say, turning back to see that he’s watching me. “Whose place is this?”

“Holly’s mom and dad own it and said I could use it for as long as I needed,” his voice is quiet as he takes a seat on one of the dining chairs.
“They’ve always known the truth. They have never once questioned me about any of this.”

“I … I saw the flowers you le
ft on her stone the other day, they were beautiful,” I say, taking a seat opposite to him and watch as he pours us both a glass of red wine.

“
Flowers? I haven’t been to Holly’s stone since before I left … the first time I left, I mean,” he says, a look of confusion spreading over his features at what I said. “It was probably her mom, dad, or sister who put them there.”

Smiling as I take the wine from him, I think back to the note that was placed
on her headstone with them. It didn’t seem to be something one of her relatives would write, more her lover, that’s why I had assumed they were from him.

“What’s wrong?” h
e asks, his brow creasing when he must have seen my look of surprise and face fall. “What did I say?”

“No … no, nothing,” I assure him, taking another sip of wine, a much larger one this time.
“So, Zach?”

Leaning his elbows on the table, he keeps his gaze on me as he goes to answer another
one of my questions, “Zach is my cousin. He lives out of state but after all this happened, I asked him to come and stay here for a while, so he could keep a watch over you. Make sure that you were safe,” he begins, “when he saw you were going out of town, I panicked. We didn’t know how long you were going for, or why, or anything, so I asked him to follow you there.”