Pretty Little Lies (Lie #2) (16 page)

Brandon was pouring himself a glass a wine and stared at me as if I was the one in the wrong. He was the man who was supposed to be my friend, my brother, and he brought Victoria, the girl who was out to destroy Dylan and me, to a party where I had planned to welcome Dylan to my family.  I met his glare . . . a frown tugged on my lips. He took a sip of wine before turning to leave. He knew I always topped him. That in a battle of wills, I would win. But he had no idea what he had walked into that day. I gripped his arm to stop him, and it took everything in me not to rip it from his body.

“Why in the hell did you bring that bitch here?” I snarled.

“She’s with me now, and I’d appreciate you not calling her that. If I remember correctly, you found her quite fascinating a few years ago.”

Oh, hell no,
he was not about to bring my past up. We both had skeletons in our closet, and if we started comparing them, I would win that battle too. My anger hit a new all-time high. I grabbed him by the neck and threw him against the wall. Brandon dropped his wine glass, and it shattered at my feet. “Dylan is my world, and if you do anything to fuck with her, I’ll destroy you.”

“I guess Jamie was right, and she is that good of a fuck,” he said calmly.

I slammed his head against the refrigerator, again and again, sending whatever it was Kristina had perched on the top of it toppling to the floor to join the broken wine glass. I didn’t give a fuck.

“Ethan, what the hell?” My dad’s husky voice broke through my rage. He was at my side, pulling at my arm. I let Brandon go with a clump. “What the hell is your problem?”

“You let him bring that bitch,” I said and then noticed that Victoria was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Dylan. I stormed out of that kitchen and straight through the living room to the backdoor.

“Ethan,” Dylan said as she rounded the corner from the hall. I turned to see her. The lost look in her eyes stopped me cold and sent a blade straight through my damn heart.

“Dylan.” I don’t recall moving but I found myself across the room, wrapping my arms around Dylan, and pulling her close to my body. She clutched at my shirt and yanked me even closer to her. Her knees went weak, and she gasped for air. “Privy, what’s wrong?”

“I got sick. I guess its nerves, or I’m finally getting morning sickness.” She tucked her angelic face onto my chest.

I looked over her and saw Victoria coming from the bathroom with a sinister smile on her face. How did I ever believe she could take the place of someone like Dylan? The only thing they could possibly have in common was the red of their hair. What I had in my arms was what I wanted since the first day I ever got to feel Dylan in them. It’s hard to describe that horrible day as a blessing, but that’s what it was to me because that day placed my soul in my arms. I kissed the top of Dylan’s head as she clung to me.

Dylan

I kept my head buried into his tight chest as everything sunk in. His muscles tighten around me. He was hard and soft at the same time. I wanted everyone to leave and have him hold me until everything was okay. But then again, it had never been okay. Every memory of him came flooding back as Victoria spoke those words to me outside the bathroom; Ethan promised to destroy me for hurting Jamie. He sent them to me that fateful day. Jamie, my own personal demon, was his brother. He had never done anything but lie to me. Even to that day. I remembered him holding me after the attack, but he told me it was nothing more than hopeful wishing. But more than lying, he was sent to kill me, and after making love to Victoria, he promised her I would pay. So why after having everything smack me in the face did I find comfort in his arms? Killing me would have been easy. Making me love him was worse than any death.

I needed to fight for my life, for the life of the child I was carrying. Ethan led me to the couch. I snuggled as close to him as I possibly could get. I needed to convince him I was the same girl who had walked through the front door with him. The girl he made believe he loved. I needed time to think of a way to get away from him. If I ever wanted to figure out what to do next.

“Privy, did someone do something?”

“No, I’m just sick,” I answered, fighting the emotions choking me. The emptiness in my voice was audible. Ethan squished my arm with his hand, no doubt hearing how lifeless it was too.

Fighting to breathe through the pain, I held on to Ethan, and avoided looking over at the woman who could possibly hold his heart. I had met her before. Each time, I finally remembered, he turned away from me like I was nothing. The only place I ever felt wanted was in the arms of a man who was out to destroy me.

“I need to go lay down. Can you take me somewhere please?” I begged. 

“Where, babe? You can lay down in one of Kristina’s rooms.”

“Are you okay, Dylan?” Victoria said from across the room.

“That’s enough,” Ethan warned. “No one wants to hear what you have to say.”

I closed my eyes. A sick knot formed in my stomach. Ethan still had secrets. Secrets, I was positive Victoria knew. I had to get away from Ethan before my heart betrayed me. The panic in my throat had taken over.

Ethan’s body went completely rigid. The tension in the room was overpowering. I heard his mom loudly talking to his sister, his dad telling his brother he needed to put a bandage on some mark on his head. But all I could think about was the woman sitting across from me who somehow had a pull on the only man I was capable of loving . . . man who was sent to hurt me for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. There had to be a way out without totally finishing me off. I glanced up at Ethan. His eyes were fixed on the wall holding a silenced television.

The distance between Ethan and me was growing by the second. I wanted everything I believed when I stepped in the house to be true. I didn’t want this wall of lies between us. I wasn’t sure what to say, but I needed out of that house. “We’re going to spend the night in Nashville. Can you just go ahead and get us a room? Let me sleep off the nausea then you can bring me back to tell them,” I whispered in his ear, knowing that every ear was tuned into what I had to say.

He nodded but paused for several minutes before making an excuse for us to leave. I said my goodbyes to his family but never looked them in the eyes. It was a family, earlier I wished I could’ve been a part of. A family, my worst nightmare came from. A family, who wanted to destroy me too. A family, I was producing an heir for.

Neither one of us spoke all the way to the nearest hotel. I had even sat in the car as he checked in, needing to make a phone call. I called the adoption attorney whom I had spoken to numerous times before Ethan made me believe I had a chance of having a family. I hung the phone up when I caught Ethan walking briskly to the car. I had to hold it together if I ever planned on carrying out my escape. He took my hand and hurried me off to the room. He stopped abruptly, turned, and had me in a heated kiss. I was too stunned to do anything other than to kiss him back. It was a soul-wrenching melding of two lives, full of passion and promise. An empty promise that made my heart ache. Just as if that kissed never happened, Ethan resumed our dash to the room. He pulled me past the doorman and across the lobby straight to the elevator.

Once inside the elevator, Ethan had me in his arms again. He seemed desperate to hold onto me. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was a chance he truly cared. Then every memory I had of him flooded my mind. His promise to Victoria was fulfilled. He had destroyed me. When the elevator doors opened, he pulled a key out of his dress coat pocket, and a moment later, we were in a room. I immediately went and lay down on the bed, trying to put distance between us.

“E, go back and have dinner with your family. After you get done, I’ll be here waiting. I need to sleep.” The sob in my throat caused my voice to crack. I was turning into what I hated most, a liar.

He moved over to me and sat beside me on the bed. I didn’t want him touching me but willed myself not to flinch as he stroked a finger over my cheek. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“Please, E, I would feel horrible and couldn’t rest if I kept you from your family. Please, come back in a few hours then we can go tell them about the baby.”

That seemed to pacify him. He nodded before lightly kissing my forehead. He got up without another word and turned off the lights. Before he walked out the door, he turned back to look at me. It took everything in me not to bust out in tears. There was no doubt in my mind I would never lay eyes on his all-too-perfect face again.

Ethan

I pushed the plate across the dinner table. Sitting in my sister’s house, it was hard not to throw a fist into Victoria’s face. I’d never thought of being violent with a woman before, but Victoria was no woman. Something in the back of my mind kept nagging me . . . telling me Victoria had said something to Dylan. She declared she was only feeling bad but I had an uneasiness about leaving her alone. I had to come back though to make sure Victoria and Brandon had no plans to hurt Dylan farther. They seemed innocent enough.

As always, mom sensed my mood, and she signed that I needed to go. Dylan was where I belonged. It didn’t take another word from anybody. I grabbed my coat and left without a word. I raced through the city streets, and the closer I got, the more the last look she gave me played over and over in my head. The fear that Dylan had run was terrifying.

I didn’t even shut the car door. I stalked past the doorman and skipped the elevator, taking the stairs two at a time before breaking into a run. Yanking open the door, the silence that met me was unbearable. At first, I didn’t panic. I started calling out her name. I knocked on the bathroom door. The door opened a bit. I heard no movement, but I still said her name. “Dylan, Privy.”

I opened the door wider, revealing what I already expected, an empty and dark room. I screamed out her name as my knees buckled under me. I slipped my cellphone out of my coat pocket and called her. Her phone rang on the bed. I glanced over at it and saw a note laying under it. I jerked the note into my grasp.

I never meant to hurt anyone, and I’m sorry for any pain I might have caused your family. I will always love you, Dylan

I gripped the phone off the bedside table, and called the front desk. They had no problem informing me that the woman occupant of the room left in a cab about thirty minutes earlier. She was gone. The day had turned into a fucking disaster. I could still see her small impression on the bed from where she had lain.

I got up and picked up the pillow she’d been sleeping on. The smell of Dylan hit me. A sob broke free and slithered down my face. I didn’t even try to stop them. I deserved every last one of them. I knew in my heart that she was hurting and I left her again. I had to stop and grit my teeth through the tears. She was apologizing for hurting my damn family. She was incapable of hurting anybody. My sweet angel was the one who had been hurt. I wadded up and chunked that fucking letter across the room. I had only left her alone for a mere two hours. Surely, she had not gone far.

I stood up and placed the pillow back on the bed. I was going to find her. I don’t know how I found myself back at my sister’s house, but I knew I made it in record time. I walked through the front door and dropped my keys and coat onto the floor. “She’s gone,” slipped from my lips.

I searched the room for Brandon and Victoria as a blind rage began to take over my system. There was no sign of them anywhere. I started toward the backyard, determined to find them. “Where is my bastard of a brother and that bitch?”

“Ethan, calm down. What happen?” Charlie asked from behind me.

Without thinking, I flipped around and swung, thankfully missing Charlie’s face.

My dad wrapped his arms around mine at the elbows. “Calm the fuck down,” he demanded. “What’s going on?”

I couldn’t talk. I squirmed out of my dad’s arms and picked up the first thing my hands touched, and launched it across the room. Turning, I saw the couch she had cuddle in my arms on. I shoved it, flipping it on its side. I stormed outside, insane with rage. I stood on the deck and willed myself to calm down. I pushed my fingers through my hair. I’d lost everything. Dylan was gone, and I had no idea what caused her to run. I noticed a glass sitting on the table. It had a vibrant shade of red lipstick smudged on it. It had to be Victoria’s. No one else there would have worn that tacky of a shade. I picked up the cold glass and threw it across the deck. It made contact with the back of the house and shattered. My chest heaved. My mom opened the backdoor. I held up a finger to keep her away. My control was so far out of reach at that point, I was scared I might hurt her.

“E,” she whispered. “Talk to me. I want to help,” she signed.

I pushed her back, slammed the door shut, and started to kick it over and over again until my foot had kicked a hole in the bottom.

Charlie rushed around to the back of the house and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Stop! You’re only hurting Kristina and Helen at this point.”

I let my hands fall to my side. Despite it being one of the coldest days in March, I was dripping in sweat.  I slouched down in a nearby lawn chair and closed my eyes. My hands shook as I brought them to my face. Salty tears stung my eyes.

“I hope you’re happy. Your mom is crying,” Dad said as he stepped out onto the deck.

I shook my head. “I never meant to upset her,” I said. “You have to believe that.”

“I do but you need to explain yourself.”

I threw my hands up in the air before letting them fall back in my lap. “She’s pregnant.”

My dad’s number one priority had always been his family. I wanted him to see if I lose Dylan not only have I lost everything, but he loses something too . . . another grandchild.

Dad looked as confused as I felt. He sat across the table from me and folded his arms across his chest. “Is it yours?”

I jumped to my feet and had my finger rammed in his face. It was the first time in my life I had confronted my father. “I’ve never wanted to hurt you, and still don’t, but if you ever imply that the child she is carrying is not mine, I will.”

Dad shook his head, unsure of what I was capable of doing. I fell back in my seat and used the collar on my shirt to pinch the moisture from my nose. “It’s a girl.” I stared down at my feet, wondering what to do. “Dad, help me please.”

He reached across the table and gripped my forearm. “We’ll figure it out, son.”

I had no choice but to find her. She was going through something, and I would never allow her to handle life alone again. I’d find her and beg. Whatever I needed to do so she would let me in again, I would. Then I’d never leave her again . . . for any reason.