18. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
Laura
E nough time has passed since I last saw Jax that I feel comfortable approaching Allie. I haven't gotten a call from her, which makes me wonder if Jax even told her about our little tryst. Sure, he stopped it, but that doesn't change the fact that he was inside me three days after she came home. You know, the love of his life comes home after seven years, and he enters his ex-fiancée days later. Totally normal and not at all a betrayal.
If he hasn’t told her, maybe he’s undecided about what to do. Maybe, just maybe, he’s thinking that he wishes he’d finished. Because we didn’t, he might be confused. Deep down, I know Jax loves me. He may not realize it, but he does. No one gets as intimate as we were without feeling something. Anything.
I wait down the street until I see Jax's pickup pull away from the house. He works for some tech security company, something I never fully understood when he'd talk about his day, but I know he's good with computers. You'd think, especially after what happened to Allie, he'd put up security cameras around his house as a secondary precaution. It helps fit the theories that he either knows Allie did this to herself, or he was in on it.
I don't want to believe he was in on it because it makes everything we had fake. Although, it would also explain a lot. But, no, there's no way he could have been involved and sleeping with me. Plus, he'd never do that to Allie knowingly for years. A slip up is one thing, but a full-on two-year affair is more dedication than he's capable of to feed a ruse.
Pulling into the driveway, I put the car in park and hop out, waving at the cop to let him know this is a friendly visit. Just an old friend coming to catch up with the poor, abducted Allie who has no memory.
"If I can't get Jax to realize he really loves me, not her, then I'll work on making Allie not love him," I say to myself as I walk up to the front door and knock.
The door opens, and Allie stands before me. Her appearance makes me gasp, and for one moment, I think there's no way she could have done this to herself. She’s a stick figure compared to how she looked seven years ago. She was always attractive with the typical hourglass figure I envied. Big tits, although mine are bigger now, thin waist, and full hips. The type men like to grab onto while they're slamming into a woman. Hips I've never had and probably never will. How Jax wants this over me, I can’t figure out. She’s almost grotesque, in my opinion.
"Can I help you?" Allie asks, and there is no recognition in her eyes.
Holy shit, she really doesn't remember! It makes me want to vomit on her slippers that Jax hasn't even shown her a picture of me. I'm obviously not the one plastered in frames all along the house like Allie.
"Hi, Allie. I'm Laura Dawson. Still can't remember anything?" I ask with as much sweetness as I can muster .
Her expression shifts from curious to what looks like pity, and it angers me. She doesn't know what I look like, but she's the one in Jax's bed every night where I should be. "Um, Jax just left for work."
"I came to visit you, actually," I say. The smile plastered on my face starts to hurt my cheeks. "I wanted to stop by and see how you're adjusting."
"Oh, that's... really kind of you. Come on in," she says, moving aside to let me into the house. I finally get to take more than two steps into the damned place. Invited, anyway.
We walk into the kitchen, and I refuse to let my smile falter when I see a blonde sitting there. Sage. Of course, Jax wouldn't leave Allie alone all day. I should have expected this, and now my plan is ruined. It's pretty much a guarantee that anything I say will definitely get right back to Jax now.
"What are you doing here?" Sage asks, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
I've always hated how cute Sage is. She's not sexy like Allie is, but she's attractive. Even sitting in sweats with her hair pulled up in a messy knot on the top of her head, she looks adorable. Any guy on the street would ask her out, and I cannot pull that effortless attractiveness off to save my life. I have to put hours into my appearance to look like she does.
"I came to check on Allie. We were friends, remember?" I say and sit down.
"Is it weird because you were engaged to Jax when I showed back up?"
Giving Allie what I hope is a reassuring smile, I choke out, "It's fine." Allie sits down in the middle chair, and I do my best to ignore Sage. "Have you remembered anything? "
"Not really. There are some things, but no memories."
"Having you back is a miracle," I say, hoping it doesn't sound how it feels coming off my tongue. Like battery acid.
She smiles, but the look she gives is one I can’t quite interpret. Suspicion, maybe? "That's what I'm told."
"It is," Sage says.
"Has it been a media circus?" I ask.
Shrugging, Allie looks at the table. "Kind of, but it's not as bad now. The novelty has kind of worn off."
"I bet. Not a lot happens in this little town, and we haven't seen anything this big since… Ms. Moran," I say, leaning back as it pops into my mind. "I never realized until now how similar your cases are."
"Who's Ms. Moran?" she asks and looks between Sage and me. "What happened to her?"
Sage's eyes widen, and for the first time in what feels like a decade, she doesn't look at me with disdain. "Oh my God, I completely forgot about her."
"Who is she?" Allie asks again.
"Ms. Moran was a teacher at our school. She went missing when we were in seventh grade. Just vanished without a trace," Sage says.
I nod and try to think back. "Her car disappeared with her, too, and they believe she just up and left."
"Why would she do that?" Allie asks, looking between us again. It almost feels like the three of us really are old friends.
"There were rumors she was involved with a student. She was young, I think fresh out of college when she got the job, right?" I ask Sage.
She nods her head slowly. "Yeah, the rumor was going around that she'd gotten knocked up by a student, and she took off before they could prosecute her. Who was the kid? I don't know that I ever heard a name."
I look around the room as I try to think back. It's been so long since I thought much about Ms. Moran. Not that I was unhappy she disappeared. She was a bitch. "Danny Tomlin."
"Oh my God," Sage gasps.
"What?" Allie asks. "Why is he 'Oh my God' worthy?"
"That's the guy you got fired from the bank."
Pointing a finger to her own chest, Allie stares in confusion. "Me? I got him fired?"
"He was stalking you," she says. "He would leave you presents at your desk, and when you refused him, he started leaving you horrific gifts. Dead roses, then dead rodents. When he broke into your car to leave you an old-school mix tape after stealing your keys from your purse in your office, he was fired."
"Wait, seriously?" I ask, wondering how I never heard about Danny before.
Sage nods. "I think it was one of the last times the cameras outside the bank were working. Or the last time they remembered looking at them. How did I not make the connection before now? Your case is really similar to Ms. Moran. Her car disappeared with her just like yours did."
"What kind of car did I have?" Allie asks.
Wow, she either really doesn't remember or is giving an Oscar-worthy performance right now.
"A white Jeep Wrangler," I tell her.
"You loved that car. When no one was able to find any trace of your car, we knew it wasn't just you taking off. Not that you would have, either. If you had, you would've gone with Jax. Taken the roof and doors off and gone off-roading somewhere together. You said it made you feel free," Sage says.
Allie stands and walks into the living room where all of the pictures are, and she comes back holding one. "Is this mine?"
"Yep," Sage says as she smiles. "You drove Drew, Benji, and me out to the lake that weekend. It was when we learned we had to wear seat belts when you were driving because we took a detour through some road off the beaten path and almost flew out. It was so much fun."
Yep, everyone would get invited to the lake house except me unless I found out about it and invited myself. I was always overlooked, and it wasn't until Jax and I started dating that people actually thought to extend an invitation to me as well. I know it was more of a courtesy to him, but at least people remembered me. That's another thing that will go away again.
"Do you remember anything about your time with your captor?" I ask, curious about where she was. This could be where Allie slips up, and the thought has me listening intently.
My shin smarts as Sage kicks me and glares. "You do not have to answer that, Allie," she says.
"It's okay. Everyone's curious. It's human nature, right? I only remember ever being there until I escaped. My concept of time was off because of the head injury, and then the visits weren’t consistent enough to know for certain how long I was down there."
"Head injury?"
Sage rolls her eyes. "I know you were at the hospital when Jax told us about it."
Rather than brush off my question like Sage does, Allie parts her hair and shows me a six-inch scar on her scalp. For the first time, I realize just how serious this may be. "Oh my God. "
She could have done that to herself, too.
"Is that why you can't remember?" I ask.
Allie shrugs. "Very possibly. The doctor said it could also be a trauma response. I looked it up because I didn't really understand, but I guess some victims find it easier to forget their life before their abduction to make living through whatever conditions they’re in easier. Basically, if you can't remember when life was good, what you're going through doesn't seem quite so bad. No reference point, you know? But they also think there may be a trigger that will bring everything back, too."
"What kind of trigger?"
"No one really knows. The only way I can describe what it feels like is if you had a jar of keys and one lock. One of those keys may be the one to unlock it, or none of them could be. It's really frustrating."
"So, there's a chance you might not remember?"
Sage shoots me another angry look, but Allie just nods sadly. "It's a possibility. I want to remember, though. Jax has all these memories he keeps sharing, same with Sage, and I want to remember everyone like they do me. I just... I can't. There's nothing there except what I've been told or what I've experienced since I came home."
"It's got to be hard not having sex with him, too," I say.
"How do you know they're not having sex?" Sage asks quickly.
I know I screwed up right then. "I'm assuming. Allie doesn't seem like she's in a... state to jump right into bed with him."
Every night, I watch them sleeping in the same bed. The bed he never let me sleep in. They kiss sometimes, and Jax gets up with a hard-on to take care of it based on the fact he comes back without a tent in his sweatpants, but that's about it. Nothing even remotely sexual, which means I was the last person he had sex with. The thought makes me happy .
"I don't think I should talk about anything like that with you, Laura," Allie says. "It seems kind of insensitive."
"No worries. Like I said, we were friends before this terrible tragedy happened. And I'm sure you'll remember. It'll all come back to you," I say. "If not, Jax will settle for making new memories with you."
"What the hell do you mean by 'settle?'" Sage asks, and I can see the protective side of her coming out.
Bingo. I know I hit a nerve as Allie looks concerned, which makes Sage even more pissed off. "I didn't mean anything by it. Jax is just happy to have you home, Allie."
"I think it's time for you to leave," Sage growls.
I stand and hope the look I give them looks remorseful rather than full of glee. "I'm sorry if I offended anyone. I really am glad you're home, Allie."
"Thank you, Laura. And, uh, I'm sorry. I kind of blew up your plans. I had no idea who I was, let alone what was going on in Jax's life when I showed up on his doorstep."
"I know," I say with a smile before Sage all but kicks me out the front door.
I walk to my car and sit in the driver's seat, taking a few deep breaths before pulling away from the house. I smile at the cop as I drive by him, but I can't wait until I get home. Pulling over on the side of the street three blocks down, I scream.
"You screwed up everything!" I scream at the windshield. "I put years into everything, you stupid bitch. And you think an apology will erase all of the pain I've been put through since you stumbled home? Go to hell, Allie. You're not nearly as perfect as everyone wants to believe. Including you!"