Chapter 12
TWELVE
Blakely
Sitting with my hands folded in my lap, I tried not to fidget as we waited for Luke and Hazel.
They were in the kitchen, talking in low voices that were impossible to hear.
Near the staircase, Devon surveyed the living room, considering the available spots to sit, but instead, he folded his arms and leaned against the wall. I didn’t have time to react to his decision or consider how much it affected me that he would rather stand back away from the group because Luke appeared from the kitchen.
Hazel walked in behind him, holding his hand while the other rested on her…
Holy shit.
They took a seat to my right on the empty loveseat, and I tried not to let the shock show on my face. But I couldn’t look away.
I knew so much would have changed over the past two years, but I wasn’t expecting that. I wasn’t expecting her to be pregnant. I glanced between the couple and looked down at their hands. On each of their left ring fingers were matching silver bands.
Luke sat forward but wrapped one hand around Hazel’s thigh. She placed her hand on top of his, and I could feel emotion welling up in my throat.
They were so sweet, so perfect, and all of that almost didn’t happen. Because of me.
I couldn’t continue to look at them and maintain any semblance of composure.
On the couch directly across from me, James sat with the redhead next to him. I wish I knew her name, but I didn’t think that was the time to ask.
He held her hand in both of his as he stared down at his feet.
Amanda was seated next to the redhead, and on her other side, Josh had his hand on her thigh. Again, I tried not to let my surprise play out over my face. I knew there was something there before, but I never imagined they would act on it. Again.
Then I noticed that Josh’s other hand was enveloped in one of Reed’s, who was propped on the arm of the couch.
Reed’s thumb rubbed back and forth over Josh’s hand, and my eyes widened before I could control it.
Quickly, I looked away, but not before Amanda followed my eyes and saw the display of affection I’d noticed. Her lips tilted upward ever so slightly, and her expression softened.
“I don’t know if any of us know how to start this,” Amanda said. “But I think it makes sense for you to explain where you’ve been for the past two years. And what you’re doing here now.”
Several sets of expectant eyes stared back at me. I took a deep, centering breath and said, “That’s why I’m here. I want to tell you the whole story. I want to try to…explain.”
“We’ve all been dying to know for two years. We’re willing to hear you out,” she said.
I glanced around at the group, and although many of them seemed cautious, none of them refuted her claim. “Okay, it’s a, um…long story. ”
“It’s been two years. I’m sure it is a long story,” James quipped.
Hazel threw a look at him and shook her head. Luke tightened his hold on her as she turned back to look at me. Hazel always had the kindest eyes and now wasn’t any different.
“Go ahead,” she said. “Start from the beginning. And…don’t leave anything out.”
“First, I wanted to say that I’m sorry,” I rushed out on a long breath. “To all of you, but specifically to you, Luke and Hazel. I cannot express how sorry I am. I never got a chance to tell you that.” The words flew from my mouth before I could stop them. They’d been sitting heavy on my mind for years, I needed to get them out.
Hazel’s smile was soft, but her eyes were glossy as she scooted closer to Luke.
“Thank you,” she said in a shaky voice.
Luke didn’t say anything. He leveled me with a harsh, unrelenting glare that made me wonder if anything would change even when they knew the truth.
Apparently, I’d been silent for too long because Amanda spoke up again.
“Where have you been? We—” She sucked in a sharp breath. “We thought you were dead.”
I tensed and reinforced my mental shields against the memories that wanted to flood back in at her statement.
I’d put in a lot of work to not let those memories affect me like they once did.
Somehow, I managed a sardonic chuckle and shrugged.
“Almost.”
Humor wasn’t the best defense mechanism, but if I didn’t joke about my experiences every once in a while, I was bound to go crazy.
No one else thought my joke was funny. Amanda paled, and the rest of them readjusted awkwardly in their seats. If they couldn’t handle that, I couldn’t imagine what they would think when I really got into the nitty-gritty details.
“Okay,” I said, and I told them everything.
Just as Hazel had requested, I started from the beginning. I told them how Valerie contacted me around the same time she reached out to Luke. Saying Valerie’s name aloud was enough to make me feel like I was going to puke and like I needed to scrub my body clean. Glancing around the room, everyone else had the same reaction, even the redhead that I didn’t know. That was how infamous Valerie was.
Valerie had been the one to introduce me to the rest of the group. She was the reason I had all of these people sitting around me, and I both appreciated and hated her for that.
She’d always been a derisive personality, enticing reactions of both hate and love from everyone she met.
There were times in our friendship where I’d experienced both emotions when it came to her. Sometimes within the same day, she’d been the best friend I’d ever wanted and a fucking bitch. With Valerie, you got the good with the really, really bad.
I explained why I’d done what I had at Friendsgiving and why I had been reluctant—to say the least—to go to the cops. How she’d shown up at my apartment and threatened to hurt anyone and everyone I loved.
They peppered me with questions, and I tried to answer them the best I could.
“Blake, you still could have said something. We could have figured it out together,” Reed said.
Tears I’d fought to keep contained slipped free, but I quickly brushed them away. I’d fucked up. I didn’t want them to think I was vying for sympathy. I was ashamed of the way I’d acted and how stupid I’d been. Even if it was all in the name of protecting them, I could have done better.
“Yes, maybe we could have—” Josh began, but I was already shaking my head.
“Maybe, but I don’t think anything would have worked. ”
This next part I knew would rock them all.
Reed, Josh, and Amanda clung to one another. The redhead had moved closer to James. Luke looked like he was torn between anger and pity, while Hazel was putting on a brave face.
Devon had been a silent statue at the back of the room. His arms were still crossed over his chest, and his expression remained neutral. I wish I had that power—to not wear my emotions like they were a neon sign. I wished I could shut down the way he seemed to be able to.
But I knew even Devon, the immovable force he was, wouldn’t be able to remain that way when I said what I had to next.
“She knew exactly where to hit me and what would hurt the most.”
Everyone waited in bated silence as I mustered the courage.
“Since she contacted me, she’d been sending me threatening text messages, and along with each was a photo of Shelly.”
I didn’t want to look at him, but I also couldn’t help it. Devon straightened and dropped his arms to his sides.
“What?” James asked in a voice that easily belied his disbelief. The entire group glanced behind me at the wall of windows that looked out into the backyard. Shelly was tossing the ball back and forth with Zach as Sadie rolled around in the grass between them.
Her smile was bright, and she appeared content playing the monotonous game. My chest tightened, and a sob lodged in my throat.
They all sat in stunned silence, and I waited for them to take in the full weight of my words before I continued.
My attention jumped to Devon, who had walked further into the living room. His hands were braced on the back of the couch, and he was staring down at his fingers like he was willing them not to break the furniture. Even from across the room, I could see the whites of his knuckles and imagined the force with which he gripped the couch.
He was on the verge, and I didn’t want to continue.
“Wait, is that why you invited Hazel to lunch? Because Valerie threatened Shelly unless you did?” Luke asked. That would have been the simpler explanation, but it wasn’t the truth. None of this was simple.
“No, Valerie texted Hazel. She spoofed our numbers and sent me a text, too. I had no idea what was happening until I got there.”
“Valerie did it?” Luke asked, disdain dripping from each word. “Blakely, I need you to tell me: did you help her kidnap my wife or not?”
“I swear, I didn’t,” I said without missing a beat. “I would never.” Glancing around the room, it was fifty-fifty on whether they believed me or not. “I got there, and she dragged me into an alley. She told me I was going to go in there and sit down at the table like everything was normal. And that was all. If I made a sound or caused a commotion, then…she had very convincing reasons why I shouldn’t.”
“Like what?” Reed asked, and I hesitated.
“Say it,” Devon said. They were the first words he’d spoken, and they made me jump.
He was still staring down at his hands, and I ground my teeth as I managed to explain, “She showed me a video of Shelly,” I ground out. “It was obvious that it had been taken that morning. Then she sent me photos of each of you. It was all she had to do.”
The back door opened as I finished my sentence, and I almost leaped from my seat.
Shelly hesitantly stepped inside.
“Zach has to use the restroom,” she said a second before Zach sprinted into the house, not glancing back for a moment as he beelined for the bathroom.
Shelly closed the door behind her and rubbed her cold hands together as she appraised all of us still seated around the living room.
“How’s it going in here?” she asked, and I honestly didn’t know how to answer.
No one had begun yelling, and no one had called me a liar, so that was good. And they all appeared to be content with letting me finish, at least.
That was more than I could’ve asked for, so in my opinion, it was going about as well as expected.
“Fine,” Devon said in a rough voice. He’d straightened when his mom walked in and folded his arms back over his broad chest.
“Good, good,” Shelly murmured, tightening her coat around her. She looked back outside at Sadie and Piper, but Devon still stared at her.
For a moment, I imagined I could read his thoughts. He considered how close he’d come to losing his mom. How he knew she was fighting an illness with everything she had, but it was something else that nearly ended her life.
He thought about how much he loved her and how painful it would’ve been to lose her.
Zach sprinted back into the room. He wiped his hands on his jeans and cut through the center of the living room, which was the shortest route to the door. But he stopped directly in front of me.
His little blond brows furrowed, and he titled his head like he was trying to determine where I’d come from.
He’d grown so much in the past two years. Last time I saw him, he was almost five. Was that really right? He was still bleach blond and had that sweet, childish lilt to his words that made it a little difficult to understand him.
“Aunt B?” he asked.
Through warring emotions, I somehow managed to nod and say, “Hey, kid.”
His face went from confused to excited in less than a second .
“You’ve been gone forever! Dad said you went on vacation. Did you have fun? Where did you go?”
He stepped closer, and my mind worked overtime trying to figure out how to answer that.
But luckily, Josh put me out of my misery.
“Aunt B is telling us about her vacation right now. She’ll tell you after, okay? Go play with Ms. Shelly, please.”
Zach turned around to look at his dad. The kid let out an exaggerated sigh. “Okaaaay,” he said, extending the two syllables to at least five.
He smiled at me again as he began to walk away. “I’m glad you’re back!” he called as Shelly opened the door for him. She followed him out and I wanted to bottle his childlike joy.
“We all know what happened at that lunch,” Reed said, continuing the conversation. “But what the hell happened after? You mentioned going to your parents, but you never made it.”
“Wait, your mom said they got a few phone calls from you, but they couldn’t pinpoint where they’d come from,” Amanda said.
Very few people knew the information they were asking me for. I could count on one hand the number of people I’d told. Three of them were therapists and counselors. The other two were my parents, and I’d given them only the information they really needed. Not that they’d asked for more details anyway.
But the point was, I was out of practice telling the story. And I’d never told it to anyone who knew me on a personal level and truly cared like the people surrounding me did. Or at least how they used to.
“Don’t ever trust anything my parents say,” I began. “My mother’s a politician—she lies for a living, and my dad does whatever she says. They are more concerned with how it would look if their only daughter went missing than they are with why I went missing or where I was.”
“Went missing?” Hazel questioned.
I studied Hazel. She leaned forward, still touching Luke with one hand while the other lay protectively over her stomach. Her brows were scrunched in concentration like she was reliving the events and trying to connect the dots she wasn’t able to before.
“Just say it, Blakely. I—I can handle it,” she clarified, reading my concern perfectly.
“They grabbed you,” I said, speaking directly to her. “And I’d already decided that the second I could, I would call the police. I’d follow her and lead the police directly to you. I would do whatever I had to do to save you. But Valerie had contingencies for that. To make sure her plan went off the way she wanted it to, she needed to make sure all her loose ends were taken care of.”
“Wait, so she…” Hazel said, her words trailing off as her eyes went wide.
“She took you,” I said. “But someone else took me, too.”