9. Nell
CHAPTER 9
Nell
I can’t believe him. His lies. His smooth-talking.
Me!
I can’t believe me. I gave myself to Law like some bitch in heat and didn’t even hesitate. I told him about my mom, the loss, the pain. All my anguish bled out of me like a river, and he consumed it with the promise of never hurting me.
Now here I am with tears streaming down my face and heartache making it impossible to breathe. I want to leave. Run away. Go home. To my real home.
Where there are memories and love and laughter. Where I have friends and a life.
But I can’t. It would be the same as stabbing my father in the heart. He was called to run an emergency load of goods up to the oil fields, and I know better than anyone what Fort McMurray lost in the fires three years ago. They need what he can transport more than I need a shoulder to cry on.
Sure, I want to curl up into a tiny ball, and I wish my mother were here to hold me tight through the night. But I’m eighteen now. I’m an adult, and in a few months, I’ll be on my own once again without anyone to care for me.
I can’t sit here and pout like some little girl.
I can’t nurse this ache in my chest where my heart used to be.
I must push on and move forward. Deny Law what I thought he wanted, he craved. With the way he whispered intimately in my ear and spoke erotically as he loved my body all night long, I was foolish and fell in love.
He calls me swan, and until now, I was never sure of why. Now I know.
I let my prince fool me into complacency in the same way Odette did with Prince Derek in the Swan Princess. She laid her heart out on her sleeve when she needed him most, and he took advantage, just like Law Brentwood did to me.
Lying in bed, it’s after midnight, and I’m staring up at the ceiling. Dad left two hours ago, and even though he knew I was upset, I put on a brave face, packed his food in the cooler, and kissed him goodbye.
My phone had been ringing and chiming for hours, and finally, I shut it off in order to help me clear my head. I’m not sure how to deal with Law, the liar, but I will.
Tomorrow.
For tonight, I’m going to cry my frustrations and upset out, and then in the morning, I’ll pretend like he never existed. I’ll pretend I never met the likes of Law Brentwood.
I’ll get through this loss just like the one before.