21. Chapter 21
Carter
I called her as soon as I got home. “Hello?” Isabella answered on the second ring. It surprised me. I’ll wait by the phone.
“Hey, can I talk to Beth?” There was silence on the other line before Isabella spoke again, and I narrowed my eyes like I was trying to see through the corded line.
“Uh, give me just a second.” There was a rustling when she must’ve put her hand over the phone and then her voice was quieter on the other end. “It’s Carter. Do you want to talk to him?”
“Tell him I’m not here.” Her voice was distant and muffled, but I could still hear her well enough to tell she didn’t sound right.
Was she okay? I thought about how she had winced in pain at the library and then my mind flashed back to her blood on me last night.
My stomach sank before there was another rustling and Isabella’s voice returned.
“It looks like she’s not here,” she lied, and I heard Beth sniffling in the background.
My chest felt tight, and I was more desperate to talk to her. “Please? I can hear her there.”
There was a long pause while Isabella must have debated whether or not to confirm Beth was there or lie. “Sorry.” Then the line clicked and went quiet, leaving me with nothing but the dial tone and my pulse pounding in my ears.
“What the hell?” I picked up the phone and called again, panicking when nobody answered. Concern and worry flooded me. If she wasn’t talking to me, there was a reason, and all I could think about was the pained look on her face. I knew I had been too rough on her. “Damn it!”
I stormed out of the apartment, not stopping long enough to criticize myself for hurting her. I should’ve been gentler. I shouldn’t have kept going yesterday in the library when she winced. I shouldn’t have made her bleed by fucking her so roughly.
When I got to her door, I knocked, and the muffled voices on the other side got quiet. I waited, growing more anxious with each weighted breath. Nobody opened the door. “Come on, Beth,” I said before knocking again.
Then I heard whispers too quiet for me to distinguish what they were saying, and the door opened just a crack.
Beth peeked through the door, just enough I could see the splotchy red patches under her eyes.
It was the kind of splotches you’d only get after crying for hours.
What had happened since I saw her in the quad?
“What’s wrong?” I asked her, half tempted to break the door down to get to her. Beth shook her head. Her hand shook when she put it through the crack in the door and held out the tape I made her. “Cherry, talk to me.”
She sighed, opening the door wide enough to push the tape against my chest and let go. “This went too far,” she said before she slammed the door shut in my face. I stuck my foot between the door and the frame to stop it.
“Too far? Beth, I’m sorry.” She closed her eyes, pushing against the door in an effort to get me to move my foot. “We don’t have to take things so fast. We can slow down. Just talk to me.”
Beth took a long, deep breath, letting it out just as slowly. Then she shook her head. “No. Benny told me everything. I think I just need some time.”
Some time. What did that mean? What was everything ?
I moved my foot when she pushed on the door again, and it slammed in my face.
I put my hand against the wood like she would be able to feel it and sighed.
She could have the time she needed, and I needed to find Benny.
“Take the time you need, but this isn’t over. ”
Not even close.