Chapter 18 #2
She stood in front of us, her eyes blazing. I stood as straight as possible and gave her a smile. “Uh, hi?” Then wished I hadn’t said anything as she turned all that rage onto me. She looked like she wanted to squash me beneath her shoe. Who was she?
She put her hand on Rhett’s arm, moving immediately to his side.
It was a purposeful move.
Them against me.
An alarm was blaring inside me.
“Are you going to introduce us, honey?” she said.
Honey?
A buzzing started in my ears, making it hard to hear. Rhett still hadn’t said anything, so I spoke up.
“I’m Jenn. Jenn Moore,” I heard myself say as if from a distance.
I felt like I had left my body and was watching everything from up above.
I looked small and pathetic next to this beautiful woman who practically vibrated with strength and power.
She was everything I wished I could be. And she was making it apparent she had a claim to Rhett.
That I was nothing and nobody. I had never felt so insignificant in my whole life.
“Hi, Jenn. I’m Lucy.” There was a loaded pause while I waited for my world to end. Because I wasn’t stupid, and I could see something was going on between them. “Rhett’s fiancée.”
I wasn’t sure what happened next. I looked in horror at Rhett, who seemed to have turned to stone.
I think he said my name, but I couldn’t hear him.
All I could think was I had sex with this man not two hours ago.
I had given him something I thought I would only give to the man I would be with forever. I had stupidly thought that was Rhett.
And this whole time, he was engaged.
To Lucy.
This poor woman had no idea that she, too, had been betrayed.
My heart didn’t break. It dissolved inside my body.
“Let me explain,” Rhett said, but all I could think was, Run.
Lucy said something about a wedding next month.
Next month?
“Your wedding?” I croaked, hoping this was all a bad dream.
Then Rhett’s attention was on Lucy, his expression shattered and ruined. I felt like I was intruding. I needed to get out of there.
I looked up, my eyes drifting to the other side of the bonfire where a man stood watching me.
I blinked, hoping the smoke was messing with my eyes.
But I knew what I saw wasn’t my imagination.
Marty stood there staring at me, a devilish smile on his mangled face.
I hadn’t been imagining him.
He had been here this whole time, and now he had just witnessed my humiliation.
He lifted his hand and waved, his grin growing wider and twisting his lips. I could see the scar on his cheek, shiny in the flickering light. I felt a momentary malicious joy at the sight of it, remembering I was the one to give it to him. Then my entire body began to shake, and the truth hit home.
He had found me.
Rhett was speaking, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. My entire focus was on getting as far away from here as possible.
Marty walked around the edge of the fire, heading in my direction, his eyes never leaving me.
I let out a sob and ran as fast as I could for the trees, barely seeing where I was going. I heard Rhett scream my name, but I kept going.
I had to get away.
I ran and ran, blindly making my way through the thick woods, hoping it would lead me back to town. My phone pinged in my pocket with an incoming message. Stopping to catch my breath, I pulled it out and stared at the screen with trembling hands.
Marty: Leaving so soon, little rabbit? Don’t worry, I’ll find you.
I could hear Rhett calling my name in the distance.
“Jenn, please, talk to me.” He sounded frantic and out of control, which scared me. “Goddamn it, where are you?” His worry turned to anger. “Jenn!”
I almost stopped. Despite his horrible betrayal, my heart yearned for him. And I knew if I gave him a chance, I’d forgive him. After seeing Marty, I wanted Rhett’s love and protection more than ever.
I was such an idiot.
So I kept running, not letting him catch up with me.
I had to hide.
Before it was too late.
I continued running, my phone ringing over and over again as I went. I eventually turned it off. Somehow, I made it back to the Millwood Guesthouse. Out of breath, I let myself inside, trying to be as quiet as possible so as to not wake Ms. Stanley.
Just as I started up the stairs, I heard the older woman come out of her bedroom.
“You’re late tonight.” She said it with a note of accusation.
I swiftly wiped away my tears and hid my face behind my hair. “Yes, sorry if I woke you, Ms. Stanley. I’m going to my room.”
Ms. Stanley peered up at me. “Are you okay?” I detected a note of concern.
“I’m fine.” I still wouldn’t look at her. “But I … I’m going to be heading out soon. I think it’s time I left town.” Just saying it broke the last pieces of my heart.
“You know you can stay as long as you need to,” the older woman said. “And, take it from me, running won’t solve your problems. Sometimes you have to stand still and face them.”
All this time, I had been avoiding Ms. Stanley. Yet she had somehow seen more than I gave her credit for.
“Thanks,” I muttered and hurried to my room and closed the door before I broke down in front of her. She had no idea how her small kindness was almost my undoing.
I threw myself on the bed and sobbed for everything I’d lost. My family. The future I had only just started envisioning for myself.
Rhett.
Because, now thinking about it more clearly, there was no way I could forgive this. He had betrayed me in the worst way possible. He had let me trust him, all the while lying to my face every day.
He wasn’t simply dating someone else. He was getting married. And tonight, he had taken my virginity. It felt like he had taken the last innocent part of me. A part that still believed there was good in the world. But I could see now that I was wrong.
When I left home, I thought I’d be smarter. That I wouldn’t be fooled ever again by those who professed to love me.
And yet, at the first cute smile and smooth words, I had handed over the most sacred parts of myself. I had given everything to a man who didn’t deserve any of it.
Would men always ruin me?
I put my book bag on the bed and started packing my things. There wasn’t much to pack, anyway. But then I thought about leaving Fern River, and I couldn’t finish the task.
I didn’t know what to do.
Or where to go.
When I had first run away from home, the thought of the open road in front of me had felt exciting. But now, after my short time in Fern River, a place I was starting to see as a home, the thought of leaving paralyzed me.
Soon there was a commotion at the front door.
I could hear Rhett shouting my name outside and Ms. Stanley trying to get rid of him.
I stayed upstairs, too scared to face him. I loved him so much. Even now I yearned to go to him and let him lie to me all over again. If only I could go back in time to earlier at Jagged Point.
Would I still go to the party and find out the truth? Or would I want to stay oblivious? I wasn’t sure.
Ignorance was bliss, or so they said.
It had gone silent outside and I peered carefully from my window, feeling both sad and glad that he had gone.
But then I saw something.
The figure of a man standing across the street.
Marty?
No. I was pretty sure it was Rhett’s friend Jeremy.
How did he know where I was staying?
Feeling sufficiently creeped out, I quickly closed the curtains and got out of sight.
Stupidly, I turned my phone back on. I had twenty-two voice messages and dozens of texts. Each one more unhinged than the last.
Rhett was angry. Really, really angry.
That shocked me. I expected his tears and his pleas, but not his rage.
Hearing his fury brought me back to a place I never wanted to be again. A place where I was scared and anxious about what I said and did. That confirmed my need to get out of Fern River as quickly as I could.
I had been living without a plan since leaving home. That needed to change. Because if I was going to survive, I had to be more careful, which meant taking time to decide where I was going and what I was going to do.
Marty had found me, and that meant Rhett would too.
So, for now, I needed to stay hidden from the men who were looking for me.
At least until I could figure out what to do next.