28. Mason
28
Mason
D avina is quiet when we get to her place. She barely spoke to me at The Haven, seemingly avoiding me. I was busy talking with Owen so I didn’t make a big deal about it.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
Normally, I wouldn’t ask her. She’ll talk when she’s ready. This time I get the feeling she needs a little push.
“What happened the night Collin disappeared?”
So, I have to talk first. Whatever it is she needs to tell me, she won’t do it until I talk. Fine. Let’s talk. I’ll put it all out there because there’s no point in keeping it a secret from her any longer.
“I found him with another girl. Right after bragging to me about being with you, how you were his, he was with someone else. We got into a fight.”
“That’s it? A fight?”
“I was enraged at how easily he could discard you. It was you, Davina. You he had and it acted as though it changed nothing. It fucking changed everything. I thought I killed him. He wasn’t breathing. He was…he was pretty fucked up.”
The memory still haunts me. I’d never been so angry with him. Once I started hitting him, I couldn’t stop. I wasn’t just trying to kill him. We were trying to kill each other. Neither of us thought about the consequences.
“I dumped him. Christ, I don’t even remember where. I kept waiting for someone to find him. Kept waiting for the cops to come knocking on my door. No one ever did and eventually even my parents stopped looking, figuring he’d left on his own and refusing to believe he could be dead. I convinced myself he was. Convinced myself he was never coming back.”
“But he did,” she says quietly. “I saw him, Mason. I’ve seen him a couple of times. I should’ve told you.”
“When?”
“Tonight. But it wasn’t the first time.”
I run a hand through my hair, mumbling a curse. “You should’ve told me.”
“I know. I thought…I thought I could make him stop but he won’t stop,” she says, breaking down in tears. “He’s going to kill you.”
I wrap my arms around her, promising her that’s not going to happen. Promising her everything is going to be fine. I only pray I can keep that promise.