Page 23 of Hurts So Good

“Oh…well…” she sighs, suddenly plagued with sadness. “I just wanted to spend more time with you both. You know, so we can get reacquainted now that we’ve cleared the air between us.”

“I guess we can stay for a little while.” I glance at Ty for confirmation, but his facial features are as neutral as ever, giving nothing away.

“Great!” Sierra perks up. “But I’ll have to wait until my break to join you. Give me about an hour, ’kay? I’ll get you a snack and drinks while you wait.”

She hurries off. While I’m happy she’s forgiven us, something doesn’t sit right with me. She didn’t seem so willing when we spoke earlier, just acceptive of our mutually bad circumstances.

And I don’t understand why she’d need to wait to take a break either. It’s not like anyone else here needs her attention. The alarms in my head get even louder when Sierra doesn’t head toward the kitchen or the bar; she walks into the back where the bathroom and back door is.

Ty gets to his feet. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

I open my mouth to protest, but he’s gone before I can speak. He takes the same route as Sierra.

I scoff. They both expect me to wait? No way. Something isn’t right.

I stand and follow them. The bartender is still in the kitchen the last I saw, so there’s no one to judge or wonder what we’re all doing. Ty enters the men’s room. I put my ear to the door. His voice echoes through, but no one else is speaking. He has to be on his phone.

I’m curious who he’s calling, but I’ll have to ask when he comes out. I’m more interested in finding Sierra right now. My gut is telling me her sudden change of heart is not what I think it is.

I check the girls’ bathroom to find it empty, so I head to the only other door available: the backdoor.

Once outside, I search around for where she may have gone. My footsteps falter as a feminine voice reaches me. I follow it to the alley beside the bar, opposite to the one Ty and I fucked in.

“When are they coming?” Sierra demands with a cellphone to her ear and her back to me. “That’s not good enough! I told you an hour ago there was a murderer in the bar, and no one has yet to show up. I can’t stall them forever. Just forget it. I’ll deal with it myself.”

She angrily hangs up and lets out a groan of frustration. I knew she was acting strange. She didn’t want to fix anything; she just wanted to put Ty in jail.

A quiet storm brews inside me. I feel calm, yet angry as hell. Sierra is stabbing us in the back. Yes, her childhood was bad, and yes, we were partially to blame, but we were all kids just trying to survive, and her condemnation is somewhat misplaced.

I’ve been betrayed a lot in my life. By my parents, who abandoned me. By the Rylees, who attacked me. And by the government system, which failed to protect me. I’m done playing the victim. Ty has always stood by my side; he did whatever it took to keep me safe.

Now it’s my turn.

“Will you now?” I ask.

Sierra whirls around, wide eyed. “Lakelynn, I…that wasn’t what it sounded like. I was just calling about the bartender. He’s a real asshole. I swear.”

“I wish I believed you.”

I really do, but I don’t. My fingers wrap around the shovel leaning against the brick wall. It’s probably there to get up trash that homeless people push out of the dumpster nearby when digging for food. I don’t care what it’s used for normally; right now, all I want to do is hit her with it.

Sierra turns and runs the other way. She skids to a halt noticing Ty standing at the other end of the alley at the same time as I do. We both walk forward, caging Sierra in. The metal of the shovel scraps loudly against the concrete path.

“I’ll scream. I swear.” She tries to make her voice sound strong and confident, but there’s a shakiness to it.

“Go ahead,” Ty says. “Cleanup has already begun.”

I’m not sure what he means, but I assume it’s a hint at how we’re going to get away with this.

“You two are crazy!” Sierra screams. “This is all your fault! He loved me. I was his special girl until you showed up and ruined everything.”

My mouth drops open. She’s calling me crazy? A scoff of disbelief bubbles out of me. She can’t be serious.

Trying to measure her psychotic behavior and how deep it runs, I ask, “You do know he was molesting the other girls in the house, don’t you?”

“He wouldn’t have touched them if you hadn’t come along!” Sierra says. “You brainwashed him. He was losing his mind because he couldn’t have you when you sexually enticed him constantly. He only went to the others because he was so confused. Do you know how painful it is for the man you love to think about another girl while he’s making love to you?”

“Is that why you ran away?” Ty chuckles, getting a kick out of her insanity. I have to admit it is kind of mind-boggling to witness. “You were upset he didn’t love you?”

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