Page 30 of Living Hell

“Okay, blame me. I’m at fault.”

He raised his head from under the counter. “Ah ha!” He stood and leaned toward me. “I knew it. You know, Iona, it feels good to tell the truth. I’m sure when you moved to Hollywood you were brainwashed into thinking it’s normal to lie, but it isn’t. It’s healthier to tell the truth, no matter if it might hurt you. The truth frees your soul.” He demonstrated with a large breath and then released it as if I didn’t know how to use my lungs.

“It’s not what you think. When I first emailed Debbie back when I was eighteen, I felt lost. I was a teenager who moved to the other side of the country and was surrounded by people who were only drawn to dollar signs. I had no friends. My mother was fighting her own demons, so I didn’t want to burden her.”

Tyler tilted his head to the side. “What demons?”

He didn’t know the whole truth about my mom. He saw a generous woman who helped him when he needed it. I loved my mother with everything in my heart, but our roles were reversed. I took care of her. I was the mother in our relationship, and she was the child.

I shook my head, unwilling to talk about that. “The point is, I needed someone who I wasn’t related to but still knew me. Someone who didn’t want to use me.” With a wild pounding in my chest, my eyes began to burn. Saying it out loud like that shook me. “Back then, I needed help and she was the only one I had ever known who was there when I needed something.”

Tyler placed the pan on the counter and came around the island. His warm hands gripped my arms. I wanted them to comfort me, but it wouldn’t happen. He hated me and I wanted to run away from him all over again.

“What about me? Why couldn’t you text me? Call me?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He had some nerve.

Ripping my arms away from him, I stood. “I did. I called and texted you so many times. But you never answered. And if you had an email, I would have contacted through that, too.”

His head reared back as if I had slapped him—and boy, did I want to. “First of all, you know my position on emails. My father would have used my email account the first chance he got for some scheme. I was not about to put myself in danger just for an email address.”

I nodded because he was right. His father had no problem using his own son to cheat others.

“As for the calls and texts, I would have known if you ever sent me anything.”

“Don’t lie, Tyler. Remember what you said, ‘the truth is freeing.’” I slid my tongue over my teeth and smirked.

“I’m telling the truth. When have you ever known me to lie?”

I pointed to the floor. “Right now.”

His head fell back as he stared at the ceiling. When he lifted it again confusion clouded his features.

“I don’t understand. I never got anything from you. Not even a butt dial.”

He sat down on the stool, lost in his thoughts. Tyler was right, he never lied. It’s one of the reasons—despite the ghosting—that I never spoke ill of him.

“Fine. I believe you. But then why didn’t you reach out to me?”

I was his girlfriend at the time. I thought he cared about me. It would have made sense to get at least one text message from him after I had moved.

His eyes grew in disbelief. “I did. I called you but some guy kept answering and said you weren’t around. After a while, I assumed you just moved on.”

Now it was my turn to be confused. “A guy? It was only my mom and me. She never answered my cell phone.”

“It’s as if someone was purposely keeping us apart,” Tyler said under his breath but I heard.

“But who would do that?”

He held up a finger and ran out of the room. I heard his feet stomp up the stairs and after a few moments, he was racing back down. When he walked into the room, he was holding his phone.

“Did you get a new number since you moved to Hollywood?”

“Yes.”

“Crap. Then it won’t work.” He slid the phone on the island.

“What?”

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