Page 118 of Like A Moth To A Flame

Again, he was quiet, but he stared into my eyes. There was an electricity between us, and something in me sparked every time I looked at him.

“I told you,” he said finally, and there was remorse in his eyes when he looked at the ground. “I’m fucked up. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too,” I said, turning away. “I would’ve fucked you, anyway.”

His eyes narrowed dangerously, and when his mouth dropped open in a look of shock, it took all my willpower not to burst into sarcastic laughter.

“Stay the fuck away from me, Tommy. I don’t wanna see you,ever. If you come near my house again, I will call Sheriff Banner, and I will tell him, and everyone else who will listen, exactly what you fuckin’ did to me.”

“Vanessa, hold on.”

I turned and walked down the hallway, clutching my purse and keeping my head down. I studied the tiles beneath my feet as I walked, fighting tears that flooded my eyes and threatened to fall.

Don’t cry.

Don’t.

Do. Not. Cry.

“Nessa?!” he called behind me.

I forced myself to keep walking, to ignore him. I had to.

“Moth! Don’t go!”

I made it to the door and reached up, my hand shaking as I tapped on the glass. When the key fed into the lock and the doorpopped open, I hurried through it, ignoring the sound of heavy, frantic breathing from behind me. Sheriff Banner pushed the door closed behind me, sliding the lock back into place before he turned to me.

“Everything okay?”

“Yep,” I said quickly, moving down the aisle. “Everything’s great.”

I just couldn’t stop lying, could I?

I’d made it to the door, swallowing hard, before another thought crossed my mind and I turned back, studying the sheriff from across the room.

“Sheriff Banner?”

“Yeah?” he looked up from where he’d taken a seat back behind the desk.

Pulling in a deep breath, I plodded over to him, keeping my eyes on the ground. I didn’t want to see the emotions I was fighting.

“About Tommy,” I started, and I released the breath I held in a deep, shaking sigh. “The guy was hurting me, and Tommy saved me. Just let him out before anyone else knows he’s here.”

Sheriff Banner looked up at me with a confused expression before he turned back to his work. A sigh slipped between his lips as she shook his head.

“Funny,” he said, looking up with eyes that told me he knew there was more to this than I was letting on. “He just keepssavingyou.”

When I pulled into the driveway, Amelia was sitting on the porch, her hair a tousled mess and her pink phone clutched between her fingers. When she saw me pulling in, she looked up, and I could see the makeup smeared beneath her eyes and running in jagged lines down her cheeks.

She jumped up when I threw the car into park, stumbling in her heels as she threw herself in the front seat of my car and wrapped her arms around me in a hug so tight I had to fight to pull in a breath.

“Oh my god, Nessa!” Her voice cracked, and with every inhale, I could hear her sniffling. “I thought you were hurt! You left the bar, and then I came back and you weren’t here! I thought you were d-dead, or maybe—”

She smelled like alcohol, sweat, and sex.

I knew what she’d spent the night doing while I was fighting for my life. I couldn’t even be mad. If anything, it made me want to laugh, if only I had the energy.

“I’m sorry,” I said, sighing. I reached over, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pulling her closer to me. “I just had some things to take care of.”

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