Page 76 of Lines

His Mom’s?

I know Derek is an only child and that his parents both work at the hospital. Doctor and a nurse, if I remember correctly, but that doesn’t strike me as a car his Mom would drive and it looks fairly familiar.

I park my old car in the empty space in front of his house and take the bag from the passenger seat. I step out of the car and slowly walk to the front door, my eyes still glued to the Cabriolet.

Why does it look familiar?

Greyford is a small town, but not that small.

Just as I’m close enough to climb a few stairs and come to the door, it opens and a girl comes out of the door. She turns around elegantly on her heels, her short, red skirt swaying with the motion around her tights.

“You have to go…” I hear him murmur softly, but he doesn’t get much out because her hands are around his shoulders—his completely exposed shoulders—and her mouth lands on his.

I stand there, frozen in my tracks, my mind empty with the shock of what’s in front of my eyes. I stand there, watching as they part their lips and deepen the kiss right in front of me, too lost in their own world to notice me standing there. Watching.

There’s a sound, painful and struggled, that breaks through my shock and snaps them out of their passionate haze. They both turn around to look at me, and that’s when I know it’s me. The sound came out of my mouth.

I smack a hand over my mouth to stop any other sound from coming out of my lips. We all are just standing there. Nobody moves, talks or even breathes.

It’s like we are stuck in time and space.

Derek is standing there with only a towel around his narrow hips. His perfect, bare chest is on full display to the world. Surprise and shock are written all over his face as he looks down at me.

The girl, one of Diamond’s friends, is still standing next to him, so close that their bodies are touching and her hand lays on his shoulder like it belongs there. Her bright red lips are curled into a smug smile, lipstick smeared around, as her light eyes meet mine. She’s so much like Diamond that I shudder under her piercing gaze.

“Amelia–”

“I’m sorry,” I manage to utter in a hurry before running away. My eyes are so blurry I don’t see anything, but that doesn’t stop me from running away.

I hear him calling my name, but the only good thing about his half-naked state is that he can’t follow me around like that.

While sliding into the car, I bump my leg against the steering wheel so hard that it’ll probably leave a dark, angry bruise on my skin, but I don’t let even that slow me down.

In some weird way, the physical pain helps dull the emotional pain.

At first, I’m too shocked to feel anything but empty, but now that shock has worn off, I can clearly feel my heart cracking open once again. The scarred parts of my heart, the ones that manage to be mended over the years, are again open and bleeding.

It hurts.

It hurts so damn much.

I swallow hard and taste something salty on my lips.

I’m crying? Why am I crying? It’s not supposed to be like that. I promised … I made a promise to myself to never again cry because of Derek King, and here I am today doing the same thing I did ten years ago.

Why did I let him do it? He was supposed to be changed. Am I really that bad a judge of the character that I let him fool me once again into believing he is something he really isn’t? Were all the kisses and tender touches and looks across the room just an illusion?

Hysterical laughter erupts out of me.

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

Didn’t the saying go like that?

This is all my fault.

I should have never let him come close to me. I should have never let Derek get under my skin. I should have never opened up and let him inside.

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