Page 71 of Waiting for Her

Her head drops as she stares at her lap. “It started right after spring break.”

“What?” I ask, my voice cracking a little bit. I feel the tears building at the thought of what she’s about to tell me. I don’t want to hear any of this.

She nods. “I met Trent a few weeks before Halloween. I was still struggling with my weight, but he showed me that I was still… desirable. He didn’t push for us to become serious, wanted to be friends. It was, well, nice.”

I close my eyes, lean over the mantel above the fireplace. My hands grip the edge of the wood so hard my knuckles turn white. I now understand the hurt my friendship with Kennedy caused her, or is still causing her. Justified or not, I think we’ll both be protective over that side of our lives. Friendship with a member of the opposite sex was what led to my first love. Hearing she was friends with someone else like that, it hurts, whether he became an abusive asshole or not.

Turning back around, I cross my arms across my chest. Voice gruff, I say, “I need to know the rest.”

“When I got home from winter break, he and I got together for dinner. He told me that the time we spent apart showed him he wanted more. Asked me if I’d consider going on a date with him. I said no at first, but he was persistent. And honestly, it felt good to be pursued. He complimented me all the time. Told me I was beautiful, never made me feel like my ever-thinning frame was a bad thing. I look back now and realize it for what it was. Part of his manipulation. He seemed to get off on me being so skinny that he could see the veins in my arms, count the ribs in my chest.”

The image that flashes in my mind makes me physically ill. “What changed?”

“He became jealous. Simple as that,” she scoffs like it’s no big deal. “He saw me talking to a classmate. Ironically enough, it was a guy who was concerned about me. Saw that I was shrinking before everyone’s eyes. Told me his twin sister was anorexic and he was pretty blunt with me about the fact that he knew I was as well. He told me he was there for me if I ever needed to talk, that his sister would be willing to talk to me also. His concern was genuine and quite frankly, warranted. Trent walked up just as Aaron was giving me a hug, passing me a piece of paper with his number on it.

“At first, he didn’t say anything. He drove us back to my apartment, nothing in the way he was acting could have prepared me for what came next. The second the door shut behind us, he started in on me. Asked me how long I’d been cheating on him. Slung hateful words at me. Played into my insecurities.”

“What the fuck,” I growl. “Just over talking to a guy?” I’m breathing heavy, and every single cell in my body is warning me to run, that I’m not going to want to hear the rest of the story.

She nods sadly. “But it was only that one isolated incident and, of course, he apologized immediately. Said he was just worried because he didn’t want to lose me. He was so sneaky. I don’t know why I believed him or why I didn’t leave him. It sounds cliché, but his apologies came quickly, seemed sincere. ‘I love you so much, I can’t stand the idea of sharing you with anyone else.’ he would always say.”

Somehow, I manage to calm myself down enough to ask, “And Jack? What happened when he came to your place?”

“When Jack barged in, it was because he heard something break first but then the shouting.”

Shit.“What do you mean?”

Eyes filled with tears, I move to crouch in front of her, taking her hands in mine. I send up a prayer that what I think she’s about to tell me is so far from the truth.

“You can tell me, Bri,” I tell her, moving to sit beside her. What I want to do is pull her onto my lap, to go back in time, stop this whole fucked-up situation from ever happening in the first place.

“My weight was at its lowest when I saw Aaron at a coffee shop. The look on his face when he took in my appearance is something I’ll never forget. I had this overwhelming desire to apologize to him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Grady, I felt like such a failure in every facet of my life and when he first approached me, even though we’d never met, I knew he had the right to. I was very aware of the fact that I had an eating disorder. I didn’t know how to get a handle on it. I knew he was coming to me from a place of concern. Anyway, Aaron pulled me aside and sat down at a table with me. But rather than sitting across from me, he took a seat next to mine. He was speaking quietly to me, so he was leaning in close. Trent had apparently been tracking my phone because when he came in the door it was obvious he already knew I’d be there. I was so much like Aaron’s sister Ava, and he wanted so badly to help her—to make her better. When Trent saw Aaron and I talking, I knew it was going to be bad.”

“How bad?”

“Trent and I, we had never been intimate. At least, not sex. He assumed that was because I had been cheating on him the entire time with Aaron. There was no convincing him otherwise. He threw a beer bottle across the room and it shattered.”

My nostrils flare. “And that’s when Jack came in?”

She nods, pressing her lips together, chin trembling.

“Yes. He could hear him shouting at me from the other side of the door. If he hadn’t been there, I don’t know if he would have turned physical against me.”

“And he what, got you to safety? Trent just let him walk in and leave with you?” I ask, incredulously.

“No. But a neighbor had already called 911 and told them they’d heard the same thing Jack had. Jack got in Trent’s face, stood in front of me to keep me safe. The police showed up only a few minutes later, took our statements. The next morning I filed a restraining order against Trent and Jack stayed with me for a couple days. After everything that happened with your Aunt Carly, I’m sure he was having some pretty major flashbacks of his own, you know?”

I nod. We all know Carly’s story. She was lucky to get out of the abusive marriage, but not before Jack witnessed the worst of it. He was only thirteen and walked into the living room at the same time her ex-husband started physically abusing her. Carly didn’t stay around for it to happen again and moved to our hometown. She’d been living in Liberty for a few years and found happiness with my uncle James when Vince, her ex, found where she and Jack were living and tried to recreate history. Jack came home just in time to stop it.

“So yeah, he saved my life. I don’t know how long I would have stayed with Trent or continued to let my body dwindle to nothing if Jack hadn’t come in.”

I let all the news she just told me settle in a little bit but quickly realize if I stay in this house I’m likely going to break something. “I think we need a break.”

She nods sadly.

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