Page 57 of Poison Aches

“And don’t even get me started with the trouble you put this family through after meeting that Easton boy.”

“I didn’t meet him intentionally; he was just there!” I cry, attempting to defend myself.

“And yet you were fished out of the sea together and you damaged his heart!” Samuel says seriously.

A sob is trapped in my throat now. I can feel an attack coming.

“Now look at you, depressively in love with a man whose family trapped the life of the woman who raised you!” Samuel continues. “They boxed Grammy in and when things went severely wrong for them, guess who they wanted to throw to the wolves? Us!”

The truth of the past plays in my head all over again.

That night changed everything.

I ran away. Gramps died saving me. And then Grammy’s life completely changed.

“Do you remember how Grammy always wanted to move out to Colorado?” Samuel starts softly. “Well, guess what, Ivy? She’s never been able to leave this town!”

“I know…” I whisper.

“In this town, Grammy lost both her husband, who she loved with her entire soul, and her daughter broke her heart. And now look, the ungrateful granddaughter she raised is now going to look for that same heartbreak.”

“Stop, please,” I whisper.

“No, I won’t. Someone needs to help you with this. I’m your brother. I’ll be damned if I let some asshole, let alone our absent-as-fuck non-parents, hurt you to a point where your heart is broken repeatedly by the expectations you’ve been building withthose little fantasies of yours,” Samuel says firmly. “Beverly Irving is dead to us. She’s nothing, and as for that boy, he doesn’t feel the same way for you as you think you do for him.”

It’s like a cannon just went off in the room.

“I know that!” I yell, my lungs squeezing in my chest.

Immediately, Samuel moves to my desk and rummages around, then quickly walks over to my bed with my inhaler.

With trembling hands, I grab it and take a pump. Then I take another.

But the tension in my chest doesn’t ease. I still feel like I’m dying, so I take another, all the while my brother stands over me, watching with a worried expression on his face.

“Better?” he says softly.

I stare at him through my tears, not knowing what to say.

“I’m sorry if that hurt you but, sis, I had to.”

It takes a moment for the attack to subside and when it does, I’m now sitting upright with Samuel pacing in my room.

“I also know you blame me for Gramps death. I blame myself too,” I start.

“Ivy, that’s not?—”

“I also know you hate me.”

“No—"

“Don’t worry, I hate myself too,” I whisper brokenly.

I know what I did that night. And a few nights later, I know the bondage I subjected my family to.

I know that falling for Emmett Easton was the worst, most stupid thing that has ever happened to me and my family.

I know all that.

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