Page 24 of My Sweet Cherry
“I’m sorry, Beth.” His sympathy looked genuine, like he was actually sorry. Like there was something for him to be sorry for. “I don’t claim to be a good guy, but he and I? We’re cut from the same cloth.”
My eyes watered, and tears welled against my bottom eyelid. “Why would he do that? Why should I believe you?”
“Because I have no reason to lie to you about it. I know you don’t trust me, and I don’t blame you. But you shouldn’t trust Carter either.” He put his hand on my arm, and I yanked it away, shaking my head and turning to leave as quickly as I could manage without tripping over myself. “Just be careful.”
The tears that were stinging my eyes started to roll down my cheeks, and I turned around. My legs were no longer frozen in place—it was like they couldn’t carry me out of there fast enough. Benny’s voice in the back of my mind taunted me.
He’s not really that into you, you know.
Suddenly, the pie I carried felt like the last crumbs of what could have been. I threw it into the trashcan on my way out of his apartment building, ignoring the concerned stares from people walking the other direction. Carter said he liked me—he seemed like he liked me as much as I liked him.
I was glad my room was empty when I got there. My friends would have seen my tear-soaked shirt and hit me with a marathon of questions I didn’t know how to answer. The tape I had been listening to on repeat was sitting on my dresser when I walked in, and my throat tightened.I’ll bet he made you a mixtape.
“How could I have been so stupid?” I dropped onto my bed, burying my face in the pillow and letting the sob I held wrack through my body.
When the door opened, Isabella gasped. “Beth, what’s wrong?” She sat on the edge of my bed. “Talk to me.”
I looked up at her, sure that my mascara was rolling down my cheeks. It had left stains on my pillows that could only match the distress on my face. Then another sob wracked through my body, and the words scraped their way past my throat. “It was all a lie.”
Chapter 21
Carter
Icalled her as soon as I got home. “Hello?” Isabella answered on the second ring. It surprised me.I’ll wait by the phone.
“Hey, can I talk to Beth?” There was silence on the other line before Isabella spoke again, and I narrowed my eyes like I was trying to see through the corded line.
“Uh, give me just a second.” There was a rustling when she must’ve put her hand over the phone and then her voice was quieter on the other end. “It’s Carter. Do you want to talk to him?”
“Tell him I’m not here.” Her voice was distant and muffled, but I could still hear her well enough to tell she didn’t sound right.Was she okay? I thought about how she had winced in pain at the library and then my mind flashed back to her blood on me last night. My stomach sank before there was another rustling and Isabella’s voice returned.
“It looks like she’s not here,” she lied, and I heard Beth sniffling in the background.
My chest felt tight, and I was more desperate to talk to her. “Please? I can hear her there.”
There was a long pause while Isabella must have debated whether or not to confirm Beth was there or lie. “Sorry.” Then the line clicked and went quiet, leaving me with nothing but the dial tone and my pulse pounding in my ears.
“What the hell?” I picked up the phone and called again, panicking when nobody answered. Concern and worry flooded me. If she wasn’t talking to me, there was a reason, and all I could think about was the pained look on her face. I knew I had been too rough on her. “Damn it!”
I stormed out of the apartment, not stopping long enough to criticize myself for hurting her. I should’ve been gentler. I shouldn’t have kept going yesterday in the library when she winced. I shouldn’t have made her bleed by fucking her so roughly.
When I got to her door, I knocked, and the muffled voices on the other side got quiet. I waited, growing more anxious with each weighted breath. Nobody opened the door. “Come on, Beth,” I said before knocking again.
Then I heard whispers too quiet for me to distinguish what they were saying, and the door opened just a crack. Beth peeked through the door, just enough I could see the splotchy red patches under her eyes. It was the kind of splotches you’d only get after crying for hours. What had happened since I saw her in the quad?
“What’s wrong?” I asked her, half tempted to break the door down to get to her. Beth shook her head. Her hand shook when she put it through the crack in the door and held out the tape I made her. “Cherry, talk to me.”
She sighed, opening the door wide enough to push the tape against my chest and let go. “This went too far,” she said before she slammed the door shut in my face. I stuck my foot between the door and the frame to stop it.
“Too far? Beth, I’m sorry.” She closed her eyes, pushing against the door in an effort to get me to move my foot. “We don’t have to take things so fast. We can slow down. Just talk to me.”
Beth took a long, deep breath, letting it out just as slowly. Then she shook her head. “No. Benny told me everything. I think I just need some time.”
Some time.What did that mean? What waseverything? I moved my foot when she pushed on the door again, and it slammed in my face. I put my hand against the wood like she would be able to feel it and sighed. She could have the time she needed, and I needed to find Benny. “Take the time you need, but this isn’t over.”
Not even close.
Chapter 22
