Page 51 of Come Alive
The humor dissolved in the air and my face whitened. “I’m sure you heard, but he’s dead. Stephen is finally and officially dead. Gone from my life.” From everyone’s life. A nightmare I didn’t even know I was in and had finally woken up from.
Izzy’s expression changed, into something I didn’t recognize. “Yara… I’m going to tell you everything now. All of my secrets. Every piece that I have kept hidden from you, and I would love for you to do the same. But you don’t have to, you can keep anything you want from me. You know I’ll love you no matter what though, don’t you?”
“I’m ready to listen. I’ll be the therapist you never went to, no matter how much I pestered you. Though, I guess mine didn’t really work. But yeah girl, I think it’s time. No more fucking secrets.”
“Look, what had happened was…” Izzy attempted to joke again, it was an olive branch and I took it.
“Shut up, you’re such an idiot!” I chuckled before coughing. Pain stabbing over and over again at the spot just below my heart. It took time but finally I got it under control.
This would be annoying, but I was alive. My babies were fine. Everything was going to be fine. And Izzy was here, that meant she didn’t hate me.Right?
“You’re okay though, aren’t you? And the baby? Do you know whose it is? You didn’t lose it, did you?” Izzy picked at the peeling arm of the chair she was in, her entire focus on it.It was clear this was going to be a touchy spot for a while. Understandably so.
I decided it wasn’t the best time to drop thetwinsball on her. She could find out later…maybe after their births.
“Nuh uh uh, you first. But yes, the baby is healthy, happy, and all that jazz. But everything else, I answer after.” I bared my teeth before trying to find a comfortable position on the bed. It was nearly impossible.
She took that as her cue to start and began to tell me the sordid tale of her piece of shit mom upending her life. Stealing her away from James in the middle of the night.
“Your mother was a raging cunt, like god rest her fucking soul. Butfuck!”I expelled. I already had guessed as much, but this was the confirmation of it. My heart went out to James, too, and what he must have gone through with that woman.
Izzy moved onto the trauma that brought her to Emilio in the first place.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.” I swallowed down my guilt.
At the time, I was in the middle of escaping Daniel and trying to find out how to change my name and leave town.
Next was how Emilio came back into the picture, how Kazi haddriven Izzy to her fucking wedding.
“You’re fucking married?! And I wasn’t invited? I am going to kill that man,” I seethed.
“Maybe don’t, you know, since he’s my husband and all.” It was clear Izzy misunderstood me, but that was fine.
Except I wasn’t talking about Emilio, it was Kazi who was going to be on the receiving end of my wrath.
Izzy continued dropping bomb after bomb on me, and I just took each one after the other. It was clear we had both been keeping a lot from each other.
I remained silent, allowing her to free herself of it all. I imagined she felt much lighter by the end. And after it all, myopinion of Emilio warped. He still wasn’t my favorite person, but it was clear he was devoted to Izzy.
“Emilio loved you so much he sent a guardian angel to watch over me,” I mulled out loud.
“What do you mean? And what about themurderI committed.”
“He deserved it.” I waved my hand. That hadn’t phased me. “And Kazi—he used to be his driver, but Emilio sent him to keep tabs on me.”
Breathing a few times, I willed myself to be strong as Izzy was. It took a few beats, but then I opened my mouth, and once I started, I couldn’t stop. I explained how Daniel had decided to take up stalking, how Kazi had found me, and then Mateo.
Then I got to the point about her dad.
“I didn’t know, but Izzy. I love him. I’m in love with him. All three of them. But that’s crazy, isn’t it?” I whispered. The truth of it soaked into my skin, my mind wrapping around the craziness of the idea, my heart thumping loudly into my ears.
“Yeah… You know that I have my own harem now, I guess. Is this what it’s like when you’re a boss ass bitch?” Izzy joked. It was her defense mechanism when things got too deep, and I could respect that part about her. “And I’m not mad at you, Yara. You didn’t know. But as long as you two don’t hurt each other. I won’t be able to side with either of you.”
Sitting carefully back up on the bed, I reached out to her, grabbing hold of her hand and meeting her eyes. I wanted her to feel my sincerity, to know that without a doubt, I would not cause him any more pain. That she was stuck with me whether she wanted to be or not. “I love you Izzy, and I promise not to hurt him. And, fuck, if he and I don’t work out for whatever reason, you’re not going to lose me as a best friend. I promise.”
She returned the smile. “Agreed. Alright baby cakes, my side is done. Now it’s time for you to tell me your story. The whole thing.”
Rolling my eyes, I released her hand and fell back in the bed. “Fuck, alright. So it started one night at a comedy club…”
