by C.E. Wilson
Chapter Three
Her hands trembled with something which could have been anticipation or fear. She listened to the water running as Orion used the sink in her private bathroom. It couldn’t have been fear she felt. She refused to believe she was scared. This was Orion – her boyfriend for almost half a year – and he wanted to talk to her. Clenching her hands into fists she continued to listen to the water running.
“Orion?” she asked softly, not moving from the bed. “Everything okay in there?”
“I’m fine,” he grunted back, turning the water on even faster. “I have to do this,” he whispered to the hazy image of the red-eyed man in the mirror. “I can’t stay with a woman who cheats on me. Even if Micah was gone, there will always be another man to catch her eye. If I listen to anything she has to say, she’ll pull me back into her web and I’ll resign myself to a life of betrayal and mockery. No, that will not stand.”
“Orion?”
“I said I’m fine,” he said as pleasantly as possible, then returned to his whispered conversation with the mirror. “I’ll say that I’ve forgiven her but I cannot live my life with a devious girl like her. If I were to leave she would simply sink her beautiful claws into another man’s heart. Could I condemn another to this torture?” He gazed at his haggard face for a moment in silence, and then nodded resolutely. Turning off the water, he walked to the bathroom door and looked at it for a moment as he tried to compose his features. The color of the paint was so similar to her skin. He wanted nothing more than to ruin it. To make it as dirty as she was. “Sorry I took so long,” he said, opening the door.
“Orion, you have to understand…” she said, starting to get up from the bed.
“Don’t move,” Orion said, holding up his hand. “I’m here to let you know that I’ve forgiven you.”
“You have?” she asked, her face lighting up.
“You’re still dead to me,” he said in a low voice.
“You brought me back here to say that?” Devony asked. “Why would you need to come out here, then? You could have said this at school.”
“Some things are meant to be kept private. Unlike you, I value the traditions and honor of a relationship.”
“What don’t I value? Orion, please,” she said, holding out her hand. “Won’t you come talk to me?”
“I am talking,” he said, leaning against the door frame. “But I won’t touch you.”
“Why not?” She gave a hopeful hint of a smile. “Are you afraid of what might happen?”
“In a way.”
“Don’t be scared,” she whispered. “We can still make this right.”
“Devony, if I come too close I’m afraid I’ll put my hands around your neck.”
She winced. “You don’t mean that.”
“I wish you were dead,” Orion went on, taking a step towards her. “Every time I look in your eyes, watch you smile, watch you move, there’s nothing more I want than to stop you from smiling. I hate you, the one whom I once loved the most.”
“You don’t mean that,” she said again.
“I do mean it.”
“What happened to you, Orion?” Devony asked. “Since when do you talk about death and dying all the time?”
“I said stay away from me,” he warned as he watched her shift towards him on the bed. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I hope you won’t.”
“In many lands you would deserve to die for what you’ve done to me,” he said.
“You’re scaring me,” she whispered. “I hate how you look at me now.”
“Good.”
“You have no reason to look at me like that.”
“Think of what you’ve done.”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“If you really believe that, you’re even worse than I had thought.”
“I can’t believe you’re saying this,” she muttered, rubbing the back of her neck. “Do you see yourself? Do you hear yourself? What’s happened to you? You’re still sweating like crazy! Your eyes are red! Are you sure you’re not having a bad reaction to something? Let me drive you to the hospital, Orion.”
“Shut up, I’m not going anywhere with you,” he said hotly. “And don’t move.”
“I won’t come any closer,” she said. “I have to know, Orion. What happened? When did you suddenly decide you hated me?”
“When you gave my ring to Micah.”
“What? Orion, I never did that! Call him and ask him yourself!”
“You’re a liar.”
“Call him! Ask him, dammit! He’ll tell you the truth if you won’t believe me!”
“Of course I don’t believe either of you! You’re both dead to me!” He rushed towards her and took hold of her shoulders with wild strength. “Just admit that you did it! At least then you’ll still be a cheater but a truthful one.”
“Call him!”
“I won’t! I don’t trust his word any more than I trust yours.”
“Then I don’t want anything to do with you!”
“Good.”
“You’re insane, Orion,” she said, wriggling out of his grasp. “I never did anything like that, and I can’t believe you won’t listen to me or even try to learn the truth. I never gave him your damn ring!”
“I saw him with it earlier today!”
“It wasn’t mine!”
“You’re a liar! You’re lucky I’m not a violent man—”
“You’re delusional—”
He reached out and shook her again. “I would kill you right now if I were, Dev. I saw the ring. That’s all there is to it.”
“I don’t know how he got it, but I never gave it to him. Orion, just call him. If you don’t do anything else, just call him and find out the truth.”
“I already know the truth.”
“How?”
“He told me.”
“What did he tell you?”
“He told me that you two had sexual relations.”
“Me and him?”
“Don’t pretend to be surprised. I heard it from his own damned mouth.”
“Micah would never say anything like that.”
“He’s been punished for his role in this. You’re much luckier – I cannot lay my hands on you in anger, although I would do the men of the world a great favor if I could.”
“I never slept with him,” Devony said, starting to cry now. She angrily wiped her tears away as Orion stared at her with hateful eyes.
“Crying now, are you? It won’t work on me. I see clearly what you are. Release all of your tears. When we get back to school, I don’t want you to look at me—”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Talk to me—”
“As though I would waste my breath—”
“Or come anywhere near me,” he finished. “You’re dead to me.”
“I’m fine with that,” she muttered through her tears. “Get the hell out of my house.”
“With pleasure,” he said, walking unsteadily towards the door. “You’re a whore.”
“And you’re a stranger,” she whispered, pulling out her phone.
One missed call.
She quickly dialed Ellie’s number.
