With that in mind and pretty much eating away at me, a few days later I made the decision to end things with Van – not because I wanted the job with Westside. No, I’d resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to take it and had decided to move on, hopeful that a similar promotion on Sydney’s team would be a possibility in the future. But I knew it would only be available to me if Katherine didn’t find out about Van and me. The only way to do that would be to end things with him, temporarily, until he was no longer someone I worked with. It had seemed so simple at the time.
Then I’d seen him, and if that didn’t do me in, the way he’d looked at me when I tried to break up with him, like I’d shoved a knife into his gut, had me rethinking what I was doing. I couldn’t hurt him. Of course when he told me he loved me, I really couldn’t hurt him. At that point I was in so deep, I knew I’d never get out.
Now I was stuck telling Katherine the truth, which was what I should have done from the start, and I just wanted to get it over with. But I was going to have to wait twenty-four hours. It wasn’t that big of a deal. I’d get through it, even though I had a feeling time was going to tick by slower than usual as I waited for my meeting with her.
Because I figured I’d go insane if I didn’t do something to kill time, I decided to visit my dad. He probably had a full afternoon booked at the studio, but he’d let me sit in and observe what he was doing. I actually really liked to watch him work, and had I not gotten the job I had in PR, I probably would have been happy working with him at his studio. Maybe I could do that if Katherine fired me.
Not that I thought she’d do that. No, I figured if I was up front with her and told her that Van and I wanted to start seeing each other, she’d be reasonable. At least I hoped she would be.
I pulled the door to my dad’s studio open to find the waiting room full. A band was there along with their manager, so I smiled at them. I looked over at Robyn’s desk to ask her where my dad was, but when I turned toward where she sat, she wasn’t there. My sister was in her chair, staring at me with a tight expression on her face.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her, taking in the fact that not only did she look exhausted, but her eyes were red-rimmed.
I’d only seen her a few days before, but it felt like so long ago.
“Robyn had her baby two days ago, so I’m helping Dad out,” she said professionally, probably because there were other people in the room, but I could hear the coolness in her tone.
“You’re working here?”
“That’s what I just said.”
I wanted to ask her why she looked like she’d been crying, but I wasn’t sure she’d tell me. It seemed her anger toward me hadn’t diminished in the few days since I’d seen her, and I wondered how long it would take for her to ‘forgive me’ for what she thought I’d done.
“Gentlemen, we’re ready for you now,” I heard and turned to see Dana, one of my dad’s sound engineers gesturing toward the band that was waiting. She turned to me. “Hi Elisa.”
“Hi Dana. How are you?”
“I can’t complain. I didn’t know you were coming in today. Your dad didn’t mention it.”
“He actually doesn’t know I’m here. Would you mind telling him?”
“He’s actually tied up with Sabrina Tyler. I think he’s booked with her for the rest of the afternoon, and I don’t think he wanted to be bothered.”
“He doesn’t want to be bothered,” Amy echoed.
I ignored her as I nodded, keeping my attention on Dana. “Okay, then, I guess I’ll wait.”
“Sounds good.” Dana smiled at me, and then she turned to escort the band who was waiting back to the studio.
I turned back to Amy. “Why are you working for Dad? I thought you were working at the hospital this summer?”
“None of your business,” she snapped, taking advantage of the now empty reception area. “But feel free to tell Mom and Dad your thoughts on the subject. I’m sure you’ll make an assumption based on what you think that will completely blow things out of proportion.”
“What? No, I won’t. What are you talking about?”
She glared at me for a few seconds as I wondered what exactly I’d done now. I felt like I didn’t even know my sister anymore. She wasn’t the same person I’d known all my life, that was for sure.
“Troy isn’t abusing me,” she snapped, “but thanks so much for planting that idea in Dad’s head. I not only had to defend Troy to our parents the other night, but then I had to explain that the reason I had bruising on my neck is because my boyfriend likes to sometimes choke me when we have sex. That’s definitely not something you ever want to tell your parents, so thanks so much for making me go there.”
“He chokes you?” I asked in disbelief as I was assaulted with visual images I never thought I’d imagine.
Amy shrugged. “It’s something he likes, so yeah, sometimes.”
“And you let him?!”
“Yes, I do,” she said defiantly.
“Amy!” I said, not able to say much else. I felt like I didn’t even know her anymore.
Not that I was judging – to each their own – but this was my little sister. The concept was a little hard to swallow. I could only imagine how my parents must have felt hearing the same thing.
“What?” Amy questioned. “It’s not like he’s really hurting me.”
“He bruised your neck!”
“I have sensitive skin. You know that. I’ve always bruised easily. It’s not a big deal. And who are you to judge me anyway? It’s not like you’ve never done anything kinky in bed.”
“I’ve never done that!”
“Well, then I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t seduce Troy like you wanted to. You probably wouldn’t have liked the outcome.”
“Amy, I did not want to seduce him,” I said through gritted teeth. “You’re insane if you think that.”
“Then why did you hit on him?”
“I didn’t! I told you, he hit on me. I don’t even like him. I think he’s a jerk. I think he’s got a wandering eye, and I think you’re too good for him. I’d never hit on him in a million years – and not even for those reasons. I’d never hit on him, because you’re dating him. I’m not sure I understand why, but I guess it’s not really my place to judge now, is it?”
Amy narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re such a bitch.”
“And you’re blind,” I told her, knowing I was being harsh, but I just didn’t care anymore. She’d taken this thing with us too far, and I was tired of it. “Amy, if you think Troy isn’t cheating on you, you’re insane. He couldn’t keep his eyes off Veronica Isaac the night of the wedding, and as soon as he realized you were drunk, he hit on me. He came up behind me, he put his hands on me, he told me I was beautiful, that I looked fun, and he asked me if I wanted to party with him. And I told him no. I told him no, I shoved him, and I went back inside. That’s the truth.”
I was out of breath by the time I finished my rant, and Amy was watching me with wide eyes, her expression different for the first time since I’d walked in. She wasn’t glaring at me. She actually looked like she’d seen a ghost. I wasn’t sure if what I’d said might have resonated with her, or if it was something else, but suddenly she looked like she might cry.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her, my big sister instincts kicking in.
“He’s not cheating on me,” she insisted, but as she said it, her eyes welled up with tears.
“Amy, I’m sorry I said that, okay. He’s probably not cheating on you, but trust me when I tell you that I didn’t initiate anything with him that night. Maybe he thought I was you.”
I watched her swallow hard before she said, “What did he say to you that night?”
“I told you what he said.”
She shook her head. “No, what exactly did he say?”
I sighed. “He put his hands on my shoulders, he told me I looked beautiful. Then he kissed my neck. When I turned around, he was leering at
me. He told me you were drunk, he said I looked like I’d be fun, and he asked me if I wanted go home with him and continue the party.”
As I was talking, it was like the color had completely drained from Amy’s face. “Are you sure he said exactly that?”
“Yes,” I said firmly. “I wouldn’t lie to you.”
I watched her head drop, and before I realized it, tears were splashing down her cheeks. Even though she was mad at me, and we’d been fighting for months, I was across the room with my arms wrapped around her before she could stop me. She was my little sister, and something was wrong. She was breaking down, and I didn’t care if she hated me, I wasn’t going to let her cry alone.
She cried without saying anything for a long time, and I was grateful that no one came into the reception area. Regardless of what was going on, I was sure my dad wasn’t going to be thrilled with the scene we were making in the middle of his business.
“What’s wrong?” I finally asked Amy.
She pulled away from me and wiped under her eyes with her thumbs, shaking her head. Her gaze was fixed on a point on the desk, and when she spoke, there was little to no emotion in her voice. She shook her head, and I kept my gaze glued to her, searching for any indication of what was going through her mind.
“She was right,” she finally said.
“Who was right?”
“The slut,” she said angrily.
“The slut? What slut?” I was now thoroughly confused. “Amy, what are you talking about?”
My sister finally looked up at me, and I saw so much hurt in her eyes. “There was a girl.”
“A girl?” I prompted.
She nodded. “Yeah. Like a month ago, there was a girl, and he denied it, and I’m such an idiot.” She slammed her hand down on the desk. “Dammit! Fuck him!”
I jumped back in surprise. I’d never seen my sister act that violent before, but she was fuming. She was hurt, and she was upset, and she was confused. Sadly enough, I knew exactly how she was feeling. I’d been there. Two years ago, when Van had cheated on me, I’d been in that exact place. That night I’d felt like I wanted to fall apart.
I couldn’t help but feel a little twinge of remembered anger toward him, even though I told myself that I’d forgiven what he’d done. I loved him, and he loved me. I had no concerns that he’d cheat on me now, but the old feelings were there. I remembered all too well how it had felt – the betrayal, the pain, the realization that the guy I loved didn’t feel the same way. It was the worst feeling.
I tried to push my thoughts away, reminding myself that I wasn’t mad at Van, but it wasn’t easy. I guess it was a good thing that he was in another state. I might not have wanted to see him right then. I was sure if I lashed out at him he’d be confused as hell. I probably needed to reel my emotions in before I talked to him later.
“Amy, what’s going on? Talk to me,” I begged my sister, hoping she’d open up, even though I could already deduce what had happened. I’d been right about Troy. He was a cheater and a liar.
Amy looked up at me, blinking her eyes a few times. “She was right.”
“Okay, I’m going to need a little more than that.”
She sighed. “Troy went to this party, and I was studying for a big test, so I told him I’d meet him there. When I found him, she was with him.”
I finally put the pieces together of what she was trying to say. “You caught him cheating on you?”
She shook her head. “No, but the girl was pressed up against him, and she was flirting with him. When I confronted them, Troy acted like she’d been hitting on him, and he’d been an innocent bystander. A part of me believed him, and maybe it was because I didn’t want to be a girl who got cheated on, but at the same time I knew he wasn’t completely innocent. He could have walked away if he wanted to. So I told him that. I was angry, and we got into a fight. He begged me to believe him, and he told me he loved me. He said that he was just drunk. He said it was harmless, it was flirting, and he didn’t mean anything by it.”
I bit my lip as I waited for Amy to continue. I wanted to say so many things in that moment, but I knew I couldn’t interrupt. She was finally opening up to me, and after the fragile ground we’d been on, I was afraid to push her.
“So,” Amy continued, “I told him I was mad at him, and I left. I had a test the next morning, so I shouldn’t have been out anyway, but he’d begged me to come to the party. I was so pissed at him. But the next morning, when I got back to the house, he was outside the house with flowers. We talked, and I forgave him, and he promised to never talk to another girl again.”
“So what happened?” I prompted gently, knowing there was more to the story.
“Last night, I was out with friends, and the girl I’d seen Troy with came up to me. She said she wanted to tell me what an asshole my boyfriend was and that he’d better face up to what he’d done.”
“What did he do?”
Amy took in a shaky breath. “According to her, after Troy followed me outside and I left, he went back into the party, and they hooked up. I thought the slut was lying, but she kept pushing the issue. Then she told me she was pregnant. She said she told Troy a week earlier, and he denied that the baby was his, but she said it was, and he’d better face up to the truth.”
“Did you ask Troy about it?”
She nodded. “Yes, and he denied it. He said the girl was psycho and that she’d been stalking him ever since that night, trying to get him alone. He said she was crazy, that he’d never touched her. And I believed him. I fucking believed his lies, but one thing about what she said kept resonating with me, and I didn’t know why until now, until you told me what he said to you.”
“He said the same thing to her, didn’t he?” I asked her softly.
She nodded. “Yes, and I wasn’t sure why it sounded so familiar, but when you said it, I remembered you told me the same thing the night of the wedding.” She shook her head. “I’m so stupid.”
She started crying again, so I put my arms around her.
“Amy, I’m so sorry.”
She continued to cry while I stroked her back rhythmically, trying to comfort her, but I knew nothing I could say or do would help. There wasn’t anything that would make this kind of pain go away except time. I knew that better than anyone.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement and turned to see my dad.
“What’s wrong?” he asked me.
“Boy stuff,” I said as Amy looked up at him.
I watched my dad’s expression cloud over. “This about that Troy guy?” he asked, his feelings about Troy immediately clear.
I nodded.
“Did he hurt you?” he demanded, his gaze fixed on Amy.
“Not like you think,” I told him, speaking for her. “He’s just a jerk.”
I watched my dad clenching his fists, his jaw tight. “Do I need to knock his head in?”
I loved how protective my dad was of us. He’d always been that way, but in that moment, he was scary as hell. I had no qualms that if Troy walked in right then, my dad would knock him on his ass so hard that he might not be able to get up.
“I think I’m going to be the one to do that,” Amy mumbled.
“I know people in low places,” my dad told her. “I can take care of him for you.”
I realized fairly quickly that my dad was likely one step away from making a phone call to someone, so I stepped away from Amy and walked over to him.
“Dad, can you give us a minute?” I asked him. “Please.”
“What did he do?” he growled in a low voice.
I shook my head. “He’s just a jerk.”
My dad looked at me pointedly, and I knew he wasn’t going to walk away until he knew what was going on.
“He cheated on her,” I whispered. “It’s not good, but she’ll be okay. I think she just needs some time.”
“Motherfucker. I never liked that guy,” he grumbled.
“I know. Me neither. Now, can yo
u give us a minute? Amy’s really upset. She shouldn’t be here. Would you care if she went home early?”
“She’s living with him,” he told me, not answering my question.
“Oh. Okay.”
I wasn’t sure what to do with that information. I hadn’t known where Amy was living this summer, and I was a little surprised to hear she’d moved in with Troy. She barely knew him.
“Well, then I won’t take her home. Maybe we’ll go somewhere else,” I told him. “I just know she can’t stay here. She’s about to fall apart.”
His expression hardened. “Don’t let her see him.”
“I won’t, but I doubt she’ll want to anyway. She seems really upset with him.”
“Good,” he said softly. “He’s an ass. I didn’t like him when I met him, and I knew something was off. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him, but I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, just like I’ve always done. He just wasn’t like any of her other boyfriends. He was controlling, and she just did whatever he told her to do. That isn’t Amy.”
“I know, Dad,” I said in an equally low voice so Amy didn’t hear us talking about her. I’d had the same concerns when I’d met Troy. I wondered if there was more to the story than him being a cheater. I hoped not, but I had a feeling there was. “And maybe this is for the best. I know she’s upset, but hopefully she’ll realize that jerks like Troy aren’t worth her time.”
“I hope so.”
“I’ll make sure she’s okay,” I promised him.
He nodded. “Thank you, El. I can always count on you. Come see me before you girls leave.”
“I will.”
When he left, I walked back over to Amy. “Can I get you anything? A drink or something to eat?”
She shook her head. Then she sat there, staring at nothing while I watched her, trying to figure out what I could do to help her.
“Do you want to go back to my apartment?” I offered.
“I have to work,” she reminded me.
“Amy, Dad will be okay if you cut out early.”
“I’m supposed to stay until seven,” she said, and then she started crying again.
Westside Series Box Set Page 71
