Page 17 of Allured By Her

Reluctantly, we headed out a side door and across a small patch of dead lawn to the house. I bet Tommy’s grandparents wouldn’t be too pleased to see how much he’d absolutely trashed their property, but it wasn’t my business. The house had a distinct odor that I couldn’t put my finger on, but I didn’t want to be in here any longer than I had to.

“This way,” Tenley said. She’d dropped my hand the second we’d come into the house, and it was as if she’d slid a sheet of ice between us. No longer was she pulling me closer and sharing warm smiles. No, she was back to the woman who annoyed me every damn day in the coffee shop and demanded free drinks.

I didn’t really have to pee, but I figured I might as well go while I was here, so I went into the bathroom and did my thing before coming out and finding Tenley doing something with her phone.

“Your turn,” I said, gesturing.

“I’m fine,” she said, not looking up.

“Tenley,” I said, and she finally met my eyes. “What the hell are we doing here?”

She gave me a look as if I’d said something ridiculous. “We’re here to make Shane jealous. Like you agreed to. Remember?” She made sure to emphasize the last word, like she was speaking to a child.

“Yes, I’m aware. Believe me, I’m aware. But you seem…” I trailed off.

“What, Mia? I seem what?” Her voice was sharp enough to cut glass.

“Shane is an asshole! He’s always been an asshole. I think you’ve been with him so long you don’t see it, or love is blind or whatever, but holy shit, Tenley, Shane is the absolute worst,” I said.

“You don’t even know him!” We were truly yelling at each other now, but this confrontation was kind of inevitable.

“I think I remember high school. The time he stole that kid’s wheelchair? Setting the chemistry lab on fire? Streaking through the assembly about dating violence? And that’s not even touching on all the racist, homophobic, bigoted, and other shitty comments he’s made,” I said.

Tenley crossed her arms and glared daggers at me, her face bright red.

“You don’t know him,” she said.

“I think I know him just fine. I think you’re the one who doesn’t see him, but that’s on you. I’m over it,” I said, and headed for the front door.

It didn’t matter what she offered me; I was not doing this anymore. I reached her car and realized that I didn’t have a way home. Tenley had driven us.

“I’m assuming you don’t know how to hot-wire a car,” a voice said behind me.

“No, but I can probably Google it,” I said, turning around to find Tenley standing behind me. Huh. She’d followed me.

She leaned against the car and sighed. “Shane is…he’s complicated, okay? When I say you don’t know him, I mean it. He’s had a lot of crap go wrong in his life. I know he’s not perfect, but the person he is when we’re together? I love him, and I don’t know what I’d do without him. We’ve been together for so long because we love each other. He loves me. I know he does.”

To anyone, it would be obvious that Tenley was so deep in denial, she was buying real estate and putting down roots. It was sad, honestly. How awful to be in love with someone so terrible.

“Every year on my birthday, he takes me to a different theme park. He wakes me up and tells me to get in the car and we drive. I never know where we’re going to end up. We went to Disney World once and he had matching ears for us in the trunk the whole time. He rented a beautiful hotel in the park and went on any ride I wanted to,” Tenley said. “He brings my mother flowers randomly. He volunteers at the animal shelter on the weekends walking the dogs.”

She was really trying to convince me. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe he did those things. Guys like Shane almost always treated the people they valued well. It was how they treated everyone else that was the problem. It didn’t matter if you saved puppies if you made racist comments about the server at a restaurant an hour later. Tenley knew this. She had to.

Tears started to drip down her face and my anger at her evaporated. Now she just looked pathetic.

“I love him,” she said, shrugging. “He was there in my life and then he was gone and there’s this huge fucking hole and everything is different, and I hate it. I hate my life.”

She stomped her foot and looked away from me, tears still falling. I crumbled and pulled her into a hug.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I said, rubbing her back as she cried on my shoulder. “It’s going to be okay.”

Tenley started to sob and I kind of wished one of her friends were here instead of me, but that wasn’t what had happened.

“Shhh, it’s okay,” I said, trying to be as comforting as I could while I could literally feel my shirt getting wet.

At last Tenley sniffed and stood up, wiping her eyes. She still looked gorgeous, but that was beside the point.

“Come on,” I said, dragging her back into the bathroom. I pushed her against the sink and grabbed some toilet paper when I couldn’t find tissues.

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