Page 22 of The Secrets Behind Us

With that, they both leave and my father is left standing there, shaking and speechless. I turn on my heel to leave as well. “Dexter, please don’t do this.” The ‘please’ and pleading tone stops me in my tracks.

“You did this. I don’t ever want to see you again. You kept her away from me for too long,” I say in a whispered tone.

I don’t look back at him, I just keep moving forward. It’s time for me to go get my girl. I will never be apart from her again.

Chapter thirteen

Hazel

After Dexter leaves, I stand pants-less in the middle of his apartment, wondering what the fuck just happened. I grab my pants and get dressed quickly. I need to get out of here. It feels too weird being in his apartment without him. Even though it felt like we might reconcile, I wasn't sure what was going on in his head when he left. I grab my phone from where Dexter left it and dial my sister’s number.

“Hey, Haze.”

“Hey, can you come get me and take me to Mom’s?” My voice is a little shaky.

“Are you still at Dexter’s?” She asks with concern in her voice.

“Yes,” I breathe out.

“Okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes,” she says without any hesitation.

“Thank you.”

After hanging up with my sister, I look around to make sure that I have everything. I don’t have a way to lock the bolt on his apartment, but I lock the bottom door, hoping that’s enough. I wait outside, scrolling through my phone.

Once she pulls up, I jump in the car. “Hey.”

“Hey, how did it go last night?”

I smile remembering how Dexter rocked my world last night. Ashley giggles. “That good, huh? Give me all the details.”

“Ash, I’m not going to go into to detail, but I will tell you it almost felt like old times.”

At least it did until he discovered my secret.

“That’s good. Right?" She asks cautiously.

I sigh and sink back into my seat. “Yeah, it is. But this morning wasn’t so good. And now I’m not sure where we stand.”

“What happened?”

I take a deep breath. I never told anyone about my secret because I was trying to protect Dexter, but now that he knows, there is no reason to hide it anymore. Here goes nothing. “An unknown number has been texting me threatening to hurt Dexter if I don’t stop seeing him, and he saw it. Lost his cool.”

She lets out a small gasp and shrieks, “Someone has been sending you threatening messages?”

I nod, not wanting to say anymore.

“Oh, Hazel.”

I try to swallow down the lump in my throat and turn away to look out the window, hoping that if I ignore it all, I’ll wake up from this nightmare. I don’t want to talk about it. There’s a reason I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want Dexter to get hurt, but I also was ashamed that someone could manipulate me so easily. Running me out of town and away from the most important people in my life.

“Everything is going to be okay.” Ashley reaches over and grips my fingers in her hand.

“How can you say that? I might’ve lost Dexter for good. He just left me standing in his apartment when he found out." I sniffle.

“Oh, honey, no you haven’t,” she says trying to soothe me.

“You don’t know that.”

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